Establish consistent, audience-appropriate naming patterns across your design system.
Designers and developers should speak the same language—at least for the things they both care about, like Design Tokens. The others honestly don't care about tokens 😅
For other Design System users — like agencies (internal and external), brand managers, product managers, contributors, etc. the language should align around components, documentation, and implementation.
I ran several UX research sessions and surveys, and I was surprised to see how different markets and teams within the same company use different terms when it comes to building websites and digital experiences. And most of them don't care how you name Components or Tokens in Figma and Code.
For leadership, it's mostly about results, numbers, and sometimes how to differentiate design systems (design system products) within the company.
✓ Tailoring naming to specific audiences
✓ Consistent naming within each domain
✓ Clear documentation of naming patterns
✓ Using familiar industry terms for each group
✓ Creating translation guides between domains
✗ One-size-fits-all naming conventions
✗ Overly technical names for non-technical users
✗ Inconsistent naming within a domain
✗ Changing established naming patterns frequently
✗ Using internal jargon with external partners
Used to namespace components or indicate ownership. Examples: ds-, ui-, app-
Token names typically follow this structure:
[category]-[type]-[scale/variant]-[state]
