Extracting and Normalizing the System

Day 28 of 30 · The Playbook 2026 – Masterclass for Designers

Resolve divergences: choose final tokens, component variants, and states.


Learning Goal

  • Select final token set (color, type, spacing, radius, shadow).
  • Reduce component variants to the essentials.
  • Unify states.
  • Deprecation list and migration plan.
  • Dev-aligned implementation plan.

Why This Matters

  • Extra variants cost to maintain.
  • Unification speeds delivery and improves quality.
  • Without deprecation chaos returns.

Examples

Bad: Keep 5 CTA styles “just in case.”

Good: 2 CTA variants, documented bans, deprecation plan.


Guided Exercise

  1. Pick final token values from inventory.
  2. Reduce component variants; make a matrix.
  3. Write deprecation and comms plan.

Independent Exercise

Align with a developer on migration order.


Self-Check

  • Final token list ready.
  • Variant reduction documented.
  • Deprecation plan exists.