Design Tokens: The hidden superpower of a Design System
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Design tokens make it easy to keep consistent design values across different platforms and applications. They also make it possible to quickly create new designs by using existing components. Design tokens help designers and developers communicate more effectively, and make it easier to tweak designs without having to resort to hard-coding values.
Design Tokens are the fundamental component of a design system, making them an invaluable tool for any designer or developer looking for consistency in their work.
If you are looking for a more technical view on design tokens, check out this article:
https://medium.com/@jonas_duri/effective-design-token-structure-111e4bd934c8
Introduction into Design Tokens
Design tokens are named entities that contain raw, indivisible design values such as colors, text styles or icons. They’re the fundamental components of a Design System and they can be translated for usage on any platform and replace hard-coded values in a technology-agnostic way.
Design tokens provide consistency across your product lines and increase efficiency by referencing common patterns instead of copy & pasting values every time.
What are the benefits of Design Tokens?
Designing with Design Tokens can help you to create a more cohesive user experience, which is important for creating an effective brand. A well-designed interface has the potential to not only make your application or website easier to use, but also give it that extra something special when compared against other competing products in its niche space!
Design Tokens are both Designer and Developer-friendly. Designers can use Design Tokens to push out style updates without having to touch any source code, which means Designers can focus on design work while Developers implement the desired behavior of a user-interface element.
Design tokens are a powerful way to support a Design System. They provide a way to standardize the look and feel of your brand and can help to communicate these standards with others.
