Design Tokens vs Styles: What’s the Difference?

In Figma, Sketch, and code, we hear about styles and design tokens all the time.

But many designers (and even devs) still confuse them.

If you’re building a design system or trying to scale your UI work, understanding the difference is essential — especially when syncing design and development.

Let’s break it down in plain language.

🎨 What Are Styles?

Styles are presets used within design tools.
They group visual properties like color, typography, or effects into reusable named groups.

Examples:

• Text Style / Heading / Bold / 32px

• Color Style / Primary Blue

• Effect Style / Soft Shadow

💬 Styles keep your visual design consistent within tools like Figma.

🧠 What Are Design Tokens?

Design tokens are platform-agnostic variables that store design decisions — used in design and code.

Examples:

They're structured (usually in JSON), and power theming, dev handoff, and cross-platform consistency.

💬 Tokens bridge design tools and front-end code.

🔍 Key Differences: Tokens vs Styles

💬 Styles = consistency in design tools.
Tokens = consistency across the entire product.

✨ Where They Work Together

With Figma Variables, you can now:

• Define design tokens (colors, spacing, etc.)

• Apply them to components

• Still use styles as visual groupings powered by tokens

💬 Think of tokens as the source, and styles as one of the expressions.

🧘 Why This Matters

If you're scaling a design system:

• Tokens give you structure, logic, and theme control

• Styles help you move fast inside Figma

• Together, they create design systems that scale without breaking

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📘 A Token-Driven Design System That Keeps Things Simple

Sigma Design System is built around clean tokens, minimal components, and a layered structure that works in both Figma and front-end.

It’s intentionally simple — ideal for solo designers, startups, or anyone tired of bloated systems.