Hype check: Adoption
Design tokens are now a baseline skill
Design systems coverage keeps circling back to tokens as the link between design files and code — not a nice-to-have anymore.
designsystems.news
Practice brief · Design systems
Material 3 Expressive shows tokens are the new UI kit
Published 4 September 2026 · Source dated 25 March 2025
Used for: Design-system tidy; Portfolio proof; Tool experiment. Practice brief for the gate you are in — not an industry digest dump.
Hype check: Established. Treated as established practice. Source dated 25 March 2025.
Saves the claim and source date (25 March 2025) on this device. No account.
Google's Material 3 Expressive pushed design tokens further into the mainstream, treating theming as data rather than static styles. Tokens are now table stakes for a serious design system.
Material 3 Expressive rebuilt Google's system around richer, more emotive theming — but the bigger story for working designers is what sits underneath: a token structure that lets colour, shape, and motion scale across products without redesigning every screen by hand.
**Why established, not hype**: design tokens aren't new — they've been standard in mature design systems for a few years. What's changed is how visible and expected this skill is, even at junior level.
Both Figma (via variables) and Penpot (via its own token support) let you build this now. If your portfolio still shows static colour swatches instead of a token set, that's a gap worth closing before your next interview.
Coach
Rebuild one component's colours in Figma or Penpot using variables/tokens instead of hard-coded hex values, and add a line on why in your case study.
Source: material.io ·
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Related in Design systems
More practice briefs on the same topic — not today's five from UCD Coach.
- Hype check: Established
Design tokens are now the default, not a nice-to-have
Design Systems News' ongoing coverage shows tokens (colour, spacing, type as data, not just styles) are now standard practice, with tools syncing them across Figma, Penpot and code.
designsystems.news
- Hype check: Established
Design tokens are now the default, not the extra
Token-based systems — colours, spacing, type as reusable variables rather than hardcoded values — have moved from 'nice to have' to baseline practice in design systems work. If your portfolio still hardcodes hex values, that's a gap worth closing.
designsystems.news