Enhancing Design-Dev Collaboration with Design tokens

Oper Credits, like many companies, faced significant hurdles when it came to the developer handoff process and smooth collaboration between designers and developers. The designers were spending valuable time creating meticulous design specs and style guides, only for developers to struggle with interpretation and implementation. This resulted in frustrating back-and-forth exchanges, leading to delays and compromised design integrity.

It was clear that a more efficient and streamlined approach was necessary to bridge this gap effectively.

To address the challenges surrounding design and development collaboration, Lorenz (one of our pandas) undertook a comprehensive process to create and integrate design systems and design tokens into Oper’s workflow.

This involved the following steps:

1. Research and Analysis: We conducted an in-depth analysis of our existing design and development processes, identifying pain points and areas of improvement. We also examined industry best practices and studied successful case studies of organizations that had implemented design systems.


2. Collaborative Workshops: We brought together our designers and developers in a collaborative workshop to foster better understanding and open communication between the two teams. We shared insights from our research and encouraged participants to share their experiences and challenges, fostering a shared sense of ownership in finding a solution.

3. Design System Development: Based on the workshop outcomes and our research, we began developing a comprehensive design system that would serve as a single source of truth for design elements, patterns, and components. This included establishing standardized guidelines for typography, color palettes, spacing, and layout, ensuring consistency across projects.

4. Design Tokens Implementation: As an integral part of our design system, we adopted design tokens to provide a bridge between design and development. Design tokens allowed us to define and organize design properties such as colors, typography, and spacing in a way that could be easily consumed and implemented by developers, ensuring design fidelity throughout the development process.

The implementation of design systems and design tokens at Oper Credits had a transformative impact on our developer handoff process and design-dev collaboration. To ensure seamless synchronization between our design tools and the codebase, we utilized Figma, a collaborative design platform, along with the popular Tokens Studio plugin. By integrating these tools into our workflow and connecting the tokens plugin to GitLab for version control, we established a robust 1-on-1 link between design and production code.

Our new workflow yielded numerous benefits:

1. Streamlined Collaboration: Figma served as a centralized hub where designers and developers could collaborate in real-time, ensuring consistent communication and reducing misinterpretation.


2. Consistency and Efficiency: Design systems and design tokens provided a standardized set of guidelines, enabling the team to maintain design consistency across projects and reducing the time spent on recreating design specifications.


3. Clear Communication: The use of design tokens as a shared language between designers and developers facilitated precise implementation and reduced ambiguity, resulting in a smoother handoff process.


4. Scalability and Adaptability: The implementation of design systems and design tokens allowed for easier onboarding of new team members, promoting faster project kick-offs and reducing ramp-up time.


5. Version Control and Synchronization: By integrating Figma and the Tokens plugin with GitLab, we achieved a continuous link between design and production, ensuring that the latest design assets were always accessible to developers.

By leveraging design systems and design tokens, Oper Credits successfully improved its developer handoff process and design-dev collaboration.

The implementation of these tools not only streamlined their workflow but also fostered better communication, enhanced consistency, and increased overall efficiency.

At PandaPanda, we believe that the adoption of design systems and design tokens is a crucial step for any company providing software or digital services looking to deliver outstanding digital experiences.