Figma

736 posts

www.figma.com/blog/engineering

Filter by tag

Figma528 Design Systems246 User Experience140 Prototyping135 AI110 Figjam98 Product Design76 User Interface63 Generative AI47 Collaborative Design47 Accessibility41 React39+1265

figmaJan 12, 20262 min readCurated summary

The New Business Case For Design Systems | Figma Blog

Design systems are no longer merely efficiency tools or static component libraries; they are strategic investments that can influence revenue, customer loyalty, global expansion, and product quality. Research from the Design Executive Council shows that organizations are increasingly measuring design-system value through customer and business outcomes, not just reduced rework or faster handoffs. The strongest business case connects design-system work to metrics executives already care about. ## Linking Design Systems to Customer Outcomes - Teams can measure design-system impact through adoption, retention, engagement, satisfaction, and support metrics. - Freshworks attributed its design system to: - A 28% reduction in customer service costs - Faster support-ticket resolution - SAP collects more than one million in-app user feedback data points to improve its design system. - Freshworks uses CSAT scores, A/B tests, and funnel diagnostics to identify onboarding friction and guide new components, patterns, and features. - These metrics help design teams demonstrate business value while creating a roadmap for improving customer experience and product “stickiness.” ## Scaling Company Values and Product Quality - Design systems can scale not only brand identity but also company principles and product standards. - Linear uses its design system to support a culture of craft and quality, which contributes to customer loyalty and net revenue retention. - The system is intentionally flexible and continuously updated rather than governed by rigid rules. - Its goal is to ensure that products feel thoughtfully crafted while allowing teams to adapt components as needed. ## Supporting Global Growth and Localization - Design systems help companies expand internationally while maintaining consistency, brand identity, and cultural relevance. - Hyundai Motor Group uses one system across more than 30 vehicle models and three brands—Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis—while preserving each brand’s distinct identity. - Grammarly built localization into its design-system strategy from the beginning by: - Employing in-house linguists - Accounting for cultural nuances - Treating right-to-left readability as a core design input - Distributed teams across North America, South Korea, and Poland use a shared foundation to handle different languages, hardware constraints, screen sizes, and cultural expectations. - Hyundai’s 42dot uses custom Figma plugins to test multilingual user experiences. The practical recommendation is to frame a design system around outcomes that business leaders already value—customer satisfaction, retention, revenue, global growth, and product quality. Productivity improvements remain useful, but the most persuasive evidence comes from showing how design-system decisions change customer and business performance.

Figma Design Systems User Experience Design Tokens+2

figmaJan 7, 20262 min readCurated summary

Software Is Culture

Software has evolved from an invisible, mechanical tool into an intimate part of human experience. The next major shift is toward intelligent, adaptive systems that learn and change with users. The post argues that designers will shape this future not merely by automating tasks, but by deciding where technology directs human attention, curiosity, and creativity. ## Software as Human Experience - Software once operated behind screens as an efficient, obedient system. - Touch interfaces—pinching, swiping, and tapping—made software embodied and deeply connected to how people think, feel, and communicate. - As a result, user experience became inseparable from human experience. ## The Shift to Intelligent Software - Future systems will learn, adapt, and respond rather than follow fixed interactions. - Interfaces may change in real time based on users’ needs and behavior. - Static products will become fluid, adaptive, and increasingly “alive.” - Understanding this transition requires examining influential interactions and design decisions from the past two decades. ## AI as Tool and Collaborator - AI can amplify distinctly human qualities rather than simply replace human work. - Interaction is shifting from commands, layers, and parameters toward conversation, goals, gestures, and overall intent. - The central design question is not what to automate, but where people should focus their attention. ## The Designer’s Role - Designers are navigating how intelligent software will affect curiosity, meaning, and craft. - Their choices will influence how future generations experience and understand technology. - Finding a personal perspective as a designer is essential to shaping software’s cultural impact. The practical takeaway is to treat software design as cultural work: build adaptive systems thoughtfully, and focus on how they direct human attention and enable meaningful action.

AI User Experience Machine Learning Software Design+3

figmaJan 6, 20262 min readCurated summary

Issue No.14: Software Is Culture | Figma Blog

Software increasingly shapes how people communicate, play, create, eat, and connect. Figma’s January 2026 newsletter argues that as AI evolves from tool to teammate, software will become more responsive to human needs—and its cultural influence will grow. The issue explores this idea through design, language, gaming, food, and physical fabrication. ## Design Is Culture - Familiar interactions such as pinch-to-zoom, infinite scroll, and tap-to-like were once novel inventions. - These interface patterns have had a major influence on how an entire generation thinks and feels. - The newsletter highlights 10 iconic interactions to examine their broader cultural impact. ## Language Is Culture - Social media and recommendation algorithms help new slang spread rapidly, including expressions such as “6-7,” “aura,” and “rizz.” - Linguist Adam Aleksic explains that algorithms influence not only how people speak, but also how they think and relate to one another. - “Algospeak” has become a measure of virality and a distinctive feature of online communication. ## Gaming Is Culture - Video games have grown from simple experiences like Pong into a $184 billion industry built around expansive worlds, characters, game modes, and side quests. - Despite this complexity, players often navigate games through a small set of controller inputs. - Epic Games UX designer Aashrey Sharma examines how these simple controls enable rich interactions and what they suggest about the future of interfaces. ## Food Is Culture - British Columbia’s small farms are under pressure from factory farming and rising costs, with farmers reportedly leaving the industry at an alarming rate. - Entrepreneur Aaron Veale used Figma Make to build a marketplace connecting local growers with restaurants. - By prompting the AI tool, he produced a working minimum viable product in less than three weeks, demonstrating how AI can help individuals address urgent community problems. ## Fabrication Is Culture - Designer Kelsey Fairhurst combines digital design with hands-on manufacturing to create “softline brutalist” stainless-steel flatware. - Her Forks Plus project grew through years of research and work between a Brooklyn studio and a Cleveland fabrication shop. - The story presents software and design tools as companions to physical making rather than replacements for it. The newsletter’s central recommendation is implicit: treat software as a cultural force, not merely a productivity tool. Designers and builders should consider how the interfaces and AI systems they create will shape behavior, language, creativity, and everyday life.

Figma AI User Interface Design Version Control+4

figmaJan 4, 20262 min readCurated summary

Press Start: How Controllers Shaped Video Game Design—and Where Interfaces May Go Next | Figma Blog

Video game interfaces evolved from simple start screens into complex systems of menus, maps, inventories, and customization. Yet the controller’s directional inputs and buttons have remained a consistent foundation, shaping navigation patterns and preserving players’ muscle memory. The article argues that understanding how input devices define interfaces will be essential as AR, VR, and other technologies introduce new ways to interact with digital worlds. ## From Simple Screens to Complex Game Hubs - Early games such as *Tennis for Two*, *Pong*, *PAC-MAN*, and *Super Mario Bros.* offered minimal interfaces, often requiring only a coin insertion or a start button. - Modern AAA games support many features, including: - Multiple game modes - Character customization - Cosmetics stores - Maps and inventories - Quests and settings - These features have transformed games into interconnected hubs of screens, menus, and tabs. - The growth of gaming has helped make it a major cultural and economic industry, supported by livestreaming, esports, and Olympic recognition. ## Controllers as a Design Foundation - From the Atari 2600 to the PlayStation 5, controllers have consistently combined directional controls with buttons. - This consistency allows players to transfer familiar muscle memory between generations of games. - Established controller conventions create predictable navigation patterns for players. - Designers and developers benefit from these conventions because they reduce the need to create entirely new interaction models for every game. ## The Input Defines the Interface - Every platform has a dominant input method that shapes its interface: - Desktop: mouse - Mobile: fingers and touch gestures - Television: remote controls - Mouse interfaces can use small, dense controls because the pointer is fast and precise. - Touch interfaces require larger, more widely spaced controls because fingers are less precise than cursors. - Mobile design also takes advantage of gestures such as tapping, swiping, and pinching. - The article’s broader point is that interface design must reflect the physical capabilities and limitations of the device used to navigate it. ## Preparing for New Forms of Interaction - Game interfaces increasingly connect 2D navigation systems with 3D worlds. - AR and VR controllers may allow players to engage with their physical surroundings as well as digital environments. - As input methods evolve, designers will need to rethink how people move through interfaces, rather than simply adapting existing controller-based patterns. The practical recommendation is to treat input as a core design constraint. By studying how controllers shaped game navigation—and how emerging technologies change physical interaction—designers can build interfaces that feel intuitive across future platforms.

User Experience User Interface Augmented Reality Virtual Reality+3

figmaJan 4, 20263 min readCurated summary

Cooking with Constraints: A Designer’s Framework for Better AI Prompts | Figma Blog

Design and cooking both depend on preparation: clear inputs and intentional constraints lead to better outcomes. The article argues that AI models do not need politeness or emotional framing; they need precise instructions that reduce ambiguity. For product designers, structured prompting bridges the gap between probabilistic AI outputs and the repeatable, purposeful results design requires. ## Prompting as Mise en Place - “Mise en place,” or “everything in its place,” means preparing ingredients before cooking—and serves as a useful model for preparing AI prompts. - Effective prompts should establish: - **Clarity** - **Context** - **Constraints** - The author’s framework is **TC-EBC**: - **Task:** What should be built or accomplished? - **Context:** Who is it for and why? - **Elements:** Which features or components are required? - **Behavior:** How should the system respond to user actions? - **Constraints:** What technical, platform, accessibility, or product limits apply? - This approach aligns with broader prompt-engineering guidance emphasizing defined intent, modular construction, and predictable results. ## Why Vague Prompts Underperform - A request such as “build an app that uses pantry photos to suggest recipes” leaves too many decisions to the model. - Polite language and conversational phrasing can bury the actual task without adding useful information. - The resulting prototype may include basic functionality but remain visually generic, uninteresting, and barely beyond a wireframe. ## Applying TC-EBC to a Design Prompt For a pantry-based meal suggestion app, the structured prompt specifies: - **Task:** Build an AI-powered meal suggestion app using pantry and refrigerator photos. - **Context:** Create a home-cooking assistant for households with dietary restrictions. - **Elements:** Include camera input, pantry scanning, dietary settings, meal suggestions, and recipe cards. - **Behavior:** Let users upload photos, scan inventory, apply dietary preferences, and receive recipes. - **Constraints:** Make the experience mobile-first, support iOS and Android, provide accessible UI, and allow multiple household profiles. This structure makes the request easier to scan and gives the model explicit guidance about the app’s purpose, interface, behavior, and limitations. ## Design Requires Structured Uncertainty - LLMs are stochastic, meaning their outputs are probabilistic and variable. - Design, by contrast, depends on precision, consistency, and intentional decisions. - Structured prompts help “collapse uncertainty into structure,” much as a design system provides reusable rules and guidance. - The article presents the TC-EBC prompt as producing a substantially more purposeful prototype than the original one-shot request. A practical recommendation is to treat prompting like preparation for a complex recipe: define the task, provide relevant context, list required parts and behaviors, and state constraints before asking the AI to generate a design.

Design Systems Large Language Models Prototyping Generative AI+2

figmaJan 4, 20263 min readCurated summary

Meet the Maker: Kelsey Fairhurst’s Irresistibly Bold Flatware | Figma Blog

Kelsey Fairhurst turned a travel-fork idea into Forks Plus, a “softline brutalist” flatware brand combining sculptural forms, colorful handles, and stainless steel. The business grew through years of self-directed research, manufacturing experiments, and collaboration with specialized partners. Her process now blends hands-on fabrication with Figma-based design for marketing and digital brand materials. ## From a Travel Fork to Forks Plus - In 2019, Fairhurst designed a purple acrylic travel fork with a removable cover after realizing she needed one on a train ride. - The prototype sparked an interest in making physical objects and led her to develop stainless steel flatware. - Forks Plus features exaggerated hardware, sculptural silhouettes, and powder-coated handles in bright colors. - Fairhurst’s experience curating midcentury dishware through dishware.nyc influenced her attraction to bistro-style flatware. ## Learning to Manufacture at Small Scale - With only one flatware manufacturer remaining in the United States, Fairhurst had to develop a smaller-scale production process herself. - She spent roughly a year researching techniques and potential suppliers online, cold-emailing machinists, powder-coating facilities, and other manufacturers. - A connection with Cleveland machinist Garry Yarowski led to mentorship and a custom benchtop CNC machine. - Fairhurst learned G-code, the programming language used to control CNC machines and laser cutters. ## Improving the Production Process - Counterboring rivet holes proved especially difficult: - The carbide tools cost about $300 each. - Incorrect machine code or angles could shatter the tools. - The holes had to be drilled precisely 0.05 inches deep so the rivets sat flush. - After two and a half years of experimentation, the process improved from 46 minutes for two holes to under a minute. - Fairhurst can now counterbore approximately 250 handles per day. - Production includes laser cutting, deburring with a belt grinder, forming forks and spoons with a 20-ton hydraulic press, knife serration, powder-coating, polishing, and final assembly. - Some specialized steps are outsourced to regional partners, while finishing and assembly happen in her Brooklyn studio. - A fork now takes about 30 minutes to produce, compared with the much slower process during the brand’s early development. ## Designing the Brand in Figma - Fairhurst uses Figma to create Forks Plus’s website, email campaigns, and social media materials. - She values the program’s tactile, hands-on feel, which matches her approach to physical making. - Her partner, Bryant Wells, designed the flatware dies in 3D CAD and built the Forks Plus website. Overall, Forks Plus demonstrates how persistent experimentation, local manufacturing relationships, and digital design tools can help a designer build a specialized product business from the ground up.

Figma Cnc Machining G Code Laser Cutting+2

figmaDec 15, 20252 min readCurated summary

Chat, Are We Cooked? How Language Has Become the New Metric of Virality | Figma Blog

Social media algorithms are reshaping language by turning words into signals of virality. Linguist Adam Aleksic argues that platforms influence not only how people speak, but also how they understand identity, culture, and one another. While this linguistic creativity is not inherently harmful, users should recognize how algorithms can strip terms from their original contexts and spread ideological ideas. ## Products Shape Communication and Identity - Interfaces communicate values as well as functionality, reflecting Marshall McLuhan’s idea that “the medium is the message.” - Tinder’s swiping system commoditizes dating and reinforces associations such as “right” being positive and “left” being negative. - Dating platforms encourage users to perform and categorize themselves according to available features: - Hinge prompts users to present a structured story. - Grindr encourages identity categories such as “bear” or “twink.” - These design choices can affect both outward self-expression and people’s internal understanding of identity. ## Algorithms Accelerate Linguistic Change - Online communities create slang, while recommendation algorithms expose it to much larger audiences. - This produces “context collapse”: users encounter words outside the communities and cultural settings where they originated. - Platform metadata now includes every word users write or say, not just hashtags, making language itself a mechanism for discovering and promoting content. - Influencers can popularize expressions whose origins their audiences may not recognize. ## From Ballroom Slang to Mainstream Vocabulary - Terms such as “slay,” “serve,” “queen,” “cooked,” “ate,” “bussin’,” and “it’s giving” have roots in African American and queer ballroom culture. - Historically, slang spread gradually through connected social groups; algorithms now accelerate that process dramatically. - As words become mainstream, their original connotations may weaken or change. - Aleksic emphasizes the importance of understanding these origins rather than treating viral slang as context-free vocabulary. ## Memes as Cultural and Ideological Vehicles - Aleksic is less concerned with linguistic change itself than with the ideas carried by newly popular terms. - Expressions from online subcultures, including incel communities, can enter mainstream usage through meme circulation. - Terms such as “looksmaxxing” and “-pilled” may spread because memes make unfamiliar or troubling ideas more accessible. - Memes can effectively “Trojan-horse” concepts into broader culture, though critical awareness can reduce their potential harm. Users should enjoy the flexibility and creativity of evolving language while remaining attentive to where viral terms come from, what meanings they lose, and which beliefs they may carry into the mainstream.

User Interface Algorithms Metadata Social Media Algorithms+2

figmaDec 15, 20253 min readCurated summary

Prototypes Are the New PRDs | Figma Blog

Prototypes are increasingly replacing traditional Product Requirements Documents because they communicate product intent more clearly than static text. Figma argues that interactive, high-fidelity prototypes help product managers explore uncertain problem spaces, generate alternatives, and build alignment earlier. Using Figma Make, PMs can turn vague ideas into tangible experiences that teams can critique and refine. ## Product Management Is Becoming More Prototype-Driven - PMs are increasingly prompting and prototyping alongside designers and engineers instead of relying primarily on documents for review. - Interactive prototypes show behavior and nuance that mocks, diagrams, slide decks, and written requirements often leave teams to imagine. - A working example can create momentum, expose assumptions, and make discussions more concrete. ## Exploration: Defining the Problem Space - Prototypes help teams investigate poorly understood problems before committing to a specific solution. - Figma PM Tara Nadella used Figma Make to explore “Check designs,” a design-system linter that identifies raw values and recommends variables. - By experimenting with rough flows and interactions, she clarified questions about: - Whether to use wraparound plugins - How the end-to-end experience should work - Which visual and interaction choices were intuitive - Prototyping helped her form an informed opinion before the team progressed too far with an early concept. ## Exploring Multiple Directions - Figma Make reduces the blank-canvas problem by quickly producing several approaches to evaluate. - Make kits ground generated prototypes in real product components, making them more realistic than generic AI mockups. - The Copy design feature converts Make previews into editable Figma Design layers, allowing teams to: - Create variations - Add visual refinement - Move designs back into Figma Make for continued prototyping - Sean Lee used Figma Make to test how Figma Slides might automatically apply brand colors based on a user’s prompt. - He remixed existing Slides templates to simulate automated color selection, helping the team demonstrate the idea rather than merely describe it. - AI image tools further speed up exploration by removing backgrounds, isolating objects, and reframing images directly on the canvas. ## Practical Guidance from Figma PMs - **Use real design systems:** Attach libraries and start from a base UI so prototypes reflect the actual product. - **Take breaks:** Returning to a prototype later can reveal inconsistencies and overlooked details. - **Use templates:** Make templates establish a polished baseline and provide controls over what teammates can modify, supporting consistent exploration and brand alignment. ## Validation - After generating ideas, teams still need to determine which concepts deserve investment. - Prototypes support this transition by helping secure stakeholder buy-in and gather user feedback. - Because users can react to an experience rather than an abstract description, prototypes can produce more meaningful validation and help confirm whether a direction is sound. The article’s central recommendation is to build early and use prototypes as living requirements. Teams should ground those prototypes in their real design systems, iterate collaboratively, and use them to replace assumptions with observable behavior.

Figma AI Design Systems Prototyping+2

figmaDec 11, 20252 min readCurated summary

Hard Problems Are Still Hard: A Story About the Tools That Change and the Work That Doesn't | Figma Blog

Nikolas Klein reflects on seven years building Figma’s prototyping tools and how AI transformed the design landscape. While AI changes the tools and accelerates execution, it does not eliminate the difficult work of framing problems, making judgments, iterating, and collaborating. The central conclusion is that AI is another tool in the designer’s toolbox—not a replacement for human insight. ## A Career in Prototyping - Klein describes moving from Figma designer to product manager. - His work centered on building interactive prototyping tools over several years. - Prototyping involved continual experimentation, iteration, and collaboration between designers and engineers. ## AI Changes the Tools - The arrival of AI prompts fundamental questions about the future role of designers and prototyping. - AI can generate ideas and help produce outputs more quickly. - The shift can feel overwhelming because it changes familiar workflows and raises uncertainty about which skills remain valuable. - Klein ultimately frames AI as an addition to the existing toolbox rather than a complete replacement for traditional design tools. ## The Work That Remains Difficult - AI does not remove the need to understand the underlying problem. - Designers still need to exercise judgment, evaluate alternatives, and decide what should be built. - Complex work depends on iteration, animation, interaction design, and close collaboration. - Human expertise remains important for turning vague ideas into coherent, useful experiences. ## Collaboration and the Future - Designers and engineers continue to contribute complementary perspectives. - AI can work alongside people, supporting exploration while humans provide direction and context. - The tools may evolve rapidly, but the challenge of solving meaningful, complex problems remains. The practical recommendation is to adopt AI as part of a broader creative workflow while continuing to develop the judgment, collaboration, and problem-solving skills that difficult design work requires.

Figma AI Prototyping Design Tools+2

figmaDec 10, 20252 min readCurated summary

Figma Make Is Now Available in Figma for Government | Figma Blog

Figma Make is now available in Figma for Government, giving federal agencies a secure way to create and test interactive prototypes. Figma argues that faster, collaborative design can help modernize public services, improve accessibility, and build public trust. The feature is available within Figma’s FedRAMP Moderate–authorized environment, although some cloud infrastructure will not reach full compliance until 2026. ## Modernizing Public Services - Government teams are improving services such as public portals, operational systems, benefits platforms, and research tools. - The online passport renewal system demonstrates the potential impact: by 2025, more than two million people had renewed passports online, with 97% reporting a positive experience. - Public-sector projects are difficult because policymakers, technologists, and operational leaders must coordinate under changing requirements and limited resources. - A 2025 executive order highlighted usability, accessibility, and design consistency as essential to citizen-facing services. ## Faster Prototyping and Collaboration - Figma Make enables teams to turn ideas into interactive prototypes in hours rather than weeks. - Designers, policy leaders, researchers, engineers, and IT staff can collaborate in a shared workspace. - Teams can test workflows and validate assumptions with citizens before development begins. - Shared libraries, integrations, accessibility standards, and design patterns help agencies maintain consistency. - Prototyping supports a wide range of initiatives, including federal benefits, financial communications, education platforms, space systems, and internal agency tools. ## Security and Compliance - Figma Make is included in Figma for Government and operates within its authorized environment. - Figma for Government is FedRAMP Moderate authorized, providing agencies with a compliant foundation for design and prototyping. - Figma notes that part of its cloud infrastructure is expected to achieve full FedRAMP Moderate compliance in 2026, while Make is usable today within the authorized environment. ## Broader Government Design Efforts - Federal agencies are already using Figma to modernize complex public services. - Shared design systems can improve accessibility and consistency across agencies and products. - Examples such as the National Park Service’s digital app illustrate how small teams can transform large, paper-based systems into accessible digital experiences. Figma positions Make as a practical tool for helping agencies adopt faster, citizen-first design processes. Government teams can use it to explore ideas early, collaborate across disciplines, and test accessible services before committing development resources.

Figma Design Systems Prototyping Figjam+3

figmaDec 10, 20252 min readCurated summary

Turn Your Prompts Into Visual Assets and Slide Decks With the Figma App in ChatGPT | Figma Blog

Figma has expanded its ChatGPT app beyond FigJam diagrams, allowing users to generate editable visual assets and presentation decks. ChatGPT provides initial creative directions, while Figma Buzz and Figma Slides support detailed editing, branding, resizing, and collaboration. The workflow is designed to move quickly from an idea or outline to a polished, team-ready result. ## Creating Visual Assets with Figma Buzz - Users can prompt ChatGPT to generate starting concepts for posters, invitations, digital ads, and video collages. - The app can produce multiple variations of a visual identity, layout, and copy. - Assets can then be opened in Figma Buzz for refinement, including: - Editing text and typography - Adjusting color palettes with blend modes - Applying brand-specific changes - Resizing designs for LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and other platforms - Figma Buzz is intended to make polished marketing assets accessible even to people without specialized design skills. ## Building Presentations in Figma Slides - ChatGPT can generate a Figma Slides deck from a user-provided outline or suggest a presentation flow. - Example decks include “year in review” templates organized around goals, priorities, highlights, and completed projects. - Users can select a generated option and continue editing collaboratively in Figma Slides. - Teams can replace generated images, adjust templates, and refine colors and typography to match brand guidelines. - Interactive features such as live polls, stamps, and alignment scales support feedback and discussion during presentations. ## Availability - The Figma app is available to ChatGPT users outside the European Union. - Figma Buzz and Figma Slides features are currently in beta within the app. The recommended workflow is to use ChatGPT for rapid ideation and first drafts, then move into Figma Buzz or Figma Slides for brand alignment, detailed editing, and collaborative refinement.

Figma Chatgpt Figma Slides Openai+2

figmaDec 9, 20252 min readCurated summary

Introducing Three New Tools For Precise Image Editing In Figma | Figma Blog

Figma introduced three AI-powered image editing tools—Erase object, Isolate object, and Expand image—to make detailed image manipulation possible without leaving the design canvas. The tools complement existing features such as background removal, cropping, and AI image generation, helping designers refine assets in context. A new image-editing toolbar brings these capabilities together for faster, more integrated workflows. ## Erase and Isolate Objects - **Erase object** removes a selected object from an image. - **Isolate object** separates an object or person so it can be edited or repositioned without changing the background. - Users can select objects with a lasso and apply: - Lighting and color adjustments - Blur and focus effects - Color correction - Shadows - These tools are useful for refining product photos, removing distractions, and emphasizing key visual elements. - Text-prompt editing remains available through Figma’s **Edit image** feature, but the new tools provide more precise manual control. ## Expand Images for New Layouts - **Expand image** generates additional background content to fit a new aspect ratio. - It adapts images for formats such as: - Mobile layouts - Web banners - Social media assets - Unlike cropping, expansion preserves the original subject and surrounding context without distortion. - For example, a square product image can be expanded into a wide banner while leaving room for text. ## A Unified Image-Editing Toolbar - The new toolbar combines the three AI tools with existing capabilities, including: - Remove background - Crop - AI image generation and editing - Remove background is now easier to find because it is one of the most frequently used AI actions in Figma. - The tools are available across Figma, including FigJam, Slides, and Buzz beta, with some seat restrictions. - In Figma Design and Figma Draw, they are available to Full-seat users on Professional, Organization, and Enterprise plans with AI enabled. - AI actions consume Figma credits. These updates aim to keep image editing inside Figma, reducing the need to switch between external tools. Designers can now make precise object-level edits, adapt images to different formats, and maintain visual consistency directly within their workflows.

Figma Generative AI Figjam Figma Slides+3

figmaDec 8, 20252 min readCurated summary

Updates to AI Credits in Figma | Figma Blog

Figma is expanding access to AI while adding clearer controls over credit consumption. The company has introduced usage tracking for both administrators and individual users, and will soon offer subscription-based and pay-as-you-go options for additional credits. Seat credit limits will become enforceable beginning March 18, 2026. ## Tracking AI Credit Usage - Billing administrators can see: - Which team members use AI features - How many credits each person has consumed - Which users have run out of credits - How many days remain before credits reset - Individual users can view their remaining balance and reset date. - Most AI actions will display the number of credits they consume. ## Purchasing Additional Credits Beginning March 11, 2026, teams will have two ways to buy credits beyond their included allowances: - **AI credits subscription** - Provides a shared monthly credit pool. - Offers better rates for teams with regular AI usage. - Packages begin at 5,000 credits per month. - **Pay-as-you-go billing** - Charges teams only when additional credits are needed. - Can be used independently or alongside a subscription. - Supports a team-defined spending limit. - Expected to become available by Q2 2026. Example pricing includes: - 5,000 credits: $120 monthly subscription or $150 pay-as-you-go - 7,500 credits: $180 monthly subscription or $225 pay-as-you-go - 10,000 credits: $240 monthly subscription or $300 pay-as-you-go ## Included Credit Allowances and Enforcement Monthly seat allowances vary by plan: - Starter: 500 credits - Professional full seats: 3,000 credits - Organization full seats: 3,500 credits - Enterprise full seats: 4,250 credits - Other seats: generally 500 credits Figma will begin enforcing all seat credit limits on March 18, 2026. Teams should therefore monitor usage and choose either an add-on subscription or pay-as-you-go billing if their AI needs exceed the included amounts.

Figma Prototyping Figma Make Figma Ai+3

figmaDec 4, 20252 min readCurated summary

Figma Expands Support for India with Local Data Hosting and New Governance Tools | Figma Blog

Figma is expanding its support for India with local hosting for Figma file data and stronger enterprise governance tools. Local data residency is planned for Q1 2026, helping regulated organizations meet security and compliance requirements while maintaining Figma’s performance. Governance+ is already available to Enterprise customers in India. ## Local Data Hosting for Indian Customers - Figma file data will be hosted within India, including content from FigJam, Make, Sites, Buzz, and Slides. - The option is intended for regulated sectors such as public services, healthcare, and finance. - Indian users created more than 35 million files between October 2024 and September 2025. - India is Figma’s second-largest active user base globally. - The offering builds on existing data residency options in Australia, Europe, and the United States. - Figma has expanded its local presence through a new Bengaluru hub and serves companies including Airtel, Flipkart, Swiggy, TCS, and Zomato. ## Governance+ for Enterprise Teams Governance+ gives organizations more control over how employees access and use Figma: - **Centralized control:** IP Allowlisting and Network Access Restrictions help ensure work occurs in approved Figma instances and networks. - **Account security:** Enforced two-factor authentication, extended idle session timeouts, and support for multiple identity providers reduce account-compromise risks. - **Data governance:** The Discovery Pipeline provides visibility into activity to support retention policies and legal discovery. - Governance+ complements existing tools such as activity logs, SSO, SCIM-based seat management, and restrictions on external collaborators. - The feature is available now to all Enterprise-plan customers. Figma’s India strategy combines regional data residency with tighter administrative controls, making the platform more suitable for organizations with strict privacy, security, and regulatory obligations. Enterprises interested in local hosting can register their interest ahead of its planned Q1 2026 launch.

Figma Identity Provider Data Residency Single Sign On+4

figmaDec 2, 20253 min readCurated summary

Double Click: What Does It Mean To Be A Designer In The Age Of AI? | Figma Blog

AI is blurring the boundaries between design, development, and product management, making traditional job titles less stable. Figma argues that titles still matter, however: they communicate expertise, shape expectations, support career development, and contribute to professional identity. As AI changes the tasks within jobs, people may increasingly identify as generalists or combinations of roles rather than occupying a single fixed profession. ## The rise of hybrid roles - Figma reports that **64% of product builders identify with two or more roles**. - AI is taking on increasingly specialized tasks, increasing the value of people who can connect ideas across disciplines. - Designers, developers, and product managers are increasingly working across traditional boundaries. - Jobs can be understood as “bundles of tasks” whose importance changes as technology and industry needs evolve. ## Why titles still matter - Titles provide shorthand for understanding someone’s expertise, responsibilities, and status. - They help establish expectations when people meet or collaborate for the first time. - Professional titles can support career ladders and communicate alignment with the values of an industry. - Research cited from Adam Grant found that allowing employees to choose their own titles improved psychological safety and reduced emotional exhaustion by up to 10% over five weeks. - Professional organizations and certifications reinforce the importance of titles in fields such as architecture, engineering, and medicine. ## Titles evolve with technology - The meaning of “designer” has changed from a focus on physical objects and print to digital products and software. - “Software engineer” emerged in the 1960s as the industry confronted the complexity of building software for increasingly powerful computers. - New technology continually creates, reshapes, and sometimes eliminates roles; “prompt engineer” is presented as a recent example. - During the dot-com era, some professionals combined responsibilities spanning product management, program management, development, and art. ## Roles shape expectations and identity - Titles influence how others perceive a person’s expertise and what work they are expected to perform. - Nikolas Klein describes himself as “a product designer in a PM trenchcoat,” showing how people may retain one identity while operating in another role. - Moving into product management made Klein’s strategic and service-design skills more visible and reduced assumptions that his work centered mainly on visual design. - Developer advocate Jake Albaugh views roles as potentially limiting because their definitions change as expertise grows. - At the same time, adopting the title “software engineer” after working as a web designer gave Albaugh a sense of confidence and recognition. Organizations and individuals will likely need to treat titles as flexible signals rather than rigid boundaries. The most durable professional identity may come from the value someone creates and the connections they make—not from a single fixed job label.

Figma AI Product Design Prompt Engineering+3