Design System Glossary

Design tokens taxonomy

Design tokens taxonomy is the naming convention and structural hierarchy you use to organise tokens — the single biggest determinant of whether a token system scales or collapses. The standard pattern is category.concept.property.variant.state (for example color.background.surface.elevated.hover), giving every token a predictable, parseable shape.

A clear taxonomy makes the reference → semantic → component chain navigable, lets Style Dictionary or Tokens Studio transform tokens reliably, and prevents the "what do I call this" debate from absorbing review time. Nathan Curtis's "Naming Tokens" essay is the canonical reference; the W3C Design Tokens Community Group format spec is the emerging standard for the file structure itself.