Design tokens are revolutionizing how we maintain consistency and scale design systems. But what exactly are they, and how can they improve your workflow? 
Explore how these small yet powerful elements are transforming the design process and discover how Penpot integrates them seamlessly.
Read it here: https://tympanus.net/codrops/2025/04/14/native-design-tokens-the-foundation-of-consistent-scalable-open-design/
new article
Design Tokens have landed in Penpot, kinda
Last week I happened up @penpot's new Design Tokens panel and wrote some thoughts about it.
https://www.alwaystwisted.com/articles/design-tokens-in-penpot
Testing Design Systems in 2025, by @blvdmitry.me:
#Development #Approaches
CSS custom properties vs. Sass variables · How you can combine both with a hybrid approach https://ilo.im/1637te
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#Sass #CSS #CustomProperties #Browser #DesignSystems #WebDesign #WebDev #Frontend
In the course, you'll learn how to:
- understand and prioritise your readers
- name and organise your documentation
- make documentation clear and easy to read
- review and test documentation
Let me know if you have any questions, and please share far and wide!
Naming Things in Design Systems—and Why It’s the Worst, by @pjonori.com:
@brad_frost: Design systems are about human relationships | Brad Frost
https://bradfrost.com/blog/link/brad-frost-design-systems-are-about-human-relationships/
another issue of the Design Systems News curated newsletter is in the hopper.
If you're wanting a (almost) weekly newsletter of some of the best links to articles, tutorials, tools, examples, and more then you can sign up here:
#Design #Approaches
The art of design tokens · A metaphor for the 3-tier token model https://ilo.im/163180
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#Metaphors #Art #Creativity #DesignTokens #DesignSystems #ProductDesign #UxDesign #UiDesign #WebDesign
ICYMI
new article alert
Today we look at creating multiple themes for one brand (like a personal website)
Creating Multiple Themes with Style Dictionary
https://www.alwaystwisted.com/articles/a-design-tokens-workflow-part-10
new article alert
Today we're looking at creating multiple themes for one brand (like a personal website)
Creating Multiple Themes with Style Dictionary
https://www.alwaystwisted.com/articles/a-design-tokens-workflow-part-10
#Development #Pitfalls
The burden of custom form validations · When over-engineered form validations backfire https://ilo.im/16327e
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#Form #Validation #Browser #Library #Framework #WebComponents #DesignSystems #WebDev #Frontend #HTML
ICYMI
I wrote a new article in my Design Tokens Workflow Series
Implementing Multi-Brand Theming with Style Dictionary
https://www.alwaystwisted.com/articles/a-design-tokens-workflow-part-9
new article alert
In the ninth article in my design tokens workflow series we look at –
Implementing Multi-Brand Theming with Style Dictionary
https://www.alwaystwisted.com/articles/a-design-tokens-workflow-part-9
Mastering Typography in Design Systems With Semantic Tokens and Responsive Scaling, by @ikev007@x.com (@uxdesigncc):
have you ever wanted to use design tokens in Blender?
in my latest blog I break down the process of making a plugin that lets you import your color tokens from JSON and use them in shaders and geometry nodes #b3d #DesignSystems #design #ui #python
I gave ChatGPT a bunch of JS objects.
It gave me back fully typed, deeply nested Figma tokens.
Now Tokens Studio is committing,
and I’m scrolling Mastodon,
wondering if this counts as coding.
HOT TAKE
Your users of #DesignSystems are not the users of your application, they are the beneficiaries.
The devs implementing the system are your users. The worse that UX is, the less likely your design system will successfully be implemented.
Design Systems Report 2025, by @zeroheight:
https://zeroheight.com/how-we-document/design-system-report-2025-brought-to-you-by-zeroheight/
