A scalable Figma design system should be structured around design tokens — centralized variables for colors, typography, spacing, radius, shadows, and other UI properties. Instead of hardcoding styles inside components, every component references tokens, so when a global token changes (like a brand color or font scale), both the design and frontend update consistently.

Core Structure

• Primitive tokens → Base values like blue-500, font-size-16, spacing-8
• Semantic tokens → Context-based names like primary-button-bg, heading-text, success-color
• Component tokens → Button, card, modal, input-specific styles built from semantic tokens

How It Syncs With Frontend

• Use Figma Variables / Tokens Studio to manage tokens centrally
• Export tokens as JSON
• Sync them into frontend frameworks using tools like:
  • Style Dictionary
  • Tailwind config
  • CSS variables
  • Material UI / Chakra / Styled Components themes