Source Foundation: Multi-Brand Design Systems Plugin

Here is another one, a deep dive video where I talk about dynamic color palettes and how they are important for multi-brand design systems

Hello, thank you for your post; I read your article with interest. I’m currently in charge of a large multi-brand design system, managing 15 brands, each requiring specific customization. Do you have any insights on how to handle this? Using variable modes doesn’t seem feasible in this case.

Hey. Modes are the only way to achieve variety. What kind of customization each brand requires?

Okay

Customizations like : styles (all type), variables (almost all type), and some blocs, that can be different between the brands, like hero sections

For now we made one design system that we duplicate and customize for each brand

Unfortunately there is no perfect solution at the moment. I do copy master file for every new project. I use Source Foundation to customize tokens per project needs and I use it to upgrade project copy later. However there is no easy way to swap variables bound to a project file…

Other way around is to follow official guidelines, which are making modes per brand. But is does not seem to be a good option as you get only 4 variable modes on most paid plans and to get up to 40 you need to be in enterprise subscription…

Hence why I choose the former and build toolset around that workflow. Still upgrading project copies is a pain, but you get some benefits in return.

Okay, thank you very much for sharing your experience. I didn’t know that Figma increased the modes limit in Enterprise plan since the launch of the variables. It could be a solution, but it’s a very high cost for a small gain.

Have a nice day