What are Design Tokens?
A relatively new and evolving concept, design tokens are the core building blocks of a design system, representing values that define a product’s visual and stylistic choices. These tokens are small, reusable pieces of data that can be applied across a design system to maintain consistency. Design tokens can define elements like color palettes, typography, spacing, and other visual properties.
By using design tokens, teams can efficiently scale their design systems across different projects and products. This approach reduces the potential for errors and inconsistencies, making it easier to maintain and update designs over time. In addition, design tokens empower teams to confidently implement and adapt design systems, ensuring that visual changes to elements are applied uniformly across all platforms. This helps bridge the gap between designers and developers, fostering collaboration, brand consistency, and a more streamlined workflow.
Design tokens are particularly useful when your team is managing a complex design system that spans multiple products, platforms, or devices (think web & mobile apps, marketing website, and internal tools). If your team frequently faces challenges with maintaining consistency or struggles to keep up with changes in design assets, design tokens can be a game-changer. They allow you to define core design properties in one place and apply them consistently across all instances.
Table of Contents
- When to Use Design Tokens
- Why Use Design Tokens?
- How to Create Design Token Types and System
- How to Effectively Implement Design Tokens
- Conclusion
When to Use Design Tokens
Consider this use case: suppose you're rebranding or making major design updates to a cross-platform product. Design and marketing teams define the new brand, and then communicate out to all the different development teams to update their unique systems. With tokens in place, you can easily update values across the entire system without manually changing each component and worrying if counterpart teams are doing the same. This ensures that design updates are implemented uniformly and efficiently, reducing the time and effort required to maintain and update your design system.
You might think that design tokens overlap with or could be substituted by other commonly used design properties. Allow us to explain:
Design Tokens vs. Styles
While design tokens and styles might seem similar, they serve different purposes. Styles refer to the specific visual properties applied to design elements (e.g., color, typography), whereas design tokens are the underlying values that define those styles. In other words, styles are the visible output, and design tokens are the abstract representations that guide those outputs. Design tokens make it possible to change the style of an entire system by simply updating a single value, rather than modifying individual components.
Design Tokens vs. Classes
Design tokens and classes serve different roles in a design system. Classes define the structural or functional behavior of elements within the design (e.g., layout grids, buttons), while design tokens define the visual properties of those elements. In practice, classes may be used to apply design tokens, but tokens offer a more abstract and reusable way to manage design properties. This distinction allows for better scalability and flexibility when updating or managing the design system.
Design Tokens vs. Variables
Design tokens and variables share similarities in that they both represent reusable values in a system. However, design tokens are more specific to design systems, focusing on the core visual elements like colors, typography, and spacing. Variables, on the other hand, are more general-purpose and can be used for any kind of value in a codebase, including logic, layout, or functional values. Design tokens provide a more structured and standardized way of defining and managing design-related properties compared to variables.
Global Tokens vs. Alias Tokens
Global tokens and alias tokens are two types of design tokens that serve different purposes within a design system. Global tokens are the core values that define fundamental properties like primary colors, font sizes, or spacing units. These are the universal tokens used across the entire design system. Alias tokens, on the other hand, are derived from global tokens and are more context-specific. For example, an alias token might represent a specific color used for buttons, which is linked to a global color token. This distinction allows teams to maintain flexibility and specificity while ensuring consistency.
Why Use Design Tokens?
Design tokens provide a powerful way to ensure consistency and scalability in your design system. They help streamline collaboration between designers and developers, reduce the likelihood of errors, and make it easier to manage and update design properties. Below is a table outlining the pros and cons of using design tokens:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Consistent design across platforms | Initial setup can be time-consuming |
| Easier to maintain and update design assets | Requires collaboration between teams |
| Improves scalability of design systems | Can be complex to implement in large systems |
| Enhances collaboration between teams | Ongoing maintenance is necessary |
How to Create Design Token Types and System
Building a design token system starts with identifying the core elements of your design system that need to be standardized. Begin by listing the key design properties that are critical to your product, such as color palettes, typography, spacing, and border-radius. Once you've identified these elements, create a set of global tokens that define the fundamental values for each property. For example, you might define a global color token for the primary brand color and a global typography token for the base font size.
Next, consider creating alias tokens to handle more specific use cases within your design system. Alias tokens allow you to apply global tokens in context-specific scenarios, such as defining different shades of a color for buttons or headings. This approach gives you the flexibility to adapt your design system to various contexts while maintaining consistency across the board.
Once your tokens are defined, establish a naming convention and organizational structure that will be easy for both designers and developers to understand and use. Consistent naming conventions, such as "primary-background-color" or "base-font-size," make it clear what each token represents and where it should be applied. Organizing your tokens into a hierarchy (e.g., colors, typography, spacing) further enhances the usability of your system.
Finally, document your design token system thoroughly. Ensure that all team members have access to this documentation and understand how to apply tokens in their work. Regularly review and update the system to keep it aligned with your evolving design needs.
Our Design Token tool makes it easy for users to define, document, and implement design tokens throughout
How to Format Design Tokens
When formatting design tokens, it’s essential to follow best practices to ensure consistency and maintainability across your design system. One of the key practices is to use a standardized naming convention. This involves creating clear, descriptive names for tokens that reflect their purpose and usage. For example, instead of naming a token "blue," use a more specific name like "primary-background-color." This makes it easier for teams to understand and apply tokens correctly.
Another best practice is to use a hierarchical / tiered structure when organizing design tokens. This means grouping related tokens together and establishing a clear relationship between them. For example, color tokens can be grouped under categories like "primary," "secondary," and "accent," while typography tokens can be grouped by "font-size," "line-height," and "font-weight." A well-organized structure improves the readability and maintainability of your design tokens, making it easier for teams to implement and update them as needed.
How to Effectively Implement Design Tokens
To effectively implement design tokens, collaboration between design and development teams is crucial. Start by establishing clear guidelines that outline how design tokens should be used, including naming conventions, organization, and application. These guidelines should be created with input from both designers and developers to ensure they meet the needs of both teams.
Once the guidelines are in place, integrate design tokens into your design and development workflows. Use design tools like Sketch, Figma, or Adobe XD to apply tokens in your design files, and ensure that developers have access to the token values through code. Establishing a shared library or repository where tokens are stored and managed can also help streamline the implementation process. Regularly communicate and collaborate to address any challenges that arise and ensure that the design token system continues to meet your team's needs.
Conclusion
Design tokens are a powerful tool that helps teams maintain consistency, scalability, and efficiency across complex design systems. By centralizing core design properties like colors, typography, and spacing, design tokens allow teams to apply and update these values uniformly across all platforms and products. They are particularly useful for large-scale projects, rebranding efforts, or any scenario where consistency is key.
Understanding when to use design tokens, and how they differ from styles, classes, and variables, is essential for building a robust design system. Additionally, distinguishing between global and alias tokens ensures flexibility while maintaining coherence. Proper formatting and organization of design tokens are crucial for their successful implementation, along with clear guidelines and strong collaboration between design and development teams.
By adopting a structured approach to creating and implementing design tokens, your team can streamline workflows, reduce errors, and create a cohesive user experience. While there are challenges, the benefits of improved consistency, easier maintenance, and enhanced collaboration make design tokens an invaluable asset in modern design systems.