What is a design token?

A design token is a key-value pair that represents a single piece of a design system's visual style. These tokens are used to store design decisions such as colors, typography, spacing, and other properties in a format that can be easily consumed and applied across different platforms and environments.

Key Concepts of Design Tokens

1. Atomic Elements:

Design tokens capture the smallest possible pieces of design decisions, like color values, font sizes, or spacing units.

1. Consistency:

Using tokens ensures that the same design values are used consistently across various components and screens.

1. Platform Agnostic:

Tokens can be transformed into different formats suitable for various platforms (e.g., CSS, JavaScript, iOS, Android), ensuring consistency across web, mobile, and other environments.

1. Scalability:

They enable easy updates and scalability. Changing a token value in one place can propagate that change throughout the entire system.

1. Themability:

Design tokens can be used to create themes. For example, dark and light themes can use different sets of tokens.

Types of Design Tokens

• Color Tokens:

Store color values (e.g., primary, secondary, and background color).

• Typography Tokens:

Define font-related properties (e.g., font family, font size, font weight).

• Spacing Tokens:

Specify spacing units (e.g., margins, paddings, gaps).

• Sizing Tokens:

Define size values (e.g., width, height).

• Border Tokens:

Capture border properties (e.g., border width, border radius).

• Shadow Tokens:

Represent shadow styles (e.g., box shadow, text shadow).

Example of Design Tokens

In JSON format, design tokens might look like this:

{
  "color": {
    "primary": "#FF5733",
    "secondary": "#33CFFF",
    "background": "#FFFFFF"
  },
  "typography": {
    "fontFamily": "Arial, sans-serif",
    "fontSize": {
      "small": "12px",
      "medium": "16px",
      "large": "24px"
    }
  },
  "spacing": {
    "small": "8px",
    "medium": "16px",
    "large": "32px"
  }
}

Benefits of Design Tokens

• Centralized Control:

Makes it easier to manage and update design values from a single place.

• Improved Collaboration:

Designers and developers have a common reference, reducing misunderstandings.

• Efficiency:

Speeds up the development process by providing ready-to-use values.

• Quality and Consistency:

Ensures a uniform look and feel across all parts of the application.

In summary, design tokens are fundamental building blocks in a design system, providing a structured and scalable way to manage design decisions across different platforms and components.