Frame 2021: design by the numbers | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

Figma’s 2021 data shows how remote and hybrid work reshaped design collaboration. Teams increasingly worked across borders and included product managers and developers earlier, using FigJam for ideation and Figma for interface design and handoff. The overall trend was toward a more open, continuous design process spanning idea to implementation.

Building Across Borders

• Figma users represented 235 countries and territories.
• Collaboration activity grew across regions and time zones as organizations adopted virtual-first and hybrid work.
• In the U.S., New York and California remained major collaboration hubs, while Washington and Texas gained activity.
• Globally, the U.S. and Russia were established hubs, with India, Brazil, and Indonesia increasingly active.
• Nearly 14% of collaboration occurred between different continents, up from 8% in early 2020.
• Examples included teams collaborating between Madrid and Wellington, and between Beijing and Buenos Aires.

From Ideas to Shipped Products

• About 52% of users collaborated with others in 2021.
• Shared files had a median of four invited collaborators.
• Product managers and developers were the largest groups of Figma users outside designers.
• FigJam supported early-stage brainstorming and freeform exploration before teams moved into Figma to build interfaces.
• Around 15% of active FigJam users began with templates, with brainstorming templates the most popular.

A More Open Design Process

• The first collaborator viewed a Figma file an average of 10 days after creation, compared with 19 days in 2019.
• This suggests cross-functional partners were being involved earlier in design.
• Developers participated in 40% of collaborative files.
• When developers joined, handoff typically began 33 days after design creation and continued for 45 days after the first code inspection.
• Handoff activity often continued well after the final design edit.

Collaboration Beyond Design

• Teams increasingly used digital tools for activities traditionally held in person.
• FigJam supported stand-ups, icebreakers, roadmapping, retrospectives, and other team exercises.
• The shift reflects a broader move toward virtual-friendly collaboration across the entire product development process.

Figma’s findings recommend treating design as a shared, end-to-end process rather than an isolated stage. Bringing cross-functional partners into FigJam and Figma early can improve collaboration across locations, disciplines, and the full path from concept to code.