I have converted my Anova plugin to use Figma color tokens sensitive to Figma's light/dark mode. I like the results, and despite the lack of personality, value that the plugin conveys the same visual language as its parent environment.

I'm improving my Anova plugin that generates component specs consistent with a JSON schema to manage specs in the file and easily consolidate and copy them into code.

Slots in Design Systems:Improving flexibility through custom composition inside components My latest on Substack nathanacurtis.substack.com/p/slots-in-d...

As design system teams start applying Figma's slots, they may best cope with having Menzel's "Let It Go" on repeat in the background. Relinquishing control is going to be... very difficult for some people.

Analysis of Variants and the Anova Plugin: Generating component data that design systems teams need The Anova plugin, recently released in the Figma community, could be a part of a process that manages component data from (and back into) Figma. medium.com/@nathanacurt...

You know it's gonna be a good week when you start it off talking to DESIGN SYSTEM WIZARDS @nathanacurtis.bsky.social and @bencallahan.com!

I didn't have Quine-McClusky on my bingo card for things I'd learn about this year, but there you have it. All in an effort to make visible something designers have been implying for years. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quine%E...

“Components as Data“, my latest on Medium: medium.com/@nathanacurt...

Welcome back to The Question, @nathanacurtis.bsky.social! This week, we're exploring where #AI is failing #designsystems. Answer by Wednesday to get your invite to the deep dive on Thursday at Noon Eastern: bit.ly/answerTheQue... This only works if you join in! See you Thursday, b

Caught a couple Banksys in Park City, Utah

I just got called the "Dungeon Master of Design Systems" by a client collaborator. Not sure how to take that one, but sure, let's go on a quest and I'll be your guide!

I've shared this before, but it's awesome. Building Smart Layouts, slides from @ishadeed.com's recent talk @cssday.nl www.figma.com/deck/NewdIWN... #CSS #FrontEnd #WebDev #WebDesign

I'm diving perhaps too deep as I develop teaching materials for UI Component Props. I'm sensing I could do a whole conference talk on tips and tricks for solely enum/variant props.

I'm familiar coding best practices for with Web Components and React when it comes to composition and slots. I'm not much at all with SwiftUI. What resources best explain the equivalent practices for slots on SwiftUI?

At @intodesignsystems.bsky.social in a couple weeks, I can't wait to present the various tools I use to communicate component architecture ideas in Figma, including props, enums and layers I combine into an overall "API sketch."

I found @katielangerman.bsky.social's spreadsheets in her Config 2025 Connecting Code and Craft talk very similar to my token taxonomy efforts: define 'em, transform 'em, and map 'em to migrate production. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l6E...

I am so distracted today by this huge event. So much anticipation. So many exciting things I have waited so long to see. I'm talking about Arsenal vs PSG, people. Go Gunners.

One Smashing Conferences event, two Spectacular Components workshops! I'll be leading TWO full day workshops in New York, NY June 23 and 24. The first digs into component structure, purpose, anatomy and styling with design token, the other digs into props, layout and slots.

In town for spring break and college visits, a stop at Edmonds Oast Brewery for the Real Madrid match, and I won a @charsenal.com raffle for @arsenalfc.bsky.social merch. Woot! Great community, go Gunners!

we're at zero. - ~80 tabs gone through - 13 links added to the hopper. - lots of your time saved. buymeacoffee.com/sturobson

Oh my goodness: have we entered the Post FAB era of UI design?

It’s this kinda clutter that erodes faith in AI and brands. 🤬🤡 Google, c’mon, I don’t need these for email, and an anchored very-oft used Archive interaction is now demoted and muddled as a tap target.

What's the maximum value you've ever seen to fully round a corner radius? I just encountered 40,000. That's not messing a"round"!!!!

Reflecting on the state of Arsenal after listening to @arseblog.com Arsecast: If someone had said “Lose Ode for a couple months, and before his return begins to boil lose Saka for longer. Surprised if you *only* have 40 in 20 and leave cups unexpectedly early?” No. We are so blessed to have both.

Snow thunderstorms with whiteout conditions of dippin dot textured snow are cool.

I don’t have a SoundCloud, but… I’m looking for exciting new client projects for 2025! Whether it’s: - Design Systems - Design Tokens - Front-End Development - Consultancy I can help you and your team build scalable, efficient systems tailored to your needs. Let’s chat: alwaystwisted.com 🙏🖤

After months of conversion, and a realization that copying from Design to Slides is easy in Figma, I'm abandoning (for now) the clunky Slides editor experience and returning to the Design editor for all but the last step of preparing a presentation.

Pedant alert: Should we be using the term "primitive" to refer to a value of an attribute/style/property of an object, such as a "color primitive?" I've always understood "primitive" to be a term to describe an object (like a shape, glyph or text string, not attributes of that object.

Extending my Specs Figma plugin to add Dev Mode-based annotations is straightforward, but not optimal: 1. You must run *second* in Dev Mode. 2. Only some attributes are supported (extras could be added to a label) 3. Dev Mode feels tedious and inhibits comparison. Has me wondering: is it worth it?

I'm having one of those 🤔 moments as I encounter new entrants wrongly framing design system's emergence as within the past few years. Like, Dell.com used ecommerce component libraries with atoms and molecules in the 1990s. Cisco, Yahoo, Sun, and eBay all had heavy library investments in the 2000s.

What's your favorite design system history date? Two of my most oft cited are: Design Tokens written about by Salesforce, 2014 Google Material docs site visible by public, Fall 2014

Proud to be hosting the Design Systems Planning and Process workshop with @nathanacurtis.bsky.social for a third time!🥳 We've sold out all previous rounds Learn how to plan, scope & manage processes like a Design System lead! 🗓️ January 27+ 28 2025 Online Link in comments 👇

Measuring design system success as objectives of a DS team, their users, and THEIR customers questions, examples and methods you can use to see how you're doing.

Yeah, OK, maybe I will. My specs plugin is pretty much shovel-ready to integrate this easily so that (a) you don't have to otherwise build your own plugin to do it and (b) it's already intelligent enough to only annotate and *difference* the attributes that matter.

The Sorry State of States: Today’s Figma assets show design could align better with code medium.com/p/89dd4668737e

The Sorry State of States: Today’s Figma assets show design could align better with code medium.com/@nathanacurt...

In my assessment of "Has Bluesky replaced Twitter?", the answer is "Nowhere close to completely." Evidence today? Figma's been seemingly down for minutes, the status page shows no evidence, and only one other person is on Bluesky complaining about it.

Managing Design Systems with Many Core Libraries: How you align design and engineering and synchronize releases depends on the frameworks, platforms and teams involved medium.com/@nathanacurt...

Spilling Ink #3, the Curious Squid newsletter open.substack.com/pub/curiouss...

🧐 Tired of defining design tokens in JSON? In my latest post, I explore how you can use .yaml, .json5, .hjson, or .tokens with Style Dictionary to make your tokens more readable and collaborative. Flexibility for every team, one consistent output. 👉 www.alwaystwisted.com/articles/a-d... 🙏🖤

I have many teams rethinking the structure of their Figma library component page. I've now begun to knee jerk reply with "Start with what Atlassian does." Are there other public Figma libraries formatting a component's page in a way you favor? www.figma.com/community/fi...

Interesting question during my workshop: Would component tokens not be better to prepare for future where AI is becoming more important for design systems? As we adapt to AI modeling, how will that *change* how we identify, name and level our design tokens? 🤔

@silbormueller.bsky.social Thanks for hosting another workshop. The participation was exceptional, with so many great questions. I draw confidence in not knowing all the answers such that we continue to lift each other up. A rising tide…

There @natebaldwin.bsky.social goes again, making too much sense, this time discussing shortfalls of token naming, taxonomy and managing change. medium.com/@NateBaldwin... I can certainly imagine a future world I'd value where his primary key UUID dreams come true. That said...

That was fun: Specs plugin subscriber asks "Can you show the code syntax variable name if it's provided?" and in an hour I ship an enhancement. :)

Ok, maybe the past seven days wasn’t the best moment to start binging Handmaid’s Tale with my wife. I can say it’s so captivating and strange and yet so difficult to watch given {waves hands at daily news}…

In this article https://buff.ly/39sAv2i @nathanacurtis.bsky.social argues that #designSystems need more steps & rigor to achieve the higher quality and engagement they promise. That is why they take longer to build features than product teams, and that is a good thing.

Learn to master Design Tokens & components in hours, not weeks! I‘ve a few spots left for our online training with @nathanacurtis.bsky.social ✅ Get guidance from Nathan who has contributed to or consulted with over 60 design systems 🗓️ Nov 18-19 Online www.intodesignsystems.com/workshop-nat...