Emanuele Cimmelli reflects on his shift in perspective about design systems—from seeing them as limiting rules to understanding their value in creating consistent, user-friendly products. He walks readers through a step-by-step approach to building a design system, starting with wireframes and laying a solid foundation with typography, color palettes, and spacing.
Cimmelli highlights the role of design tokens, which are reusable values that ensure consistency across different design properties, and explains how to implement them in Figma using variables. He also discusses semantic tokens, which give specific meanings to design elements, making the design process clearer and more adaptable.
Drawing from his work on MotorLog, a vehicle management app, Cimmelli shares practical advice on applying these concepts to real-world projects. He demonstrates how a well-thought-out design system simplifies the design and development process and enhances team collaboration and scalability.
