Always TwistedAlways Twisted - Design Systems & Front-End ConsultantHi, I’m Stu Robson, a Design Systems consultant and front-end developer helping teams create scalable, accessible systems that enhance collaboration.
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Design tokens are revolutionizing how we maintain consistency and scale design systems. But what exactly are they, and how can they improve your workflow? 
Explore how these small yet powerful elements are transforming the design process and discover how Penpot integrates them seamlessly.
Read it here: https://tympanus.net/codrops/2025/04/14/native-design-tokens-the-foundation-of-consistent-scalable-open-design/
Last week I happened up @penpot's new Design Tokens panel and wrote some thoughts about it.
https://www.alwaystwisted.com/articles/design-tokens-in-penpot
Always TwistedDesign Tokens have landed in Penpot, kindaA quick look at Penpots new Design Tokens UO
Testing Design Systems in 2025, by @blvdmitry.me:
ReshapedTesting design systems in 2025 - ReshapedLet's dive into how UI component testing is approached today and how new tools released this year could simplify testing for the library authors.
#Development #Approaches
CSS custom properties vs. Sass variables · How you can combine both with a hybrid approach https://ilo.im/1637te
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#Sass #CSS #CustomProperties #Browser #DesignSystems #WebDesign #WebDev #Frontend
Continued thread
In the course, you'll learn how to:
- understand and prioritise your readers
- name and organise your documentation
- make documentation clear and easy to read
- review and test documentation
Let me know if you have any questions, and please share far and wide!
Naming Things in Design Systems—and Why It’s the Worst, by @pjonori.com:
pjonori.blogNaming things in design systems–and why it’s the worst
@brad_frost: Design systems are about human relationships | Brad Frost
https://bradfrost.com/blog/link/brad-frost-design-systems-are-about-human-relationships/
Brad Frost · Brad Frost: Design systems are about human relationshipsI had the extraordinary honor to appear on the Design Better podcast and talk with my friends Aarron Walter and Elijah Woolery. We talked about why we're still passionate about design systems after 12 years, the human side of design systems, the power of design tokens, our design tokens course, the
another issue of the Design Systems News curated newsletter is in the hopper.
If you're wanting a (almost) weekly newsletter of some of the best links to articles, tutorials, tools, examples, and more then you can sign up here:
news.design.systemsDesign Systems NewsA publication full of interesting, relevant, and curated links.
ICYMI
Always TwistedCreating Multiple Themes with Style DictionaryImplement mulitple themes in your design system using Style Dictionary. Learn to automate design tokens for seamless theming.
Always TwistedCreating Multiple Themes with Style DictionaryImplement mulitple themes in your design system using Style Dictionary. Learn to automate design tokens for seamless theming.
#Development #Pitfalls
The burden of custom form validations · When over-engineered form validations backfire https://ilo.im/16327e
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#Form #Validation #Browser #Library #Framework #WebComponents #DesignSystems #WebDev #Frontend #HTML
Dev Notes · The Thankless Complexity of Custom Form ValidationsGripes and gotchas from building custom form validation after hundreds of hours lost to retrofitting library form components, writing and rewriting field validations exactly as clients wanted, and building accessible form field web components at enterprise.
I wrote a new article in my Design Tokens Workflow Series
Always TwistedImplementing Multi-Brand Theming with Style DictionaryImplement mulitple brand theming in your design system using Style Dictionary. Learn to automate design tokens for seamless theming.
GIF
Mastering Typography in Design Systems With Semantic Tokens and Responsive Scaling, by @ikev007@x.com (@uxdesigncc):
have you ever wanted to use design tokens in Blender?
in my latest blog I break down the process of making a plugin that lets you import your color tokens from JSON and use them in shaders and geometry nodes #b3d #DesignSystems #design #ui #python
Just noticed there is a new design for Grok (Twitter). Additionally, all the options regarding functionality have been redesigned, including an important bunch of consistency. It was pretty necessary.
#TwitterDesign #GrokAI #UXDesign #UIDesign #AppRedesign #MobileUX #ProductDesign #DesignSystems #UserExperience #TechNews #AItools #ElonMusk #Microblogging
Your users of #DesignSystems are not the users of your application, they are the beneficiaries.
The devs implementing the system are your users. The worse that UX is, the less likely your design system will successfully be implemented.
Design Systems Report 2025, by @zeroheight:
https://zeroheight.com/how-we-document/design-system-report-2025-brought-to-you-by-zeroheight/
zeroheightDesign Systems Report 2025 - Brought to you by zeroheightThe fourth edition of the Design Systems Report by zeroheight showcases the current state of Design Systems in 2025.