I'm Jonas Ulrich, co-founder of kickstartDS and managing director at ruhmesmeile GmbH in Bonn. I work on the frontend layer: component libraries, design systems, and the integration work that lets frontend and backend teams move in parallel.
This page collects what I build, where I've worked, and where to find the code.
What I do
Component libraries, architecture and the glue in between
A comprehensive component and pattern library so teams ship consistent, brand-compliant frontends fast. Storybook, design tokens and JSON schemas as the backbone.
Individually crafted, quality frontend interfaces — developed in separation from the backend, with explicit thought about the integration overhead that separation brings.
Making cross-functional teams faster: tooling, DX, performance, and the boring decisions that stop teams from re-deciding them.
Bridging frontend and backend concerns — schema-driven CMS configuration, content validation and generation instead of hand-wired glue code.
Pinned repositories
The six repositories I keep on top of my GitHub profile — the framework, this site, and a few hardware and tooling side quests
The open-source framework behind my day job — every package for building brand-compliant frontends: components, design system, Storybook tooling and docs.
99 ★ · MDX · React · Storybook
This site: a Next.js frontend against Storyblok, including the theme system and the component-token work you're looking at right now.
TypeScript · Next.js
Firmware for my custom Sofle RGB split keyboard with a Miryoku layout — the keyboard I actually type on all day.
C
A WaveShare display that keeps an eye on my AI coding sessions: session status and monitoring at a glance.
C
My daily driver: Arch Linux on a Hyprland base, kept reproducible as a dotfiles repository.
Shell
The root dotfiles package that orchestrates the rest — one entry point for the whole setup.
Shell
All projects
Everything I've built or written about, newest first — the individual pages go deeper
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Experience
Eighteen years, four companies, one thread
| Company | Role | Period |
|---|---|---|
| kickstartDS | Co-Founder | July 2021 – today · 5 yrs 3 mos |
| ruhmesmeile GmbH | Managing Director | July 2021 – today · 5 yrs 3 mos |
| ruhmesmeile GmbH | Head of Development | May 2008 – July 2021 · 13 yrs 3 mos |
| Taktsoft GmbH | Project management | Nov 2007 – Dec 2010 · 3 yrs 2 mos |
| Guerilla-Medien OHG | Web developer (part-time) | Feb 2004 – Nov 2007 · 3 yrs 10 mos |
Roles in detail
Expand for the long version
kickstartDS — Co-Founder (since 2021)
The frontend-first framework: a comprehensive component and pattern library.
We enable web development teams to create consistent and brand-compliant web frontends super efficiently — with a built-in design system that serves all your digital touch points.
ruhmesmeile GmbH — Managing Director (since 2021)
With ruhmesmeile we are developing kickstartDS, the frontend-first framework: a comprehensive component library that helps frontend teams create consistent, brand-compliant design systems and web frontends super efficiently.
We enable web development teams to create consistent and brand-compliant web frontends super efficiently. With a built-in design system to serve all your digital touch points.
Easy like squeeeeezing a lemon 🍋
ruhmesmeile GmbH — Head of Development (2008–2021)
Since founding ruhmesmeile almost 15 years ago, I headed the development of our agency: from a small team working for local businesses, to developing our own product-like base layer of shared code to serve corporate, medium-sized website customers more efficiently, with two teams working in parallel.
Since the beginning we've had an emphasis on individually crafted, quality frontend interfaces — developing frontend and backend in separation, and explicitly thinking about how to overcome the integration overhead this approach incurs.
That ultimately led to our pivot: focusing on our strong suits — the frontend and integration tasks, and how to improve developer experience and performance in cross-functional teams. The result is our first product offering: kickstartDS.
Taktsoft GmbH — Project management (2007–2010)
Developing web-based software and user interfaces, and consulting.
Also organising the Taktsoft Tech-Talk: taktsoft.com/tech-talk
Guerilla-Medien OHG — Web developer (2004–2007)
How I work
Separated layers, and the glue that makes them work
We develop frontend and backend in separation, and think explicitly about how to overcome the integration overhead that separation incurs.
That is what I spend most of my time on: design systems that keep interfaces consistent, schemas that keep content valid, and tooling that keeps the development experience quick for everyone in a cross-functional team.
Appearances & code
Talks, write-ups and the source code — everything else lives there