Designs systems can come with a complicated vocabulary, so we've defined some common terms found inside (and outside!) Supernova.
A
Active exporter — The enabled exporter for a particular action
Asset — Exportable components (eg. icons)
Approval workflow — Track documentation pages by status to ensure changes are reviewed
Automatic update / Autoupdate — Checks for changes from your design system files periodically (from Figma)
B
Base value — The core value assigned to a token, before any overrides (eg. theme values) are applied
Block — Any content you add to your documentation
Brand — Variations of a single design system, assigned to different brands
Build — A single run of a specific exporter that points to a specific design system and version
C
Changes — Documentation pages that have been edited but not yet published
Code preview — Preview the output of running an exporter
Collection — In Figma, collections and groups are used to organize variables
Component — A collection of smaller aspects of design elements, used in UX and design patterns throughout your brand or product
Current draft — The version of your design system/documentation that is currently being edited or in progress
Custom exporter — Exporters that are created from scratch or customized versions of existing exporters added to the workspace
Custom properties — Properties that can be added to tokens and components
D
Default documentation exporter — The default exporter for the documentation site
Default domain — The URL for accessing for your documentation site
Design source — An integration that acts as a source for the design system (Figma file, Tokens Studio, Figma Variables Sync plugin)
Design system — A set of reusable components, styles, and tokens guided by standards that are used to build products or applications, and instruction for how they should be used in design.
Design system data — Anything you have added to your design system in Supernova (tokens, components, assets or fonts)
Documentation — Documentation contains all the information about a design system
Documentation editor — The edit mode of the documentation site
Documentation exporter — An exporter for the documentation site
Documentation preview — A preview of your documentation site before it is published
Draft — Edit multiple documentation pages simultaneously as drafts
E
Event — When a specified event happens inside the design system, a pipeline will run
Exporter — A package that transforms design system data into production code
F
Figma component — A component imported from Figma
Font source — The source file of a font that is used in your design system
Fonts — Groups of text characters in specific styles and sizes used in your design system
Frames — A top-level container for components or areas within your design
G
Guidelines — Rules and examples of best practices in your design system
I
Import — Design system content that is imported from a data source into Supernova
Import checklist — A number of criteria that must be met in order for your content to be importable
Import summary — A summary of the content that was imported, imported with issues, or failed to import
Import updates — A button that triggers Supernova to import all changes that have been made and published in your data source files
L
Last updated / Latest updates — A timestamp or summary of the last updates for a certain element in your design system
Latest version — The most recently published version of your design system/documentation
M
Mention — Mention a user in the documentation editor to notify them directly
Modes — In Figma, different contexts for variables that can be applied to designs
O
Override — When a theme value is layered on top of a matching token’s values in the design system
P
Pipeline — A code pipeline that automatically watches for events in the design system, runs a specified exporter, and delivers the resulting code to your chosen destination
Profile — Your personal Supernova profile
Properties — Add information to components in your design system
Property type — Type of value that a property can have
Property value — Value of property applied to a token or component
R
Reference — The link between a referenced token’s value and the value of the token it was created from
Role — Users can be assigned a specific role that allows them certain permissions
S
Seat — If a team member in your workspace has a role other than Viewer or Billing, they occupy a paid seat
Selective publishing — Publish specific pages of your documentation only
Scope — Which parts of your data sources are imported to your design system, and what they’re being used for.
Selected brand — The brand you would like to use tokens from to configure styling for your documentation
Styles — In Figma, styles are a defined set of properties or attributes of an object. Styles are imported to Supernova as tokens.
T
Theme — A set of overrides for token values in a design system
Theme token — A token contained within a theme
Theme value — The value of an override for a single token as part of a theme
Token — Style definitions in your design system that can be consumed by the codebases and projects using your design system, consisting of a name and value, and an optional description.
V
Variables — In Figma, reusable values that can be applied to design properties
Version — A snapshot of your design system and documentation content at one moment
W
Workspace — The home for your design systems and where your team will collaborate