In one sentence: Design tokens are a standardized way of defining constants used in a design system.
If most developers haven't heard of them, it's because most developers don't create design systems. Even when you use a design system, the actual use of design tokens would likely be hidden.
yeah, still don't get what is all the fuzz is about. defining symbols systematically (e.g. with some hierarchy) and having constants mapping symbols to values - all is a no-brainer
Well you could distill most "modern" methods to one subtitle of The Mythical Man-Month book: Plan the system for change.
TDD, DDD, extreme programming etc come from the same observation: the client does not know their needs. Even if they do, those could change. So you want to build systems which are easy to change. And we still get thousands of pages published in the form of books or blog post for something written and explained in a book almost 50 years ago.
The fuzz is about writing 2,000 words on a simple concept in impenetrable jargon in order to better demonstrate the thought leadership of your practice and the need for deep consultation to translate the aforementioned impenetrable jargon into simple language so mere plebes can implement the advice.
Not true. This kind of comment is exactly why most of us flock to this site. It's important to point out when the emperor wears no clothes. There's already an army of self-promotipn types forcing this nonsense onto everyone.
I mean it's kinda jargony and yeah kinda like #define, but I think the idea is specifying a namespace and specific types with a focus on UI/UX design.
In C you'd maybe do it by prefixing all the relevant macros with DESIGN_foo but I think part of the goal of this is outlining all the potential "Foo"s and utilizing it to maintain consistency across a large organization
If most developers haven't heard of them, it's because most developers don't create design systems. Even when you use a design system, the actual use of design tokens would likely be hidden.
Material Design uses them. https://m3.material.io/foundations/design-tokens/overview
Fluent UI uses them. https://fluent2.microsoft.design/design-tokens