What are Variants in Figma?
Learn how variants let you manage multiple component states in one organized set.
Intro (short definition)
Variants in Figma let you group different versions of a component together in one place. Instead of creating separate components for every button style or state, you can keep them all inside a single “component set” and switch between them easily.
Deep Dive (how they work + why they matter)
Think of a button: you might need primary, secondary, hover, pressed, and disabled styles. Without variants, you’d end up managing five separate components. With variants, all of those versions live inside one component set, and you can swap between them using simple properties like “Type” or “State.”
Variants make it easier to design consistently, reduce clutter in your libraries, and speed up prototyping. They also work beautifully with Auto Layout, Components, and Variables. Together, they give you the flexibility to build complex design systems that stay organized and easy to scale.
For example, clients often ask how to manage buttons in different states (default, hover, pressed, disabled) without clutter — variants keep all those states inside one neat component set.
Use Cases (practical examples)
Creating button sets with hover, pressed, and disabled states
Managing multiple card layouts (e.g., image card, text-only card, product card)
Designing form inputs that switch between filled, error, and success states
Building Design Systems that remain clean and easy to maintain
