Feb 20, 2026
What Framer Variables Are and Why They Matter
One of the most powerful features in modern design tools is the ability to create reusable design tokens that automatically update across your entire project. Framer variables represent a fundamental shift in how designers approach scalability and consistency. Rather than manually updating colors, typography, spacing, and other design elements throughout your project, variables allow you to define these values once and apply them universally. This capability has become essential for teams managing complex design systems, client projects, and designs that need to adapt across different themes or breakpoints.
Whether you're building a design system for your agency, creating a client-handoff-friendly project, or building a template for resale, understanding Framer variables will fundamentally improve your design efficiency and scalability. This guide walks through everything you need to know about using variables in 2026.
Understanding Framer Variables
Framer variables are dynamic values that you can reference throughout your design and code. Instead of hardcoding a specific color or text style in multiple places, you create a variable once, then reference that variable wherever you need it. When you update the variable's value, every instance where that variable is used automatically updates as well. This is fundamentally different from static design decisions and represents a shift toward more maintainable, scalable design systems.
The importance of variables extends beyond mere convenience. Consider a scenario where you're designing a website for a client who wants to see their brand colors applied throughout a prototype. Without variables, you'd need to manually change dozens or even hundreds of color instances if the brand color changes. With variables, you update the variable once, and every element referencing that variable instantly reflects the change. This is where the true power emerges, especially when combined with Framer's theme and responsive design capabilities.
Variables also serve as a bridge between design and development. When developers understand that certain values are controlled by variables rather than arbitrary decisions embedded in components, they can more easily maintain the design system over time. This becomes especially valuable when you're working in a team environment or building templates that will be used by multiple people.
The Different Types of Framer Variables
Framer supports several variable types, each designed for different use cases. Understanding which type to use for each scenario will help you build more effective design systems and avoid common mistakes.
Color Variables
Color variables are perhaps the most commonly used variable type. They store color values and are essential for maintaining consistent color palettes across your design. You can define a color variable once, apply it to multiple elements, and then adjust the color globally by simply editing the variable. This is particularly useful for creating theme systems where light mode and dark mode use different color palettes. When you create a color variable, you can specify different values for different themes, allowing you to maintain a single variable that adapts its appearance based on which theme is currently active.
Color variables are more flexible than static color styles because they can vary based on context. A color variable called "Primary" might be blue in your light theme but a slightly different shade of blue in your dark theme. You control these different values through the variables panel, and your design automatically adapts. This is invaluable for building accessible designs that maintain proper contrast ratios across different color schemes.
Text Variables
Text variables store text content and are useful for creating localization-ready designs or managing dynamic text that might change. Unlike text styles which control formatting, text variables control the actual content. This is particularly valuable when building templates that clients will customize or when creating designs that need to support multiple languages. A text variable might contain your website's headline, and you can update it once in the variables panel rather than editing multiple text layers throughout your design.
Boolean Variables
Boolean variables store true or false values and are useful for controlling visibility states or conditional logic. You might use a boolean variable to control whether a particular section is visible, whether a navigation menu is open or closed, or whether a certain feature is enabled. In combination with Framer's interactions, boolean variables enable sophisticated prototype behavior where toggling a variable value affects multiple elements simultaneously.
Number Variables
Number variables store numeric values and are invaluable for controlling spacing, sizing, opacity, and other measurable properties. Rather than hardcoding spacing values throughout your design, you can create number variables for different spacing scales (small, medium, large, extra-large) and then reference these variables consistently. This ensures that your spacing system remains coherent throughout your design. Number variables can also be used to control animation timing, rotation values, or any other numeric property in your design.
Creating and Managing Variables in the Variables Panel
Accessing and managing variables in Framer is straightforward. The variables panel is your central hub for creating, organizing, and editing all variables in your project. This panel shows all your existing variables organized by type and allows you to create new ones.
When creating a new variable, you'll need to specify its type (color, text, boolean, or number), give it a descriptive name, and set its default value. Good naming conventions are crucial. Using a consistent naming structure such as prefixing with the variable type or the system it belongs to makes your variable panel easy to navigate and understand. For example, you might name color variables like "Color/Primary", "Color/Secondary", "Color/Success" to keep them organized. Similarly, spacing variables might be named "Spacing/Small", "Spacing/Medium", "Spacing/Large".
Once you've created a variable, you can reference it throughout your design by selecting elements and choosing the variable from dropdown menus in the design panel. When you apply a variable to an element property, you'll see the variable name displayed instead of a static value. This visual distinction makes it clear which properties are controlled by variables and which are static, helping you maintain consistency.
Using Variables for Consistent Design Tokens
Design tokens are the building blocks of design systems. They represent design decisions like colors, typography, spacing, shadows, and other visual properties. Variables in Framer are the mechanism through which you implement design tokens in your design. By creating a comprehensive set of variables that represent your design tokens, you create a single source of truth for all your design decisions.
A well-designed token system typically includes several layers. At the foundation, you have core tokens like your brand colors and base spacing units. Building on this foundation, you create component tokens that are specific to certain components. For example, you might have "Button/Background/Primary" that references your primary color variable, or "Card/Spacing/Padding" that references your spacing unit variable.
This layered approach means that if your brand color changes, you only need to update the core token, and all component tokens that reference it automatically update. You're not just storing values; you're creating a semantic system where design decisions are related to and dependent on each other, making your design system more maintainable and coherent. For a deeper dive into building design systems, see our article on building a design system in Framer.
Variable Collections and Theme Management
One of the most advanced features of Framer variables is the ability to create variable collections, which allow you to group variables together and create different sets of values for different contexts. The most common use case is creating theme variations, particularly light mode and dark mode designs.
To create a theme system, you first define your variables in what's called the default collection. Then, you create a new collection (perhaps called "Dark Mode") and specify alternative values for your variables within that collection. The key insight is that the variable names remain the same, but their values change based on which collection is active. When you switch between collections, your entire design updates automatically to reflect the values in that collection.
This approach is far superior to manually creating separate designs or color styles for each theme. Instead of maintaining two separate designs that inevitably diverge over time, you maintain one design with multiple value sets. Your components, layouts, and interactions remain identical; only the values they reference change. This makes theme switching not just possible but elegant and maintainable.
Beyond light and dark mode, variable collections can represent any contextual variation. You might have a collection for a specific client, a collection for a particular market or language, or collections that represent different brand variations. The flexibility here enables you to build truly adaptable designs that work across different contexts without duplicating your component structure.
Responsive Variables Across Breakpoints
In modern web design, responsive design isn't optional — it's essential. Framer allows you to create variables that change values based on breakpoints, enabling you to define responsive behavior directly in your variables. This is particularly useful for spacing, sizing, and other properties that should adapt to different screen sizes.
For example, you might create a variable called "Spacing/Container" that equals 40 pixels on mobile, 60 pixels on tablet, and 80 pixels on desktop. Rather than creating separate components or overriding values for different breakpoints throughout your design, you define this variation once in the variable, and your design automatically adapts as you switch between breakpoints in the Framer canvas.
This approach scales remarkably well. Instead of managing dozens of overrides scattered throughout your design, you have a clear, centralized place where you've documented how your design should adapt across different screen sizes. When you need to adjust responsive behavior, you know exactly where to look and can confidently make changes knowing that the update will apply consistently across your design.
Variables in Code Components
For teams building code components or using Framer's custom code features, variables offer powerful capabilities. You can access variables programmatically within code components, allowing your custom code to respond to variable changes in real time. This bridges the gap between design and development, allowing developers to build components that respect your design tokens.
When you define a variable and expose it as a property in a code component, non-technical team members can modify that component's behavior by changing variable values through the Framer interface. This eliminates the need to edit code for simple customizations. A developer might create a button component that accepts color and spacing variables as inputs, allowing designers to customize the button's appearance through the variables panel without touching any code.
This capability becomes especially valuable when working on collaborative projects or when handing off code components to other team members. By exposing key design decisions as variables, you make your components more flexible and easier to use for people without deep code knowledge. For more details on building sophisticated code components, check out our guide on how to add custom code to your Framer website.
Variables vs Text Styles vs Color Styles
Framer offers three related but distinct features for managing design decisions: variables, text styles, and color styles. Understanding the differences and knowing when to use each is crucial for building effective design systems.
Color styles store predefined colors and are a foundational feature in Framer. However, color styles are static — they can't have multiple values for different themes or breakpoints. If you need your primary color to change in dark mode, a color style alone won't work. Variables, on the other hand, can have multiple values across different collections and breakpoints, making them more flexible for complex design systems.
Text styles control text formatting like font family, font size, font weight, and line height. They're perfect for maintaining consistent typography throughout your design. However, text styles are specifically for formatting; they don't manage text content or store values that aren't related to typography. Variables, by contrast, can store any type of content, making them more versatile.
In a well-designed system, you'd typically use color styles or variables for colors (with variables being preferred if you need theme variations), text styles for typography, and variables for content, spacing, and other numeric or boolean properties. They're complementary tools that work together to create comprehensive design systems.
Practical Use Cases for Framer Variables
Theme Switching and Dark Mode
One of the most practical applications of Framer variables is enabling theme switching. With variables, you can create a single design where colors are defined through variables. You then create a dark mode collection with alternative color values. Your design stays the same; only the colors change when users switch themes. This is far more maintainable than maintaining separate designs or manually creating dark mode overrides throughout your project.
Localization-Ready Designs
When designing for global audiences, you often need to support multiple languages. Text variables make this straightforward. You can create variables for all user-facing text strings, then create different collections for different languages. Your layout remains unchanged; only the text content varies. This approach ensures that your design accommodates different language lengths and maintains consistency across languages.
Client-Handoff-Friendly Projects
One of the most valuable applications of variables is in client handoff scenarios. When you build a website or template with well-organized variables, you make it much easier for clients to customize the design without breaking anything. Clients can change brand colors, adjust spacing, modify content, and adapt the design to their needs simply by editing variables, rather than digging into components or editing multiple layers. This dramatically reduces support burden and client frustration. Learn more about this approach in our comprehensive guide to handing off a website to clients.
Design System Maintenance
If you're responsible for maintaining a design system that multiple teams use, variables are essential. By documenting your design tokens as variables and organizing them logically, you create a clear reference for what values should be used in your design system. When you need to update the system, variables make these updates efficient and traceable. Everyone referencing your design system knows exactly which variables to use and can easily update their designs when the system changes.
Best Practices for Using Framer Variables
Establishing good habits with variables early in your project will save you time and headaches as your project grows. The most important practice is to be intentional about your variable structure from the start. Don't create variables haphazardly; instead, think about your design system holistically and plan your variables accordingly.
Naming conventions matter enormously. Use clear, hierarchical naming that makes it obvious what each variable does and how it relates to other variables. A variable named "Color/Primary" is immediately understandable; a variable named "Main" creates confusion. Consider using a structure like "Category/Subcategory/Variant" for your variable names. This makes your variables panel easy to navigate and reduces the cognitive load when you're trying to remember which variable to use.
Document your design tokens and variable system. This might be a simple document that explains what each variable is for, what values it holds, and when to use it. This documentation is invaluable for onboarding new team members and for your own reference when you return to a project after some time away.
Keep your variables organized and prune unused variables regularly. As projects evolve, you may create variables that end up not being used. Periodically review your variables panel and remove variables that aren't referenced anywhere in your design. This keeps your variables panel clean and makes it easier to navigate.
Test your variable system across different collections and breakpoints. Before committing fully to a complex variable system, test it by creating multiple collections (like light and dark mode) and switching between them. Test how your responsive variables work across different breakpoints. This validation phase helps you identify issues before you've built an entire design system on potentially flawed logic.
Variables represent a fundamental shift in how we approach design in 2026. They're not just a convenience feature; they're a core part of modern design practice. By mastering variables, you're adopting best practices that will make you a better designer regardless of which tools you use. Whether you're building a template, working on a client project, or creating a design system for your organization, variables will improve your workflow and the quality of your designs.
