Figma Variables Explained: The Complete Guide to Adaptive, Scalable Design Systems
Figma’s variables can transform your design system, boosting consistency and efficiency. Here’s everything you need to know, simplified and broken down for anyone to understand.
What Are Variables in Figma? 🐙
Figma variables are reusable, adaptable values that you define once and apply across your project. Variables can contain information like colors, font sizes, spacings, and even theming details. When a variable is updated, every place it’s used in your design changes automatically.
In simple terms, variables are like “smart labels” that you can attach to design properties. Want to change the main button color across all screens? Just update the color variable, it’s that easy.
Why Do Variables Exist? ⏳
Variables were introduced to solve a few key problems that designers commonly face:
Maintaining Consistency: For large projects, it’s crucial to keep colors, font sizes, and spacings consistent across hundreds of screens. Variables make this easy by allowing centralized control.
Saving Time: Instead of updating each design element manually, variables let you make one change that cascades across the entire project. This saves loads of time, especially with complex designs.
Theming and Adaptive Design: With variables, you can quickly switch between themes (like dark and light modes) or make designs responsive to different screen sizes.
Aligning with Development: Developers already use variables in code, so this makes design-to-development handoff easier. Everyone’s working with the same values, reducing errors.
How Do Variables Work in Figma? 🪄
Variables are organized into Collections and Modes to make adaptive design easy to manage.
Collections
Collections are groups of variables organized by function, like “Colors,” “Text Styles,” or “Spacing.” For example, you might have a “Brand Colors” collection and a “Secondary Colors” collection.
This organization keeps everything tidy and makes it easy to locate specific variables, even in a large project.
Modes
Modes let you create variations within a collection — think of them as different “versions” of the same set of variables.
For example, a “Colors” collection might have two modes: Light Mode and Dark Mode. Each mode contains the same color names but with different values, so switching from light to dark mode is seamless.
Applying Variables
To use a variable, select an element, like a shape or text, and choose the variable to link it to. Now, when you update the variable, any element using it will change automatically.
When and Why Should You Use Variables? 🤔
When to Use Variables
Theming: If you’re creating designs with multiple themes (like a light and dark mode), variables are perfect. Set up modes in your color collection, and you can toggle themes with ease.
Responsive Design: Variables make it easier to adjust layouts for different screen sizes, letting you define sizes or spacings that adapt based on the screen.
System Maintenance: If you’re building or managing a design system, variables keep things consistent across multiple screens or projects without needing frequent manual updates.
Why Use Variables?
Easy Updates: Change one variable, and your whole project updates. This means less work and a faster design process.
Consistency: When multiple designers are working on a project, using variables ensures everyone sticks to the same color palette, fonts, and other design elements.
Scalability: Variables make it easier to expand a design system without introducing errors or inconsistencies.
Adaptive Design: Responsive interfaces and themes become manageable with variables, as you only need to change values in one place.
Related Concepts 🔮
Figma variables integrate seamlessly with other key design elements in Figma, making your design process even smoother.
Components and Variants
Variables bring additional flexibility to components and variants. You can apply variables to different properties of a component, like background colors or font sizes, making each variant easy to adjust.
Styles
Styles in Figma help save and reuse properties like color, text, and effects. Variables enhance styles by making them adaptable. For instance, you can link a style to a color variable, so changing the variable updates every instance of that style across the project.
Design Tokens
Variables work similarly to design tokens in development. They act as a bridge between design and code, where variables from Figma can translate directly to values in code. This streamlines the design-dev workflow and keeps everyone on the same page.
Variables vs. Styles: What’s the Difference?
Both styles and variables improve design consistency but serve different purposes:
Styles are fixed and best for static, unchanging values, like a fixed color or text style you’ll use repeatedly.
Variables are adaptable and ideal for values that need flexibility, like themes or values that should change across devices or contexts.
Variables in Figma are a game-changer for building adaptable, scalable, and consistent design systems. By using them, you can control key aspects of your design from a single place, making updates fast and keeping your entire project cohesive. Whether you’re managing a single theme or juggling multiple, variables save time and reduce errors, transforming the way you work.
Ready to try variables in Figma? Start with a small project and see how they improve your workflow. You’ll find that variables make designing not just faster but a whole lot easier!
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