Figma year in review: 2018 | Figma Blog

Figma’s 2018 review describes a shift from building a collaborative design tool to building an open platform and global community around it. After launching publicly in 2016 and raising $25 million in Series B funding, Figma expanded its API, attracted businesses and developers, and grew adoption among large organizations. The company concludes that partnerships, integrations, and community initiatives will remain central to its growth.

From Product to Community

• Figma marked roughly two years since its public launch in September 2016.
• In 2018, its focus expanded beyond the core product to include:
  • The Figma Platform
  • API-powered integrations
  • Community events and resources
  • Adoption across departments in major organizations
• Microsoft used Figma’s API to automate parts of its developer handoff process.

The Figma Platform

• Figma launched what it called the first web API for a design tool.
• Its web-based architecture enabled integrations that would have been difficult with isolated desktop software.
• Companies such as Uber and GitHub used the API to customize their design workflows even before the public launch.
• Seven months later, businesses were being built on the platform, including paid services.

Community-built tools

• PDF exporting
• Style-guide generation
• Find-and-replace tools for text and layer names
• JavaScript libraries for working with the Figma API

Commercial integrations

• Avocode and Zeplin connected Figma designs to developer handoff workflows.
• Principle added advanced animation capabilities.
• Relay for Figma pushed designs directly into codebases.
• Pagedraw converted Figma designs into React.
• Overflow synchronized designs for user-flow diagrams.
• Haiku converted designs into production-ready components.

Figma expected partnerships and additional integrations to become an even larger focus in 2019.

Building a Global Community

• Figma hosted design-system meetups in cities around the world, initially covering eight cities and later reaching 17 countries.
• Events connected designers and encouraged detailed discussions about systematic design.
• Figma launched DesignSystems.com to share practices and stories from teams at companies including Airbnb, GitHub, Braintree, and Segment.
• The company viewed community connections and shared knowledge as an extension of its open-platform strategy.

Figma’s 2018 direction was clear: continue investing in an accessible web-based tool while enabling an ecosystem of integrations, businesses, and designers around it.