Designing State-Driven Components in Figma (Without Losing Your Mind)

Introduction: The State of Design Is… Complex

Modern UI components don’t just sit there—they respond. Buttons can be hovered, disabled, loading, or pressed. Inputs can be empty, filled, focused, or error-bound. Designing these stateful components without going crazy requires a smart approach in Figma.

In this article, we’ll break down how to build state-driven components using variants, properties, and variables—so your designs stay clean, scalable, and dev-ready.

1. What Are State-Driven Components?

A state-driven component is one that changes based on user interaction or system status.

🔁 Common state examples:

Button: Default, Hover, Pressed, Disabled, Loading
Input Field: Default, Focused, Error, Success, Disabled
Toggle: On, Off, Disabled
Tabs: Selected, Hovered, Unselected

🎯 These states must be planned, named, and handled inside your components—not hacked together frame-by-frame.

2. Avoid the “Variant Explosion” Trap

❌ Don’t create a separate variant for every possible combination:

Size + State + Type = 48 variants

✅ Instead, use structured component properties:

State: default, hover, active, disabled
Size: sm, md, lg
Type: primary, secondary

This way, you combine multiple axes of variation without duplicating everything.

📦 Use boolean and instance props where appropriate (e.g. isLoading, iconLeft, iconRight).

3. Use Variant Properties (Not Just Variant Names)

Inside your main component set, define variant properties:

Property	Values
`State`	Default, Hover, Pressed, Disabled
`Size`	Small, Medium, Large
`Has Icon`	True, False

Figma auto-generates toggles and dropdowns in the Instance Panel, making components easier to use and inspect.

🔄 Use clear, consistent property names (e.g. State, not buttonState).

4. Design for Every State (Even the Boring Ones)

Document the expected behavior of:

Disabled states (grayed out, non-clickable)
Loading states (spinners, skeletons)
Error or validation states
Focus and hover interactions

💡 Add small notes near your component:

✅ Disabled buttons should have 40% opacity and no shadow
⚠️ Inputs in error state should show red border + help text

Don’t assume developers will guess—make it obvious.

5. Use Interactive Components for Transitions

To preview how states change:

Link states together using prototype interactions (e.g. While Hovering, On Click)
Apply Smart Animate for smooth visual transitions
Test inside a prototype or handoff page

📽️ This helps stakeholders and devs understand behavior at a glance.

6. Connect to Tokens with Figma Variables

Instead of hardcoded styles, tie each variant to design tokens like:

color.button.primary.bg
color.input.error.border
font.label.sm
space.md

This makes it easy to maintain brand consistency and allows developers to match UI states with tokenized code.

🔗 Dev Mode will reflect the token names directly—no translation needed.

7. Organize States in Your Component Library

Make state variants visually easy to inspect:

Group by state (State = Default, then show all sizes)
Use section titles (e.g. Button / Hover, Input / Error)
Show components in action (e.g. filled input with label and error)

📁 Set up a page called 📦 Stateful Components or 🧪 UI States.

8. Provide Usage Guidance (Optional but Smart)

Document:

When to use each state
What triggers each state
What each state communicates

📝 Example:

Input / Error:
- Triggered on failed validation
- Border turns red, help text appears below
- Keep label in place to avoid layout shift

This builds trust and removes ambiguity.

Conclusion: Make the Invisible Behavior Visible

Your UI components have states. Ignoring them in design leads to bugs in dev. By structuring state-driven components properly in Figma—with variant props, tokens, and interaction—you bring your designs closer to reality.

And you do it without losing your mind.

Next up: “The Ultimate Checklist for Building Reusable Components in Figma” — a step-by-step list to bulletproof your library.