Design Process

Color Naming in Design Systems: Semantic, Functional, and Why Your Naming Breaks at Scale

Color naming in design systems is a solved problem that teams keep resolving incorrectly. The tension between descriptive names (blue-500), semantic names (color-interactive), and functional names (button-primary-background) has a correct resolution depending on design system maturity and team size — but most teams use an approach that works at one stage and fails as the system grows. Understanding the three-tier model prevents the most common naming collapses.