The anatomy of a symbol, and how they power your design system pattern library

Definition | “Symbols” (which we sometimes refer to more generically as components) are the true bricks of the house that is your product – this includes stand alone symbols, or atoms, and more complex molecules/organisms that contain multiple nested symbols

Naming | the two main considerations when determining a naming structure for your symbols are:

1. Aligning with your design & dev shared language glossary (i.e. making sure everyone is unified in what certain components are called)
2. Ease of users finding the symbols in your Sketch Library dropdown menu

Structure | it is important to create scale within your symbols, but to also consider simplicity and avoid over-engineering the structure – we go over more explicity guidance on the next page

Styling | use your system Layer & Text styles wherever possible within your symbols, avoid one-off styling at all costs, as this creates inconsistencies

Application | drag and drop! It is also possible to link symbols as nests between library, using DSM managed Sketch libraries