I Built Boreal UI — An Accessibility-First Component Library for React and Next.js

During my two semesters of project management classes in college, we had roughly four months to come up with an idea, build an MVP, and complete the full project for our final grade. It was a lot to juggle and sometimes a little chaotic, but it taught me a lot about how real product development works. We had to think about user stories, planning, databases, back-end logic, wireframes, and front-end implementation all at the same time. Even with all of that, I was always most drawn to the front-end side. I’ve always enjoyed the creative side of development, and one of my favorite parts of the process was seeing wireframes turn into a real, usable interface. The problem was that every time we built a new application, I wanted to create the UI from scratch. A lot of the existing options just did not click with me. Many UI libraries felt too familiar, a little too corporate for my taste, or harder to shape into exactly what I wanted. I often felt like I was either stuck with someone else’s