It is solely been about 5 years since Figma first made its debut on this planet of design, and three years since I begrudgingly agreed to undertake it as a design collaboration instrument for my crew. Mastering the total Adobe Inventive Suite (whereas additionally staying updated on its fixed evolution) is already an arduous enterprise. When confronted with a request to shift my crew’s restricted assets in the direction of studying one thing model new and never but confirmed out there, I could not assist however be uncertain. Adobe is the gold commonplace for design in spite of everything, and as they saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, why repair it?” 

I am not afraid to confess once I’m fallacious, and relating to my apprehension about Figma, I used to be so fallacious. In 5 quick years, Figma has turn into a family identify in design circles. To borrow some phrases from the distinguished College of Visible Ideas, “now UX designers, visible designers, UX writers, product managers, presentation designers, Mac customers, PC customers, your cat, and nearly all people else has jumped on the Figma practice.”  

To stay related in a world the place 91 p.c of audiences demand visible content material as their major type of info supply, it is crucial that organizations of all sizes leverage the most recent and best instruments. What started as a instrument for UX design has developed into a robust content material design platform that everybody (sure, even non-designers) in your group can profit from. So whether or not you are a designer, marketer, enterprise chief, or the corporate cat, it is time to be taught Figma. Listed below are three causes to grasp this new platform. 

In 2013, Adobe made waves within the design group with its preliminary launch of the Adobe Inventive Cloud. By shifting their industry-leading design, animation, and improvement software program to the cloud for a low month-to-month payment, their instruments grew to become way more accessible and inexpensive for all. However constructing a cloud-based resolution from a legacy software program suite got here with its personal hurdles. Customers nonetheless have to obtain native apps to their gadget to make use of Adobe’s merchandise, making real-time collaboration from a number of, disparate customers directly not possible to attain. 

Figma, then again, offers an answer to those roadblocks. By creating a brand new, fully browser-based design instrument, the founders of Figma have been capable of reimagine the methods during which we create content material. For instance, 

• Designers can keep high quality management whereas getting real-time enter from stakeholders around the globe.  

• In contrast to Adobe merchandise the place anybody collaborating on a challenge must have their very own Inventive Cloud account to view and touch upon tasks, stakeholders don’t have to have a paid Figma account to entry content material. 
• For novice designers and non-designers alike, studying Figma is less complicated than Adobe just because it was developed with all consumer sorts in thoughts. Adobe merchandise are extraordinarily highly effective, however constructed particularly to serve the wants of the skilled designer, developer, or animator. 

I’m not suggesting that Figma can merely exchange Adobe merchandise, and Figma does not imply it both. In actual fact, they proudly state “should you’re photo-editing, select Adobe Photoshop. In case you’re doing detailed illustrations, Adobe Illustrator is a no brainer.” However Figma was created initially as a UX design instrument that simply surpasses Adobe XD. And as extra designers have taken to the instrument, it has continued to cater to them. At the moment designers can edit and create vector art work in Figma, import SVG code, export Lottie animations, and a lot extra. 

Whereas you should purchase extensions to extend the potential of the Adobe suite, putting in and utilizing them may be cumbersome. Figma’s open-source framework, nonetheless, is constructed to energy up your workflow with plugins, integrations, and templates developed by a group of avid customers. Some examples embody, 

• Connecting Figma to Unsplash to rapidly supply high-quality inventory pictures as you’re designing. 
• Creating an organization-wide knowledge visualization system by Figma’s knowledge viz plugins. As soon as prepared, anybody in your crew can merely enter knowledge and watch the charts and graphs populate accordingly. 
• Importing a wide range of icon households into your Figma account to rapidly pull iconography into your designs.  
• Connecting with Slack or Groups to make challenge collaboration even simpler. 
• Leveraging FigJam to convey distant groups collectively by highly effective on-line whiteboarding and brainstorming instruments, which is in contrast to the rest you may discover on-line. 

There are literally thousands of extensions already accessible, and the checklist retains rising. With so many choices on the market, one can simply get misplaced exploring what’s doable. To fight this and management high quality, Figma simply instituted their first annual Neighborhood Awards during which they ask customers to assist establish the very best of the very best. So, should you’re feeling overwhelmed, slender your choices by reviewing the award recipients checklist first. 

Whereas every little thing lined previous to this ought to be sufficient to validate the numerous advantages of Figma, I need to admit that it is this final level that made me a convert. Figma offers the power to create codified design techniques in your group to work inside. After a talented designer has first laid the appropriate basis inside the instrument, any non-designer in your group can rapidly produce extremely designed content material with out sacrificing high quality. 

This profit would not come as simply as among the different options inside Figma as a result of it requires cautious planning and a talented design eye to appreciate. As soon as that funding has been made although, the non-designers in your crew will be capable to use Figma very like they’d use a instrument like Canva, however with one key distinction. With Canva and different template-based design instruments, all prospects work with the identical library of belongings. This makes priorities like adhering to model tips, creating one thing distinctive to your group, and controlling high quality extraordinarily arduous. With Figma, then again, any design system created can be distinctive to your group.  

Figma makes it straightforward to position guardrails round this method that primarily templatizes myriad kinds of content material. Numerous groups in your group can then design inside these guardrails, making certain the model is adhered to, the content material stays distinctive, and high quality is not sacrificed. In essence, inside Figma you can provide your crew the simplicity of a instrument like Canva inside a much more managed and highly effective surroundings.