Why we choose Figma
What we’ll teach you:
What is Figma?
What we use Figma for
Our favourite Figma features
What is Figma?
Think of Figma as the Adobe Illustrator of web design. It’s got the whole design suite, but tailored towards UI and UX design. It’s fast, reliable and has convenient collaboration features (all top priorities for us).
What do we use Figma for?
We use Figma mostly for mapping out website wireframes and mocking up animations that can be easily converted to Framer which is where we develop the site. Figma’s UI lends itself to web design by incorporating features that we see on Framer and easy transfer of designs between both platforms. While we prefer the Adobe suite for designing graphics, leaflets, signage, we often merge our softwares by taking advantage of Figma’s layout features and then daily exporting them to other platforms.
Our Favourite Figma Features
1. Responsive design
Our favourite tool in Figma has got to be the auto-layout function. This is because we can create responsive designs that can be converted easily to Framer and then grow and shrink depending on the size of the page - this one saves us so much time!
2. Collaboration
Working on a design file at the same time as someone else on any of the adobe suite apps can be… kinda inconvenient! Figma has built in collaboration features that means multiple members of our team can work on the same design at the same time. As you can imagine our design files get pretty big pretty quickly and in other design softwares it can be a nightmare to find where your team member is working (unfortunately What Three Words doesn’t work in the digital space!), but this problem is non existent since you can spotlight your team member and teleport straight to them with a click of a button.
3. Framer-like interface
Framers interfaced is based off of Figma’s making them very similar to use. We LOVE this about Figma because it means that our customers don’t have to be overwhelmed and intimidated with different softwares when we work with them on their designs.
4. Organisation
If you’re anything like us, then you’ll appreciate organisation when designing. Figma’s framing feature makes this so much easier for us to design within the exact dimensions of the space we’re designing for and the frames act as containers that keeps all of the components within the bounds of that frame. We can then drag the frame around the file and all of the components will go with it and stay at a relative size and position depending on their constraints.
5. FigJam
Jamboards are Figma’s version of a whiteboard. Before putting pen to paper, or tool to art board rather, we always spend time collecting material that inspires us and mapping out the design on the Jamboard. This makes our design process easier and quicker because we can easily post comments, add sticky notes, stamp ideas we like and dislike and visualise how we want the design to look. The fact that this feature is encompassed within Figma is super convenient because it means we don’t have to constantly switch between apps.
Round up
As you can tell by now, we absolutely love Figma. Its innovative tools make our lives so much easier by blending both design and development. Don’t get me wrong, the Adobe suite still holds a top spot in our favourite design softwares list, but Figma has definitely earned it’s place in our workflow.
