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figma3 min readCurated summary

The University of the Arts London’s Accidental Path to a Design System | Figma Blog

UAL’s fragmented history across six colleges created inconsistent digital experiences and made collaboration difficult. Midway through a website redesign, the UX team switched from Sketch to Figma, gaining real-time collaboration and a shared source of truth. That change unexpectedly led to a flexible design system that aligned designers, developers, stakeholders, and external agencies while accelerating delivery. ## A Fragmented Digital Identity - UAL consists of six colleges, each with its own history, identity, and website practices. - Individual teams preferred implementing their own styles, resulting in inconsistent digital experiences. - As part of a 2017 Digital Transformation Program, UAL began redesigning its core website to become more user-centric. - Although a design system was not initially the main objective, it emerged naturally during the project. ## Switching from Sketch to Figma - The team struggled with Sketch’s siloed files, versioning problems, syncing delays, and limited collaboration. - These issues were especially difficult because stakeholders and agencies were distributed across 14 campuses. - Figma enabled browser-based, real-time collaboration and allowed the team to import Sketch files easily. - Designers, developers, executives, and other stakeholders could work from one centralized source of truth. - The shared workspace improved transparency and helped repair the disconnect between design and development. ## Building the Design System - Since the website had to be built largely from scratch, the team prioritized creating reusable design-system foundations. - The design system was intended to unify not only the website but also UAL’s broader digital channels. - Workshops with students and business partners helped identify essential features, components, and inconsistencies. - The system had to support UAL’s complex brand, including variations in color, typography, and visual personality. - Figma’s team libraries created a living, accessible version of the brand guidelines. - Figma Styles allowed color, text, and effect styles to be managed independently, providing additional flexibility. ## Faster Delivery Through Reusable Components - The team used components to create base pages that served as templates for future pages. - Developers could build new pages more quickly and see how designs translated into code. - Designers and developers worked from the same system, reducing communication gaps and improving coordination. - The design system became both a visual foundation and a practical workflow for speeding up website production. UAL’s experience shows that a design system can emerge from solving everyday collaboration and consistency problems. Centralized tools, reusable components, shared libraries, and close designer-developer collaboration helped transform an unwieldy redesign into a faster and more unified digital process.

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FigmaDesign SystemsUser ExperienceWeb Development+2
figma2 min readCurated summary

The finale of Prototyping Week: Interactions | Figma Blog

Figma concluded Prototyping Week with **Interactions**, allowing prototypes to respond to user behavior more realistically. Designers can now model hover, pressed, mouse, touch, and timed behaviors, making prototypes more suitable for realistic testing. The release also rounded out a week of updates focused on navigation, device presentation, and external linking. ## Interactions for More Realistic Prototypes - New interaction types include: - On Click - While Hovering - While Pressing - Mouse Enter - Mouse Leave - Mouse Down - Mouse Up - After Delay - “While Hovering” and “While Pressing” can show button hover states or pressed list-item states. - “Mouse Enter” and “Mouse Leave” provide finer control, such as keeping a dropdown menu open until another interaction occurs. - On device frames, some interactions appear as On Tap, Touch Down, and Touch Up. ## Timed Transitions with After Delay - “After Delay” automatically transitions between screens after a specified duration. - It can simulate notifications, splash screens, and automatic redirects. - The transition applies only from one screen to another, rather than from a specific layer within a frame. ## Other Prototyping Week Releases ### Landscape Device Frames - Figma added device frames for screens designed to be viewed in landscape orientation. - This expanded the device-frame support introduced with Figma 3.0. ### Clickable URLs - Prototype frames can link to external websites or other Figma files. - For example, a presentation can link directly to a designer’s portfolio. ### Back Transitions - Users can return to the previous screen without duplicating screens or transitions. - Back navigation preserves the user’s starting point when a screen is reachable from multiple locations. - If the original navigation used animation, the back action plays that animation in reverse. Figma’s updates make prototypes better representations of real application behavior. Designers can use the new interaction triggers, timed transitions, links, and back navigation to create more accurate and flexible user-testing experiences.

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FigmaPrototypingInteraction DesignUser Interface Design+2
figma2 min readCurated summary

#FigmaTip Roundup 10.0 | Figma Blog

#FigmaTip Roundup 10.0 highlights practical features that make everyday design work faster and cleaner. Inspired by Charli Marie’s independent review of Figma, the post shows how shortcuts, automatic cleanup, selective property copying, flexible image fills, and vector networks reduce friction compared with tools such as Sketch and Illustrator. ## Faster Layer Arrangement - **Command + Left Bracket** moves layers backward, while the corresponding bracket shortcut moves them forward. - The shortcut mirrors Photoshop’s controls and avoids manually rearranging items in the layers panel. - Figma’s menus display keyboard shortcuts, making them easier to remember. ## Automatic Cleanup of Groups - Figma automatically deletes a group when all of its contents are removed. - This prevents empty groups from accumulating and keeps design files organized. - The behavior addresses a common source of clutter in Sketch documents. ## Selective Property Copying - Designers can copy all properties from one object or transfer only specific attributes. - Individual properties include fills, fonts, and strokes. - This makes it easy to reuse a successful style without overwriting unrelated settings on the target shape. ## Image Fills Instead of Masks - Imported images are placed as fills inside rectangular shapes. - Cropping, tiling, and positioning can be adjusted through the fill settings. - This avoids creating multiple masks merely to size or manipulate images. ## Complex Shapes with Vector Networks - Figma’s vector networks allow a point to connect to more than two paths. - This differs from traditional vector tools and supports more complex shapes. - The feature can reduce the need to switch to Illustrator for advanced vector work. The roundup presents these small workflow improvements as evidence that learning Figma’s built-in behaviors can make design work quicker, cleaner, and less dependent on other applications.

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FigmaUser ExperienceSketchVector Graphics+2
figma3 min readCurated summary

Learn how a Microsoft designer built an Icon Library in his spare time | Figma Blog

Jackie Chui, a Microsoft designer, built a browser-based library containing more than 4,000 company icons in just three weeks. The tool unified icons across design applications, made them searchable through designer tags and engineering class names, and supported reverse searches using pasted icons. Its success came from focusing on practical user needs, leveraging familiar web technologies, and distributing a simple first version quickly. ## Researching Users and Existing Tools - Jackie interviewed Microsoft designers and observed their workflows to identify problems with existing icon management. - He evaluated IconJar, which offered organization and copy/paste functionality but lacked: - Shared, crowdsourced tagging - Browser and cloud access - Windows compatibility - These limitations led him to build a custom internal solution after hours. ## Designing and Building the Library - Jackie first created the interface in Sketch, borrowing ideas from IconJar and applying Microsoft’s Fabric design language. - With existing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript experience, he used Meteor.js to build both the frontend and backend. - A Meteor React tutorial helped him adapt a simple to-do-list database into an icon database. - Working on a concrete problem allowed him to learn development concepts while building the product. ## Extracting and Organizing Icons - Microsoft’s icons were stored in a font file, requiring users to copy and paste special Unicode icon characters into their designs. - Jackie extracted the icon files and retrieved each icon’s Unicode character. - He found Microsoft documentation containing the corresponding engineering class names. - The names were collected in Excel, converted to JSON, and imported into the application. - The resulting library let designers search for icons and copy their characters from one central location. ## Distribution and Adoption - Jackie hosted the application on Microsoft Azure. - He initially emailed the link to his team, after which word-of-mouth spread it throughout the design studio. - Users helped identify bugs and suggest features for version two. - The library quickly became part of many designers’ regular workflows. ## Future Plans - Jackie planned to convert all 4,000-plus icons into Figma components with a single click. - This would let Microsoft teams organize and search icons directly in Figma rather than through a separate browser tool. - He also hoped to release the converter more broadly so anyone could turn an icon font file into Figma components. The project demonstrates that an effective internal tool can start with focused user research, modest technical foundations, and a rapid first release. A browser-based, searchable library is a practical way to eliminate design-tool silos and create a shared source of truth for icons.

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FigmaReactJavaScriptCSS+4
figma3 min readCurated summary

With Figma’s new SVG Exports, less = more | Figma Blog

Figma redesigned its SVG exporter around a simple principle: producing less markup makes files easier for people and more compatible with other tools. Its older exports prioritized storing as much structural information as possible, but this created bloated SVGs that many importers—including Android Studio—handled poorly. The new exporter favors pragmatic, compact markup while preserving the visual result. ## Why SVGs Render Differently Across Tools - SVG describes instructions for drawing an image, unlike bitmap formats that store a fixed snapshot. - Although SVG is an open standard, there is no single standardized implementation for converting SVG markup into pixels. - Design tools and importers often support only subsets of the complex specification, sometimes with bugs. - Features such as reusable definitions in `<defs>` referenced through `<use>` are not reliably supported; Android Studio frequently failed to handle them. - Figma’s previous output was difficult to read and unnecessarily large, forcing users to run tools such as SVGO or manually clean up files. ## A More Pragmatic Export Strategy - Figma originally hoped SVG would become a universal interchange format between design tools. - Feedback from users led the team to abandon that idealized assumption and optimize instead for compatibility with real-world tools. - A simple rectangle example illustrates the change: - The old exporter generated deeply nested groups, clipping paths, masks, reusable definitions, and verbose path data. - The new exporter reduced the same design to a direct `<rect>` element with a fill and stroke. ## Using SVG Primitives - Simple shapes such as rectangles and circles are now exported using native SVG elements. - For example, a verbose rectangle path like: ```markup <path d="M0 100V0H100V100H0Z"/> ``` becomes: ```markup <rect width="100" height="100"/> ``` - Primitive elements are smaller, clearer, and more likely to be understood by other software. ## Simplifying Inside and Outside Strokes - SVG natively supports centered strokes, but design tools also need inside and outside stroke behavior. - Figma previously simulated these effects with doubled stroke widths plus masks, substantially increasing complexity and file size. - The new exporter adjusts path coordinates so the original stroke width produces the desired visual result. - This removes unnecessary masks and makes the resulting geometry easier to inspect and process. ## Removing Unnecessary Markup - Informational elements such as `<title>` and `<desc>`, grouping elements such as `<g>`, and attributes like `id` and `version` are omitted when they do not affect rendering. - Clipping paths are generated only when clipping is actually needed rather than for every clipped frame. - Figma also inlines elements that were previously deduplicated through `<use>` references in `<defs>`. - Although inlining sacrifices some deduplication, the simpler structure improves compatibility with limited SVG importers. Figma’s updated exporter demonstrates that SVG output should prioritize practical interoperability over preserving every possible piece of design-tool metadata. Simpler primitives, fewer masks and references, and only meaningful markup produce files that are smaller, easier to understand, and more broadly usable.

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FigmaVector GraphicsSvgAndroid Studio+2
figma2 min readCurated summary

File loading, dragging & zooming is up to 3x faster | Figma Blog

Figma argues that performance is central to making a design tool feel like an extension of the user’s mind. A months-long effort to restructure its renderer and fix WebAssembly issues produced major gains, including up to 3× faster loading, zooming, and dragging in dense files. The improvements were measured not only by average speed, but also by interaction smoothness and frame-time consistency. ## Performance as a Core Product Requirement - Delays undermine the feeling of direct manipulation, much like a hammer lagging behind the user’s hand. - Figma continuously profiles real user documents to identify targeted optimizations. - Larger organizations increasingly use complex files with deeply nested components and many permutations, making performance more challenging. - The latest work focused on restructuring the document renderer and resolving WebAssembly bugs. ## File Loading: Up to 3× Faster - A large Microsoft Fluent Design document improved from approximately 29 seconds to under 8 seconds. - WebAssembly optimizations and other renderer changes reduced computational overhead. - WebAssembly support was enabled across: - Figma’s desktop app - Chrome - Firefox - Safari - macOS and Windows - The improvements were especially valuable for dense design-system files containing deeply nested components. ## Smoother Zooming and Dragging - Zooming and dragging are continuous interactions where responsiveness matters more than total operation duration. - Figma reduced visible “hitches” in these interactions, with improvements of up to 3×. - Dense files containing many bitmap images benefited substantially. - Figma also worked directly with customers such as N3TWORK to diagnose performance issues and test the new renderer. - Users reported immediately noticeable improvements in component publishing and file loading. ## Measuring Smoothness with Frame Time - A 500 ms operation can feel very different depending on whether it provides continuous visual feedback or freezes until completion. - Figma tracks two metrics: - **Average frame time:** Indicates overall choppiness or low frame rate. - **Maximum frame time:** Reveals occasional long pauses or “hitches.” - High maximum frame times feel like sudden interruptions, while high average frame times make motion consistently choppy. - Monitoring both metrics gives a more complete view of interaction quality than measuring total operation time or average frame rate alone. - Although a steady 60 frames per second is the ideal, tracking these metrics over time helps Figma evaluate progress toward that goal. Figma’s work demonstrates that performance optimization should focus on both raw speed and perceptual smoothness. For interactive tools, renderer architecture, WebAssembly execution, and detailed frame-time measurement are all essential to making complex documents feel responsive.

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FigmaPerformance OptimizationWebassemblyRendering+1
figma2 min readCurated summary

Designer Q&A: Camellia Neri’s five catalysts for creativity | Figma Blog

Camellia Neri, Lead Illustrator at Gusto, draws creative energy primarily from childhood memories and nostalgic places. Her five inspirations—from Disneyland to San Francisco’s hidden history—teach her to value research, surprise, storytelling, collaboration, and overlooked details. Together, they form a creative practice focused on making illustrations feel both genuine and richly imagined. ## Main Street, Disneyland - Neri’s childhood memories of Disneyland began with watching a parade from her father’s shoulders. - Main Street’s detailed storefronts, gold-leaf lettering, and carefully constructed world showed her how craft creates authenticity. - She applies the same principle to illustration by researching subjects thoroughly and approaching each visual decision intentionally. ## Pee-Wee’s Playhouse - The show inspired her through its combination of comedy, puppetry, life lessons, unusual artwork, and unexpected details. - Its creators included animator Ric Heitzman, cartoonist Gary Panter, and painter Wayne White. - Neri believes strong illustrators add surprising moments and personal “easter eggs” that reveal their individuality and delight the audience. ## The Los Angeles Museum of Natural History - The museum’s taxidermy dioramas influenced her because they function like large, three-dimensional illustrations. - Carefully arranged animals, painted backgrounds, lighting, and ecosystem-specific color palettes create complete visual stories. - She sees the same qualities in effective landing pages: strong storytelling, impactful visuals, and dynamic design working together as one experience. ## Quentin Blake and Roald Dahl - Neri kept her Roald Dahl books illustrated by Quentin Blake even after giving away most of her childhood collection. - Blake’s drawings strengthened Dahl’s whimsical narratives and helped define the books’ characters and shared creative identity. - She compares the illustrator-writer relationship to a marriage, emphasizing the importance of choosing collaborators carefully and nurturing a productive partnership. ## San Francisco’s Hidden History - San Francisco’s obscure historical stories provide Neri with an ongoing source of ideas and conversation. - She illustrates these discoveries on a Medium blog and uses Figma to maintain a consistent visual brand across the project. - Her work reflects the illustrator’s role in making unseen or forgotten worlds visible, such as the city’s buried ships and other historical oddities. Neri’s approach recommends looking closely at personal memories, cultural influences, collaborators, and overlooked details. Creative inspiration can come from anywhere, but it becomes most powerful when transformed through research, craftsmanship, and a distinctive personal perspective.

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FigmaUser ExperienceGraphic DesignIllustration+2
figma3 min readCurated summary

Why transparent, open design leads to happier clients | Figma Blog

Citrusbyte argues that sharing unfinished design work with clients creates better collaboration, faster workflows, and stronger project outcomes. Using Figma’s cloud-based, real-time environment, clients can observe progress, provide precise feedback, and participate directly instead of waiting for polished presentations. Although transparency can expose messy creative stages, Citrusbyte manages expectations through clear communication and finds that openness ultimately produces happier clients. ## Why Transparency Matters - Citrusbyte, a 90-person strategy, design, and development firm, shares raw, in-progress design files with clients. - The company moved away from traditional siloed design, where designers work privately and present finished deliverables. - Earlier tools such as Sketch and Photoshop made continuous transparency difficult, requiring teams to export and email files or use file-sharing services. - Figma enables: - Always-current cloud files - Link-based sharing - Simultaneous collaboration - Real-time visibility into design changes - Clients gain a stronger sense of security and involvement because the work is not hidden in a “black box.” - Citrusbyte explains that unfinished work is part of the process, comparing it to seeing a bicycle being assembled rather than expecting a finished bike immediately. - Bringing clients directly into the project increases buy-in and improves their understanding of the work. ## Faster Feedback and Fewer Handoffs - Before Figma, clients often reviewed PNGs or PDFs and responded through email or Slack. - Vague feedback created unnecessary back-and-forth because clients could not clearly identify which design element they meant. - Prototype tools such as InVision required designers to save, flatten, and re-upload new versions whenever designs changed. - With Figma: - Prototypes update automatically as the source design changes. - Clients can experiment with content, such as headline copy, themselves. - Designers spend less time handling minor text revisions and file management. - Figma’s observation mode allows clients and teams to follow a presenter’s screen directly during reviews, eliminating the need to prepare specially polished presentation files. - Citrusbyte designer Sam Small estimates that Figma saves him 30–50% of his previous workflow time. ## Business and Client Benefits - Removing repetitive steps allows Citrusbyte to handle more work and meet aggressive deadlines. - Regular reviews—sometimes daily—keep clients closely aligned with project progress. - Faster review cycles and continuous visibility improve trust and collaboration. - The approach helped Citrusbyte grow from primarily serving startups to working with major companies including Apple, Sony, Intel, and AT&T. Citrusbyte’s experience suggests that transparent, collaborative design works best when paired with clear expectations. Teams should expose work early, use tools that support real-time collaboration, and treat clients as active participants rather than occasional reviewers.

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FigmaPrototypingCollaborative DesignReal Time Collaboration+1
figma2 min readCurated summary

On the road: How two designers got rid of their hardware baggage | Figma Blog

A simple Samsung-based setup can replace a laptop for user research, design collaboration, and even editing Figma files while traveling. By combining a Samsung phone or tablet with Chrome, a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and either a DeX dock or Chromecast, designers can work from almost any monitor or TV. The approach reduces equipment, cost, and barriers to entering the design profession. ## A Lightweight Mobile Figma Setup - Recommended hardware includes: - Samsung Galaxy S8/S9 models or a Samsung Tab 2 - A DeX dock, USB-C-to-HDMI converter, or Chromecast - Bluetooth keyboard and mouse - Designers can open Figma in Chrome on a mobile device and broadcast it to a larger display. - Prototype links can be shared with users or clients, who open them on their own computers or tablets. ## Remote User Research Without a Laptop - Josh Goodwin previously carried multiple laptops and tablets loaded with Sketch or Adobe software for medical user testing. - With Figma, he can connect his phone to an available hospital monitor and let doctors interact with prototypes in their own browsers. - Feedback can be incorporated immediately during testing, allowing development teams to move faster. ## Lowering the Cost of Design Work - The setup can provide a practical alternative for students, designers in emerging markets, or anyone on a limited budget. - A smartphone and inexpensive television may be enough to design and collaborate without a high-end laptop. - Tyrale Bloomfield uses a Samsung tablet alone for creative-direction work, sometimes commenting with his fingers instead of using a mouse. ## Why Hardware Compatibility Matters - Samsung devices performed best in the authors’ testing because they adjust DPI when projecting to a larger screen, providing an appropriate amount of workspace. - The device, browser, and input hardware must correctly distinguish mouse clicks from finger touches. - Some systems interpret all input as touch, preventing essential actions such as resizing objects, using bounding boxes, or clicking and dragging. - The designers tested many phones and roughly 30 browsers before finding a reliable combination. The article’s practical recommendation is to prioritize a compatible Android device, browser, and pointing device rather than assuming any mobile setup will work. With the right combination, a browser and Internet connection can support much of a designer’s full workflow while eliminating substantial hardware baggage.

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FigmaUser ExperienceAndroidUser Research+3
figma2 min readCurated summary

Master the art of design portfolios with this free online Skillshare class | Figma Blog

The post introduces a free Figma and Skillshare course designed to help aspiring product designers create stronger portfolios and improve their chances of landing a job. It argues that an effective portfolio should present not only polished results, but also the designer’s process, learning, adaptability, and outcomes. The course covers portfolio creation from initial content choices through interviews and peer feedback. ## Why Portfolios Matter - Applying for a first product design role can be difficult because the field includes many specialties and interview expectations. - A portfolio is central to the job search and should represent work both accurately and memorably. - New designers should be deliberate about what they include and how they frame their experience. ## What the Course Covers The free Skillshare class addresses: - Which information belongs in a design portfolio. - How to create a clear and effective visual presentation. - How to structure projects as case studies. - How to maintain a consistent professional story across: - An online presence - Applications - Interviews - How to iterate on portfolio designs and collaborate with peers in Figma. - How to invite mentors into Figma projects for practical feedback. ## Understanding Product Design Roles - Product design can combine: - User research - User experience design - Prototyping - User testing - Visual design - Smaller companies often expect designers to handle several of these responsibilities. - Larger organizations may divide product design into specialized roles. - Designers should identify their strengths and interests while remaining open to adapting as tools, methods, and industry needs change. ## Showcasing Process and Growth - Portfolios should highlight: - The design process - Key decisions - Lessons learned - Project outcomes - A final visual result alone does not demonstrate how a designer thinks or works. - Employers value candidates who show curiosity, adaptability, and a willingness to learn. - Sharing projects with classmates and mentors can provide useful critique and improve the portfolio. The practical recommendation is to use the course—or the linked written guidance—to build a portfolio that tells a complete story: what you did, why you did it, what you learned, and what changed as a result.

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FigmaUser ExperiencePrototypingProduct Design+4
figma2 min readCurated summary

Figma feature highlight: Observation Mode | Figma Blog

Figma’s Observation Mode lets one person mirror another collaborator’s screen in real time. By clicking a teammate’s avatar, users can follow cursor movements, navigation, text changes, and prototype interactions as they happen. Figma presents it as a useful alternative to traditional screen sharing for critiques, client feedback, and user testing. ## How Observation Mode Works - When multiple people are viewing a Figma file, click a person’s avatar in the upper-right corner. - Your view then follows everything that person sees and does. - The mirrored activity includes: - Moving through the file or prototype - Editing text inside frames - Selecting objects - Expanding design elements - Moving the cursor - Observation Mode is available even to users with view-only access, provided sharing is enabled for the file or project. ## Real-Time Design Critiques and Feedback - Designers can watch clients or teammates explore a design instead of relying only on verbal explanations. - The feature makes remote critiques more interactive by allowing everyone to follow the same part of the file. - Clients can demonstrate their reactions and questions directly within the design. ## User Testing in Figma - Researchers or designers can observe users as they move through a prototype. - Watching interactions live reveals: - Where users hesitate - Which elements cause confusion - Where navigation breaks down - Which interface areas create pain points - This provides more direct evidence than collecting anecdotal feedback after a test. ## Sharing and Privacy Considerations - Anyone with access to a shared file may be able to use Observation Mode, including viewers. - Designers should be comfortable being observed before sharing a design URL. - Teams should consider file-sharing permissions when using the feature for sensitive work. Observation Mode is best used as a lightweight collaboration and research tool: enable sharing, ask participants to explore the file or prototype, and follow their activity live to gather more precise feedback.

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FigmaPrototypingReal Time CollaborationUser Testing+2
figma2 min readCurated summary

How Kiwi.com handles project structure, versioning & components in Figma | Figma Blog

Kiwi.com’s small mobile design team uses Figma to bring design collaboration, prototyping, versioning, and handoff into one shared environment. Their previous Sketch workflow depended on Sketch, Zeplin, Abstract, Marvel, and Dropbox Paper, creating frequent synchronization problems. Figma became attractive because it could centralize these activities and support contributions from around twenty collaborators. ## A Small Team with Many Contributors - Kiwi.com’s mobile design team consists of only two people. - Around twenty others contribute through: - Commenting on design iterations - Correcting copy - Designing cross-platform features - The broader front end and Orbit design system were built in Sketch. - Because Orbit’s mobile components differ visually, the team decided to explore building the mobile system in Figma. ## Problems with a Multi-tool Sketch Workflow - Sketch was used alongside: - Zeplin for developer handoff - Abstract for version control - Marvel for static prototypes - Dropbox Paper for embedded PNGs - These tools frequently fell out of sync: - Prototypes could reflect older tested versions. - Designers might forget to commit changes to Abstract. - Zeplin might not contain the latest approved visuals. - Documentation images could be weeks out of date. - The workflow required constant manual coordination between separate sources of truth. ## Why the Team Chose Figma - Figma offered a way to consolidate design work, collaboration, prototyping, and version history. - Its value became clearer in a team where many people needed access to current designs. - The author initially resisted Figma, preferring a native design application over a browser-based tool. - As Kiwi.com’s collaborative needs grew, the advantages of a shared, synchronized workspace outweighed that hesitation.

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FigmaDesign SystemsPrototypingSketch+2
figma2 min readCurated summary

Introducing: Design Dictionary from Figma | Figma Blog

Figma introduced its Design Dictionary to make design terminology more accessible and improve communication across teams. The resource addresses the field’s dense vocabulary, which can confuse newcomers and hinder collaboration between designers, engineers, product managers, copy editors, and stakeholders. Launched with 70 terms and open to community contributions, the dictionary is intended to evolve alongside the design industry. ## Design’s Specialized Language - Design terminology draws from art, printmaking, publishing, usability, and typography. - Terms help experts discuss detailed concepts precisely. - The same vocabulary can intimidate people who are new to design or work alongside designers. ## The Need for Cross-Functional Understanding - Modern digital products involve many roles in design work: - Engineers translate designs into production code. - Copy editors add and refine content. - Stakeholders review and approve designs. - Product managers coordinate the broader process. - Collaboration becomes harder when teams use design terms inconsistently or do not understand them. - Figma experienced this challenge after hiring employees from business, analytics, support, engineering, and other non-design backgrounds. ## The Design Dictionary - Figma created the dictionary as a practical glossary for learning core design terminology. - The initial release included 70 terms. - It was open-sourced so the wider design community could benefit from and contribute to it. - The resource was expected to expand as design practices and industry language evolved. ## Community Contributions - Figma invited readers to suggest terms that cause confusion in their organizations. - Examples included “White Space,” “Stroke,” and “Lorem Ipsum.” - Users could submit new ideas and corrections through a link in the dictionary. Figma’s Design Dictionary is recommended as a shared reference for teams working across design and product development. Its broader goal is to create a common language that makes cross-functional design collaboration clearer and more effective.

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FigmaDesign SystemsUser ExperienceOpen Source+2
figma1 min readCurated summary

#FigmaTip Roundup 9.0 | Figma Blog

This #FigmaTip Roundup presents practical shortcuts and component techniques shared by the Figma design community. The tips focus on arranging objects efficiently, creating mirrored component variants, and customizing spacing adjustments. Together, they show how keyboard shortcuts and reusable components can speed up common design tasks. ## Arranging Multiple Frames - Use **Cmd + `** to pack selected objects vertically. - Use **Cmd + Shift + `** to pack them horizontally. - Combine these shortcuts with Figma’s alignment commands to quickly reorganize several frames or objects. ## Creating Mirrored Components - To make a flipped, reusable component: - **Option-drag** the original component into a new empty component. - Press **Shift + H** to mirror it horizontally. - The mirrored component remains linked to the original, so changes made to the source component are reflected in the flipped version. ## Customizing Spacing with “Nudge Amount” - Figma’s **Nudge Amount** setting controls how far objects move when using the arrow keys. - Adjusting this value lets designers choose more appropriate spacing increments instead of relying only on the default nudge distance. - This is useful for making precise or larger layout adjustments more efficiently. These techniques provide quick ways to improve layout organization, maintain consistent component variations, and fine-tune spacing directly from the keyboard.

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FigmaDesign SystemsUser InterfaceKeyboard Shortcuts+1
figma3 min readCurated summary

Art of Listening: One designer’s foray into experiential design | Figma Blog

The article profiles IDEO interaction designer Mike Godlewski and his side project, Art of Listening, a communal music experience built around focused, uninterrupted listening. Inspired by a movie club, Mike created a space where people listen to an entire album in silence, reflect creatively, and discuss it afterward. The project demonstrates how listening, intentional constraints, and offline experiences can enrich both personal creativity and professional design work. ## Listening as a Design Skill - Mike believes good designers should listen more than they speak. - Understanding human problems requires exploring people’s motivations, needs, and context rather than jumping directly to solutions. - This idea connects design with John Maeda’s distinction between design as a solution and art as a question. ## How Art of Listening Began - Mike was inspired by a friend’s movie club, where participants watched films quietly and discussed them afterward. - He adapted the format to music because he wanted a communal listening experience in his own life. - The project was designed to eliminate digital and social distractions while encouraging reflection. ## The Art of Listening Experience - Participants sit together in a living room and listen to an album from beginning to end. - The central rule is to stay quiet and pay attention: - No conversations - No phone checking - No arriving late - Participants may doodle, write down memories, close their eyes, or simply listen. - Afterward, they discuss the album and share sketches or other responses. ## Designing the Event - Mike carefully selects artists whose albums have strong rhythm, structure, and narrative arcs. - He researches interviews, podcasts, social media posts, and B-sides to understand the artist and album more deeply. - During the listening session, photos and quotations appear on a monitor, adding context beyond what a typical distracted Spotify stream provides. - The event’s simple rules and carefully curated environment make deeper attention possible. ## Offline Creativity and Interface Design - Art of Listening gives Mike a creative reset from his screen-based, systematic interface work. - He observes that many designers seek similar breaks through analog practices such as film photography, letterpress, or bookbinding. - The project shows that unexpected creative activities can replenish designers’ energy and influence their professional work. - Mike’s experience also illustrates how creative pursuits can lead people into unfamiliar roles—in his case, event planning. The article ultimately encourages designers to make room for focused, offline experiences. Listening deeply, imposing thoughtful constraints, and exploring unexpected interests can generate fresh perspective for design work.

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FigmaDesign ThinkingInteraction DesignVisual Design+2