Design token planning requires strategic alignment before execution, with five pillars: strategy, governance, infrastructure, architecture, and maintenance¶
Insight: Philipp Jeroma emphasizes 'do not build tokens because someone requested it; build them because they solve a specific problem.' The five pillars are: identifying what problems tokens solve, clarifying ownership, establishing source of truth infrastructure, defining naming conventions and tiers, and planning maintenance/documentation. Key distinction: tokens are framework-agnostic recipes; variables are implementation in specific tools.
Detail: Practical recommendations include planning with real UI examples, running naming workshops with designers and developers, using Figma library analytics to guide decisions, automating documentation, and versioning tokens semantically. Philosophy: 'Start small and iterate. Big leaps are expensive.'