There are certainly other ways of creating Design Tokens. And Brand.ai also has other functionality that goes beyond this. there are other ways of approaching Design Tokens such as Sales Force’s Theo project.
Yesterday I shared a preview of an integration with ZURB Foundation I am working on. Today I want to answer the “why” question.
What does Brand.ai offer that makes it a compelling offer?
1. Done for you solution
Rather than spending a bunch of time configuring and dealing with things such as Grunt or Gulp (JavaScript based build systems) you can spend your time focusing on the design.
You can spend your time better understanding the design system and the requirements of it.
2. Separates the input from the output
You use a web interface to pick colors (or copy and paste hex codes from your favorite design app), choose typography options and otherwise arrange other assets.
3. Encourages you to be concise
Because the way the app is designed, it will not be an easy feat to add hundreds of colors.
4. Structured and organized
It encourages you to break up colors into sets which will be annotated in the exported files with comments.
5. Converts your styles into formats for each platform
There are implementation notes for each system. Websites and iOS apps use a different color format and different files to accomplish the same things.
6. It crazy easy to change things later
If you integrate it into your build process, then the next time an app is built, it will roll out with the same changes.
What kind of changes?
Color contrast accessibility modifications. New colors. Revised branding colors. Changing of a font or weight of a font. These are just four ideas, but the possibilities are immense.
Tomorrow I will discuss how I set up a basic set of Design Tokens using Brand.ai.