Christmas came early in Figma ☃️ Looks like we can now import and export DTCG formatted design tokens as variables! Is it time to retire the Tokens ≠ Variables stickers? More testing is required! And no, this isn't an enterprise account. This is my freelance account on the Pro Figma plan.... 🙌

Me everytime I have to use a Google doc and add images... 🤦‍♀️ Where is the AI assist for these kinds of pain points? Maybe 2026 will be the year!

I got accepted to SheBuilds on Lovable Season 02! 🎉 Any guesses what I'll build? Wrong answers only 😜 #SheBuildsOnLovable

Did you know Systems Thinking is an academic framework backed by science? 🤔 Stoked to be teaching the FUNdamentals of Systems Thinking through a Design Systems perspective during my upcoming workshops with Smashing Conferences 😻 🔗👇

Ever wondered how you might use an LLM to document your design decisions? 🤖 I recorded my workflow using Claude Desktop and the template I shared yesterday to create the Architecture Decision Record example featured in the article. Watch the YouTube video ▶️ youtu.be/vyKG6nNixeU...

Design Tokens aren't enough. While they document WHAT was decided in your design system, you still need to document WHY it was decided. 🤔 This is where an Architecture Decisions Record (ADR) comes in handy!

It's almost 2026... Why can't I paste markdown into a Google doc and have it just work? 🤬

"Why is the primary button using the quaternary brand token? WTF is quaternary anyway?" 😳 Let's be real - we've all inherited (or created 🙈) systems with these head scratchers. They usually hit when you're new to a system and trying to figure out what decisions were made and why. The good news?

Curious about my upcoming Theming Design Systems workshop? 🧐 Here's a sneak peek at one of the collaborative workshop files where we practice systems mapping skills to think through the classic problem of "where should things live in my Figma workspace?"

Booking my flu shot appointment is like planning to get sick now to avoid getting even more sick later... 🤒 I'm so jealous of the folks who aren't knocked out after a vaccine, but it's still worth it! 🙌

Nature's ombre 🍁 My favourite time of year to wander my neighborhood and take in magic of color changing skyscapes and trees.

We can also have a nice entry animation by adding the following code: ``` img { transition: 1s 1s; @​starting-style { offset: circle(0px) 0% 0deg; } } ``` Demo: codepen.io/t_afif/full/... via @codepen.io

A systems thinking approach to Theming in design systems 🫶

This is amazing: A reference manual for people who design and build software. Written and illustrated by Dan Hollick. www.makingsoftware.com

Today, Anthropic made my dreams come true. MCP between Claude and Airtable is a GAME CHANGER! 🤖 I'm OVER using token management tools for reasons best discussed over a strong coffee or a negroni. My motivation is going to be for your benefit very soon. 🚀

Today I discovered that Claude allows you to select a section of it's output and ask for clarification based on the selected part. 🤯 Up until today I've been describing these things in the chat (left side) only. 🙈 This is going to make things work sooo much faster!

We ran a randomized controlled trial to see how much AI coding tools speed up experienced open-source developers. The results surprised us: Developers thought they were 20% faster with AI tools, but they were actually 19% slower when they had access to AI than when they didn't.

I've got Claude trained up on my design token architecture and naming templates. Yesterday, it was creating tokens from open-source code files. 🤖 We are still struggling with referencing other tokens and using math, but I'm sure that's a prompting issue on my part. 🤯 Wild times

Figma going public means new industry tooling coming because they will slow down, focus on 1/4 by 1/4 numbers before eventually being swallowed by a PE firm or sold for little to Adobe who will rename it. Be on your toes design folk. Now is the time to try everything and use what works.

TIL I was mentioned in this article by these LEGENDS in the development community 🤯 Why? Turns out my simplified approach to describing a three-tier token structure as 1-options 2-decisions 3-components is considered their preferred way of teaching these concepts. 🥹

SmashingConf is coming to Amsterdam! 🇳🇱 Join us April 13–16, 2026, for a brand-new conference on design systems, CSS, AI, UX & more — made for designers & UI engineers who love the web. Views, vibes, and gezelligheid included. 💙 Early Bird tickets are available now! smashingconf.com/amsterdam-2026

TIL if you mute a channel in Slack, you only see the BOLD channel name (signal to check what's new) if you are @ mentioned. 🤯 As someone trying to limit notifications, this is a game changer! #ADHDdesigner

Based on a conversation yesterday about custom events, I was playing around with strongly typing events for #WebComponents and decided to do a little write-up on it. #html #javascript dev.to/stuffbreaker...

The best part of ADHD time blindness is when you find a time stamp for a thing you could have sworn you *just* did. Last time I did a hard backup of my computer files 🫣 In my mind = a few months ago. Timestamp = Feb 2023 I only design, write, make video content and DJ for a living...🤦‍♀️

Now we have text-box in CSS, understanding font metrics is even more important so you know what you’re trimming. This is a very handy little website that allows you to upload a font that you plan on using, along with a Google font picker. vertical-metrics.netlify.app

Releasing Theemo v1.0 the end-to-end design token workflow tool: ✨ Generates Modern CSS: @property, light-dark() and color functions ✨ Integrations with @vite.dev, @emberjs.com, @svelte.dev and @vuejs.org ➡️ theemo.io Release posts (!) in the thread.

Blocking political bot followers on Blue sky is the new unsubscribe from marketing emails... 🙄 To whichever bot ring added me to your list, you should know I'm a zero inbox kinda person so it's not worth your time... As my niece would say, "You're done" 🤖

I'm not a sports-ball kind of person but I'm sharing this infographic because I think it's a brilliant display of data I haven't seen before. 😻

Anyone else really over fighting with instance swap issues in their component libraries? I recorded my wack-a-mole workflow in hopes it helps someone else. If you've got tips, I'm all ears! youtu.be/RaBCdduRp7Y

Coming home this week from Europe on the first day of Pride month had me beaming with pride to be a Canadian 🇨🇦 🌈 📸 YYZ - Terminal 1 Baggage Claim

👀 Github synchronisation for Design Tokens coming to @penpot.app 🎉 tree.taiga.io/project/penp... 🙏🖤

The great migration to @penpot.app is underway... And I'm here for it.

Just discovered penpot.app holy crap this is exactly the local self hostable OSS Figma replacement I’ve been looking for!

Opened my laptop to see this surprise on the same day that WTF Figma Month starts on my calendar. Any predictions on how the rest of my day is going to go? 🙃 In all seriousness, stoked to be watching the Config keynote from home and excited to see what's new!

This resource though!! 😻 And I'm not just saying that because I can see my face in this beautiful chaos of Design Systems gold 😂

component.gallery 2.0 is now live 🎉 🚀 Built with Astro 🖼️ 2,400+ component images 📊 Charts! 🔎 Improved search 🌒 Better dark mode …and much more

When I was a teenager with undiagnosed ADHD (straight As so how would they know), I could barely remember where my paper agenda was. 🙃 I just sent a teenager a calendar invite with Google link for a virtual hang and they accepted before I could finish texting them. 🤯 Kids these days... 🫶

I'm honored to be speaking at the Into Design Systems Conference this year! You can expect to laugh a little, and learn a lot from this talk.

Can you recommend a website, post, talk, etc. to learn more about accessibility APIs, the accessibility tree and the relationship between browsers and assistive technology? Thank you!

While everyone is talking about the energy required to say please and thank you to AI, I'm over her wondering why no one is talking about the energy it takes to send, store, and delete marketing emails and patiently waiting for the return of RSS.

Before you use emojis for information architecture, think about what it would be like to read the emoji name along with your text. Is it helping or hurting your content design?

My Web Components course is on sale at $20 this week. Use the code connectedcallback scottjehl.com/learn/webcom...

I’m fortunate to have worked with a lot of amazing designers over the years. Some were curious about designing in the browser with basic #HTML and #CSS, but weren’t sure where to begin. This advice helped point them in the right direction: cloudfour.com/thinks/desig... #WebDesign #DesignProcess

Anyone working in software should keep this in mind...

Sometimes I intentionally leave comments in my design files for myself in all CAPS so that my future self picks up on the importance of this thought over the others....😂 #adhddesigner

Reminder - Support your local libraries!

Me, to designers, constantly: Just because it's common, doesn't mean it's good. Just because it's common, doesn't mean it's good. Just because it's common, doesn't mean it's good. Just because it's common, doesn't mean it's good. Just because it's common, doesn't mean it's good.

Stoked about teaching tech and tool agnostic skills for how to think through scaling design systems in my upcoming workshop with @smashingconf.com ! 😻 Interactive learning in a cohort environment is my fav, I'm so excited with what I've got in store for these Design Systems Jedi's. 🔗👇

The recent updates to GPT are working wonders for my ego. "You're cooking up something really special here" isn't what I expected from a robot.

This Thursday I’m giving my third masterclass with @ixdf_org, this time all about Design System Documentation! See you there? 4pm (UTC) - 5pm in London! www.interaction-design.org/master-class...