Published 20 September 2026 · Source dated 18 May 2021
Google's Material Design 3 popularised dynamic, token-based theming back in 2021, and it's still what most design-system setups get measured against. If you're building variables in Figma or tokens in Penpot, M3's structure is worth studying, not because it's new, but because it's proven.
Coach
open Material 3's token docs and compare their primitive-vs-role token split against your own Figma or Penpot library — note one gap you could fix this week.
Surf this topic: Design systems (opens in a new tab)
Source: m3.material.io (opens in a new tab) ·
Creative Market's 2026 trend forecast flags 'Glasscore' — blur, glow and translucent layers — as a rising visual style. For teams running token-based design systems, that means more theming flexibility, not just flat colour tokens.
newswire.com (opens in a new tab)
Your move
Open your team's (or a starter) design system file and check whether blur/elevation tokens exist — if not, sketch one variant using Figma or Penpot's effect styles.
Some teams are wiring AI coding assistants into their design token workflow, using rules and MCP connections to keep components consistent. It's promising but still fragile in practice.
designsystems.news (opens in a new tab)
Your move
pick one component in your (or a practice) design system and check whether its tokens are named consistently enough that an AI tool could use them without guessing.
As canvas agents and coding agents start operating directly on design files, how well-structured your tokens are starts to matter for machines, not just humans. It's early signal, not proven best practice yet.
radical.design (opens in a new tab)
Your move
open your current Figma or Penpot file and check whether your colours and spacing are real tokens/styles or just hardcoded hex values — fix one screen's worth.
