Stack Innovations / Services / Graphics & Design / Design Systems
Design Systems · Graphics & Design

Tokens that hold.
Products that cohere.

A design-systems practice that turns one-off screens into an architecture — named tokens, a governed component library, multi-brand theming, and the documentation that keeps a hundred-strong product org drawing from the same source of truth.

/01Drag the tokens · the card re-renders live
Token playground · live theme
12 tokens live
New

Acme Dashboard

Every surface here is painted by a token. Move a control and the component re-themes in real time.

v2.4
Tokens governed2,400
Avg. ship velocity2.3×
Components in libs340+
Brands themed18
02 — Outcomes

Systems that shipped.

A ledger of named engagements where the system did real work — velocity up, drift down, accessibility passed, brands unified. 6 of 24 shown · ledger updates as systems go live.

Northwind SaaS
System · Token core
Greenfield token architecture and a 90-component library wired into Figma and code in one quarter
+41%Ship velocity
Vela Bank
Multi-brand · Theming
One semantic token layer themed across 6 retail brands from a single source, no fork
6→1Codebases unified
Orbit Health
A11y · System
Contrast, focus and motion baked into tokens so every component ships accessible by default
100%WCAG AA pass
Forge Commerce
Component lib · Migration
Consolidated 4 divergent UI kits into one governed library with codemods and adoption dashboards
−68%Visual drift
Kit Devtools
Docs · Tokens
A living Storybook plus Zeroheight site that turned the system into self-serve documentation
3.2×Self-serve adoption
Pulse Media
Theming · Multi-product
One system theming five products and three platforms, light and dark, from a shared token graph
5→1Systems retired
03 — From token to product

One token.
Four passes.

Scroll. Watch a raw token map climb the road every system travels — JSON definition, a single styled component, a composed screen, a fully dressed product. Nothing is hand-painted; every pixel inherits from the tokens.

01/04
Pass 01 · Tokens
{
  "color": {
    "accent": "#F59E0B",
    "surface": "#16130E",
    "text":    "#F5EFE6"
  },
  "radius": { "md": "14px" },
  "space":  { "md": "16px" },
  "type":   { "h": "22px", "body": "14px" }
}
Token-built

Primary button

Radius, accent and spacing all pulled straight from the JSON above.

Revenue$48.2k
Active1,284
Adoption

Workspace

Shipped
Raw token JSON — the single source of truth, nothing rendered yet.
01
04 — Process · One system, six moves

Audit the surface.

We pull every screen, button, and shade already in production into one board. The drift is the brief — you can't systematize what you haven't honestly measured first.

/ Phase 01 · Audit
"We had 23 blues."— design lead, audit
"Nine button variants, all 'primary'."— front-end
"Nobody owns the spacing."— PM
240 screens23 blues1 truth

Name the tokens.

A three-tier scale — primitive, semantic, component. Raw values up top, intent in the middle, usage at the leaf. Name for meaning, never for appearance, so a re-theme never touches a component.

/ Phase 01 · Tokens

Build the components.

Every component consumes semantic tokens — never a raw hex. States, sizes, and slots are designed once and wired identically in Figma and code, so the library and the app can never disagree.

/ Phase 02 · Components
SourceFigma variables → Code Connect
BuildStyle Dictionary · CSS · JSON · Swift
StatesRest · hover · focus · disabled · loading
A11yFocus ring + contrast baked into tokens
RuleNo component touches a primitive directly

Compose the theme.

Semantic tokens let one component family wear many skins — light, dark, and a brand each. A theme is just a values swap at the semantic layer; nothing downstream knows it changed.

/ Phase 03 · Theming
AccentAmber · primary action
SurfaceInk · base canvas
SuccessEmerald · positive
TextBone · muted
RuleTheme at semantic, never at component

Govern the system.

A system with no owner rots in a month. We set contribution rules, a review path, versioned releases, and dashboards that show real adoption — so the system stays the easiest way to build, not a tax.

/ Phase 04 · Governance
Contribution model
RFC + review
Semver releases
Deprecation policy
Adoption dashboard
Linting + codemods
Changelog
Office hours
Owner + DRI
SLA on issues

Ship the docs.

Code without docs is a vault with no key. Living Storybook, a token reference, usage do/don'ts, and migration guides — the system becomes self-serve, so adoption doesn't depend on a Slack ping.

/ Phase 05 · Docs
TokensStyle Dictionary + JSON source
ComponentsStorybook · live · versioned
ReferenceZeroheight · token + usage docs
MigrationCodemods · upgrade guides
GovernanceContribution · RFC · changelog
05 — Live · one UI, two themes

Same UI.
Two themes.

One component, two value sets. Drag the slider to morph between a soft Calm theme and a high-contrast Bold one — radius, accent, density, contrast and elevation all swap live through tokens. A theme is a decision, not a redraw.

THEME · CALM tokens v2
Live Acme

Billing overview

Your plan renews in 12 days. Tokens below drive every value you see.

MRR$8.4k
Seats24
Soft · airy · low contrast Calm · roomy
Theme A · Calm
Soft · roomy · low contrast
Theme B · Bold
Sharp · dense · high contrast
Calm Bold
Radius14px · soft
SpacingRoomy · 1.4×
AccentAmber · muted
Type scaleGentle · 1.20
ElevationLow · soft shadow
DensityComfortable
06 — System · the kit beneath the kit

The kit beneath the kit.

A design system is itself a system — a type scale, a token table, governance rules, and the physics of how it all holds together. The jar below is real: drag any token to read its definition.

Type scale · display → caption
DisplayAa48 / 1.0
HeadingAa32 / 1.1
TitleAa22 / 1.3
BodyAa16 / 1.6
LabelAa13 / 1.4
CaptionAa11 / 1.4
Token table · the named values
color.accent#F59E0BColor
space.md16pxSpace
radius.md14pxRadius
elevation.20 8 24 / 24%Shadow
motion.fast160ms ease-outMotion
type.body16 / 1.6Type
Governance · house rules
Do Name by intent.
color.action, not color.amber-500.
Don't Hardcode a hex.
A raw value can never be re-themed.
Do Version every change.
Semver + changelog, so upgrades are safe.
Don't Fork to ship faster.
A fork is debt that compounds in a week.
Token jar · drag any chip
Drag a chip to read its definition.
07 — Tools · honest kit

The kit, shown.

No mystique. The apps we actually open every week to define tokens, build components, and ship the docs. If a tool isn't listed, we don't pretend to be fluent in it.

Design
Figma
Tokens
Tokens Studio
Components
Storybook
Build
Style Dictionary
Docs
Zeroheight
Docs
Supernova
Testing
Chromatic
Primitives
Radix
Styling
Tailwind
Handoff
Code Connect
Planning
Linear
Specs
Notion
Start the system

A system that scales.
Yours.

A token foundation, a governed component library, multi-brand theming, or a rescue of the system you already have. Tell us where the drift hurts — we'll send a plan and a token map, not a pitch deck.

Start a project
Accent
Hero shader
Motion