A design token is a representation of a visual or interaction property, such color, font, or space, that is distinctive to the design. With the use of tokens, designers can easily manage modifications to the design system, maintain consistency in the design, and enhance communication between the design and development teams.
Design tokens are crucial to UX/UI design because they help define the visual language and provide consistency across all of a product’s touchpoints, including websites, mobile applications, and other digital goods. They make it simpler to update and manage the design system and enable designers to standardize design aspects.
Through the usage of style libraries, design tokens may be utilized in design software like Figma. In order to make it simple to apply and change design styles uniformly throughout the design, Figma offers a means to store and manage design tokens, such as colors and typography, in a centralized library. This can enhance designer cooperation and increase the process’ overall effectiveness.
Design Token Creation in Figma
Follow these steps to create a design token in Figma:
- Define the design token: Choose the visual or interaction attribute you want to turn into a design token, such as a color, typography, or spacing.
- Create a style: In Figma, you can create a style for each design token. To create a style, go to the “Styles” panel, click on the “+” button, and choose the type of style you want to create (e.g. Color, Text, or Layout Grid).
- Apply the style to an element: Select an element in your design, and then apply the style to it using the “Styles” panel.
- Save the style to the library: Once you’ve applied the style, you can save it to your project’s library by right-clicking on the style in the “Styles” panel and choosing “Save to Library”.
- Reuse the style throughout your design: To reuse the design token throughout your design, simply apply the saved style to other elements in your design.
These methods will let you produce a design token in Figma and guarantee consistency across your design. Collaboration with your team and updating your design system will be made simpler as a result.
Design tokens are a valuable tool for UX/UI designers, to sum up. They enable designers to maintain continuity in the design, standardize design aspects, and enhance communication between design and development teams. Through the use of style libraries, design systems like Figma make it simple to develop and maintain design tokens. Designers may speed up the design process and raise the overall standard of their work by employing design tokens.