What is the primary role of states in design?

The primary role of states in design is to represent the status of components or interactive elements. States help communicate to users what is happening within an interface at any given moment. For instance, states can illustrate whether a button is active, disabled, hovered over, or clicked, thus providing critical visual feedback. This is essential for creating intuitive interactions, as users rely on these cues to understand how to engage with the interface effectively.

While other aspects of design, such as color variations, layout, and user feedback, play important roles in overall user experience, the function of states is specifically tied to managing and communicating the different conditions and interactions of interface elements, making it a key concept in user interface design.