Collaborative Design

47 posts

figmaJul 26, 20222 min readCurated summary

What’s new in Figma: July 2022 | Figma Blog

Figma’s July 2022 updates focus on strengthening collaboration, expanding global support, and making community resources easier to discover. The company introduced research on effective teamwork, launched a fully localized Japanese experience, and redesigned Figma Community browsing and search. Together, these changes aim to help teams collaborate more effectively and find useful resources faster. ## Research on Effective Collaboration - Figma studied more than 100 teams composed of designers, product managers, engineers, researchers, and writers. - The resulting report, *What Makes Collaboration Click?*, identifies five behaviors associated with better product outcomes: - Co-creation - Rapport - Role clarity - Feedback - Reflection - Figma also announced a livestream featuring product research leaders Cristen Torrey and Andrew Hogan to discuss the findings. ## Figma Expands in Japan - Figma launched a fully localized Japanese product interface, website, and help center. - The company opened a Tokyo office and hired local leadership to support Japanese users and the regional Figma Community. - The expansion reflects Figma’s international user base, with 80% of users located outside the United States. - Figma also introduced the Japanese-focused social account **@FigmaJapan**. ## Improving Figma Community Discovery - Figma redesigned Community browsing to help users navigate its large collection of shared resources. - Users can now more easily distinguish among: - Figma and FigJam products - Use cases such as design systems - Resource types such as files, templates, widgets, and plugins - Search received expanded filtering and sorting options. - Results can be sorted by trending, most popular, or most recent resources. - The changes are intended to make creators’ contributions more discoverable and help users find relevant assets more quickly. Figma’s July improvements combine better collaboration guidance with practical product changes, particularly stronger international support and more efficient Community search and discovery.

Collaborative Design Figma Design Systems Figjam+2

figmaApr 20, 20223 min readCurated summary

Good ideas stick | Figma Blog

Figma’s digital washi tape began as a playful April Fun Day experiment inspired by a community tweet. The feature translated washi tape’s blend of visual delight, flexibility, and “just-right adhesion” into Figma and FigJam, attracting 224,000 rolls in a single day. Strong user enthusiasm convinced Figma that the feature should become more than a one-day joke. ## Why Washi Tape Works - Japanese washi tape is a decorative form of masking tape used for gift wrapping, scrapbooking, drawing, and planning. - Its appeal comes from being: - Colorful and expressive - Easy to tear, move, layer, and write on - Functional without damaging the surface underneath - These qualities make it especially appealing to designers, who enjoy patterns, lines, grids, and color. ## The Origins of Modern Washi Tape - In 2007, three Tokyo artists asked Japanese industrial tape manufacturer Kamoi Kakoshi to create more colorful versions of its masking tape. - The company invited them to its factory, saw how creatively they used the tape, and developed a new product line called **mt**. - The first collection launched with 20 colors. - Kamoi refined the tape’s “just-right adhesion,” allowing it to be repositioned, torn by hand, layered, and removed without damaging walls or other surfaces. - The company continued expanding the product with new colors, patterns, and collaborations until washi tape became a common household craft material. ## Translating Washi Tape into a Digital Product - Figma’s team prototyped a digital equivalent for Figma and FigJam. - The goal was to preserve the physical product’s: - Decorative, tactile feeling - Ease of manipulation - Practical usefulness - Ability to add personality to otherwise ordinary work - The April Fun Day release let users decorate files with bold, colorful strips of digital tape. ## From April Fools’ Feature to Lasting Utility - The feature quickly spread across user files, generating 224,000 digital “rolls” in one day. - Users experimented with ways to make sticky notes feel “stickier” and incorporated the tape into their work. - Many users asked Figma to bring the feature back permanently. - Their response showed that the tape was not merely a novelty: its combination of fun and utility made it genuinely useful in collaborative spaces. Figma’s experiment demonstrates that successful digital tools can emerge by identifying the emotional and functional qualities of familiar physical objects—not just copying their appearance. Washi tape’s lasting appeal comes from making everyday work more expressive, and digital versions can offer the same sense of creativity with even greater flexibility.

Collaborative Design Figma Prototyping Figjam+1

figmaMar 14, 20222 min readCurated summary

FigJam for iPad: space to explore and ideate | Figma Blog

FigJam for iPad was introduced to make brainstorming and collaboration more fluid across devices. The article argues that tablets’ focused, tactile nature complements FigJam’s infinite canvas, especially for sketching, exploring early ideas, and giving visual feedback. Although the standalone iPad app is being retired in 2026, FigJam remains available through the Figma app and the web. ## Why Tablets Suit FigJam - Desktop workflows often interrupt creative focus with notifications and constant context switching. - Tablets provide a more focused, single-app environment. - The iPad’s portability and touch or pen input make it feel similar to working in a notebook. - FigJam’s open canvas naturally supports freeform drawing, doodling, annotations, and low-fidelity exploration. - Users can move fluidly between desktop and tablet depending on the task. ## Embracing Early Ideas - Low-fidelity sketches make nonlinear exploration and iteration easier. - Rough ideas encourage collaboration rather than inviting narrow critique. - Users can sketch concepts on an iPad, then continue refining or sharing them from a laptop. - Team members can draw directly over one another’s ideas, making ideation more interactive. ## Making Feedback More Personal - Handwritten annotations can complement or replace traditional comments. - Users can circle, underline, and mark up text, diagrams, and sketches directly on the canvas. - Visual and handwritten feedback creates a warmer, more collaborative experience than written critique alone. ## Running Collaborative Sessions - The iPad can support group workshops as well as individual work. - Facilitators can display a FigJam file on a desktop screen while using the iPad for live annotations. - Quick actions—such as circling stickies or highlighting contributions—make meetings feel more natural and fluid. Figma positioned FigJam for iPad as an early step toward richer tablet-based design workflows. For current users, FigJam is available through the Figma mobile app or the web; the standalone iPad app is scheduled for retirement on January 8, 2026.

Collaborative Design Figma Figjam Android+3

figmaMar 8, 20221 min readCurated summary

Our response to Ukraine | Figma Blog

Figma condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an attack on democratic values central to its mission. The company is supporting affected communities through employee donation matching and continued access to paid features for Ukrainian customers needing assistance. It is also complying with U.S. and EU sanctions and has halted new sales efforts in Russia. ## Support for Ukraine and Ukrainian Customers - Figma employees are donating to organizations aiding Ukrainian refugees and providing humanitarian relief. - The company is matching those employee contributions through its donation-matching program. - Ukrainian customers who request help will retain access to Figma’s paid features in the coming months. ## Actions Regarding Russia - Figma is fully complying with applicable U.S. and EU sanctions against Russia. - It has stopped pursuing new sales in the Russian market. Figma’s response combines humanitarian support for Ukraine with sanctions compliance and a suspension of new Russian business, while expressing solidarity with its Ukrainian community.

Collaborative Design Figma Design Tools Web Design

figmaJan 9, 20222 min readCurated summary

The year ahead: a conversation with Soleio, Julie Zhuo, and May-Li Khoe | Figma Blog

The article explores how creative work may evolve in 2022 as remote and hybrid work become permanent. Soleio argues that collaboration will move further into digital tools, requiring stronger documentation, asynchronous processes, and organizational discipline. He also predicts that creative tools will spread across the workforce and increasingly incorporate automated, virtual collaborators. ## Hybrid Work Will Reshape Creative Collaboration - Creative work will increasingly reflect hybrid workforce models. - Institutional knowledge and team context will move from physical offices into digital environments. - Traditional brainstorming sessions may shift from conference rooms to tools such as FigJam. - Creative software will become more accessible and collaborative, encouraging people outside traditional creative roles to use it. ## London’s Growing Technology Ecosystem - Relocating from Silicon Valley to London required Soleio to adjust his understanding of the two technology ecosystems. - Whereas technology dominates the Bay Area, it remains a newer and more disruptive sector in many other regions. - London is attracting more early-stage investors and becoming a stronger home for ambitious startups. - This growth may allow founders to build major technology companies without moving to Silicon Valley. ## Global Teams Need Better Organizational Hygiene - Distributed teams must deliberately coordinate feedback and decision-making across time zones. - Clear writing, recorded video feedback, and structured processes will become more important. - Remote teams cannot rely on shared office space or informal conversations to maintain context. - Transparent documentation and decision-making will become a competitive advantage. ## Automation and Virtual Collaborators - Design exploration and feedback are expected to become increasingly automated. - Future knowledge work may involve non-human agents that provide feedback, support iteration, and perform tasks currently handled manually. - These tools could fundamentally change the nature of teamwork by making virtual collaborators part of everyday creative processes. Teams preparing for the future should invest not only in collaborative tools, but also in documentation, asynchronous communication, and transparent organizational practices.

Collaborative Design Figma Figjam Open Source+3

figmaNov 29, 20212 min readCurated summary

What’s new in Figma: November 2021 | Figma Blog

Figma’s November 2021 updates focused on helping distributed teams collaborate more efficiently and inclusively. The main improvements redesigned comments to make feedback easier to notice and manage, while audio captions made real-time discussions more accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing users. Together, these features reduce friction when teams move from ideas to decisions and deliverables. ## Redesigned Comments for Faster Feedback - Comments in both Figma and FigJam are now more prominent and easier to spot. - Adding and responding to comments has been simplified. - The redesign helps teams: - Share feedback more naturally - Organize and manage discussions - Act on feedback without interrupting their design workflow - The goal is to keep collaboration “in the flow” as teams iterate across functions. ## Audio Captions for More Inclusive Collaboration - Figma had previously introduced audio calls and cursor chat, allowing teammates to communicate without leaving a shared file. - FigJam also supports collaborative interactions such as high-fives during brainstorming sessions. - Closed captioning was added in beta to the Figma desktop app. - During audio discussions, captions make it clearer: - Who is speaking - What each person is saying - This improves participation for deaf and hard-of-hearing users and helps everyone follow important feedback. Figma’s November updates reinforce a practical collaboration principle: feedback should be easy to give, easy to understand, and accessible to every participant. Teams using Figma and FigJam can take advantage of redesigned comments and captions to make shared design work faster and more inclusive.

Collaborative Design Figma Figjam Accessibility+2

figmaSep 14, 20212 min readCurated summary

How Elsewhen builds digital products for their clients | Figma Blog

Elsewhen, a UK-based digital product consultancy, uses Figma as a collaborative workspace throughout the product-development process—not just for final designs. Its partnerships with Spotify and Inmarsat show how shared tools, reusable assets, and structured collaboration can reduce operational friction while supporting creativity and faster delivery. ## Improving Design Productivity at Spotify - Spotify wanted to measure and improve designer productivity without reducing creative quality. - Rather than counting screens, components, or hours spent, Spotify and Elsewhen focused on identifying workflow obstacles and opportunities for improvement. - They created the **Design Productivity Blueprint**, an open-source Figma file containing: - Workshops - Interview templates - Frameworks for analyzing design-team workflows - The goal is to help designers spend less time on routine work and more time exploring and solving problems creatively. ## Creating a Design System for Inmarsat - Inmarsat’s distributed workforce and reliance on external design agencies made collaboration difficult. - Designers and developers lacked a shared source of truth for components, files, and assets. - Designers frequently rebuilt common components from scratch, slowing product development and making onboarding harder. - Elsewhen created Inmarsat’s first Figma-based design system using an existing self-service portal project as its foundation. - The system established reusable standards for: - Typography - Buttons - Icons - Grids - Other common interface components - Centralizing these assets allowed internal teams, developers, and partner agencies to access the same resources and build products more quickly. ## Figma as a Collaborative Home Base - Elsewhen uses Figma across exploration, workshops, prototyping, and client collaboration. - Real-time access removes routine steps such as exporting, uploading, and distributing design assets. - Shared files and component libraries improve communication between consultants, clients, designers, and developers. - The broader lesson is that better collaboration systems can improve both productivity and the quality of creative work. Elsewhen’s work suggests that organizations should treat design tools as shared operational infrastructure. Establishing common workflows, reusable components, and accessible sources of truth can help teams reduce duplication, onboard faster, and deliver stronger products.

Collaborative Design Figma Design Systems Prototyping+2

figmaAug 17, 20212 min readCurated summary

Inside Figma: building a more collaborative design process | Figma Blog

Figma’s product design team uses FigJam to make early-stage design more inclusive, collaborative, and focused on ideas rather than polish. Moving brainstorming, feedback, and co-design into a shared whiteboard helps designers, product managers, and engineers contribute asynchronously and visibly. The result is a process that brings together emotional insight, product thinking, and technical constraints earlier. ## Keeping Early Ideation Focused - Figma’s detailed design tools can encourage teams to refine visuals too soon. - FigJam’s lighter, more flexible format keeps attention on brainstorming and concepts instead of pixel-perfect execution. - Product Designer Jenny Wen used reusable tweet and Slack-message components to imagine how users might react to upcoming features. - Limiting the workshop’s format helped the team generate ideas quickly without getting distracted by exact wording or visual details. - The strongest concepts were later moved into Figma for more detailed design work. ## Organizing Asynchronous Feedback - Designing sticky-note attribution raised complex questions about editable names, ownership changes, and copied content. - Jenny collected feedback from alpha testers and teammates directly in FigJam. - She grouped related input and created a decision tree to explain possible solutions. - Sharing the file through Slack allowed collaborators to review the reasoning, add comments, and vote with stamps without scheduling a meeting. - The visual format made both the feedback and the decision-making process easier to follow. ## Co-Designing with Product and Engineering - Product Designer Keeyen Yeo used FigJam to explore the high-five feature by diagramming how people high-five in real life. - Unlike paper sketches, the shared FigJam file let product partners contribute directly and co-design the interaction. - Engineer Willy Wu mapped the technical behavior, including when a cursor should enter high-five mode. - Iterating together helped the team balance technical feasibility with a natural user experience. Figma’s experience suggests that using a lightweight collaborative tool for early exploration can make design processes more open and productive. Teams should defer detailed execution until after designers, product partners, and engineers have jointly developed and tested the core ideas.

Collaborative Design Figma User Experience Prototyping+2

figmaJun 3, 20212 min readCurated summary

Pride 2021: Getting back out there | Figma Blog

Figma’s 2021 Pride post presents Pride as both a celebration of LGBTQ+ identity and a continuation of the community’s history of resistance. Clancy Slack describes how Figma’s Pride Employee Resource Group creates space for authenticity and belonging, especially after the isolation and injustice of 2020. As in-person events began returning, Figma invited the broader design community to express Pride through posters made and shared in Figma Community. ## Figma’s commitment to community and belonging - Figma’s mission of making design accessible extends to building inclusive communities. - Figma Community connects hundreds of thousands of users who collaborate and create together. - Employee Resource Groups help Figmates connect around shared identities and experiences. - The Pride ERG, founded in 2019, provides LGBTQ+ employees with a space to be open, authentic, and supported. - During Maker Week, the group explored Pride iconography and collaboratively designed original artwork. ## Pride’s history and renewed significance - Pride offers LGBTQ+ people a rare opportunity to celebrate openly, feel safe, and connect with their community. - The occasion commemorates the 1969 Stonewall Uprising and the history of resistance to anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination and police raids. - The pandemic and widespread reminders of injustice made community and solidarity especially important in 2020. - With vaccinations increasing and cities preparing for in-person parades, Pride represented a hopeful return to public celebration. ## A call for Pride posters - Figma encouraged designers, artists, and makers to create Pride posters using the platform. - Participants were asked to publish their work to Figma Community with the hashtag **#pride**. - Posters could be printed for local parades or used to celebrate Pride at home. - Figma planned to feature selected designs in a curated Community collection. - The post highlighted employee-created designs, including messages such as “Show your true colors” and “Love is Love.” - A Figma template provided standard sizing and printing guidance. Figma’s central recommendation is to use creative collaboration to strengthen visibility, connection, and LGBTQ+ community celebration—bringing Pride back into public spaces while keeping its history and purpose in view.

Collaborative Design Figma Design Systems Figma Community

figmaApr 20, 20212 min readCurated summary

Coming together at Config 2021 | Figma Blog

Figma’s Config 2021 announcements focus on making design more collaborative and accessible to broader teams. The company introduced tools for brainstorming, safe experimentation, mobile review, live discussion, and large-scale participation. Together, these updates reflect Figma’s shift from a specialized interface-design tool toward a broader collaborative workspace. ## FigJam for Brainstorming - FigJam is a new whiteboard space for brainstorming, diagramming user journeys, and exploring ideas. - It includes features such as emotes and chats to recreate some of the spontaneity of in-person collaboration. - Released in open beta, it was initially free through February 2022, with planned free and paid tiers afterward. ## Branching for Safer Iteration - Branching lets users create independent versions of a file to explore ideas without changing the main design. - Teams can collaborate within branches using Figma’s multiplayer tools. - Completed work can be merged back into the main branch. - The feature is available in beta for Organization-plan customers and is intended to support design-system contributions and large-team workflows. ## Mobile Access and Review - New iOS and Android apps make files and prototypes easier to access from anywhere. - The apps improve the mirrored playback experience, helping designers preview how work appears on actual devices. - The mobile app was launched in beta, with a broader release planned. ## Audio Collaboration - Audio allows teammates to start calls directly inside Figma or FigJam. - It supports live design critiques, group brainstorming, and discussions without leaving the editor. - The feature was planned for Professional and Organization plans. ## Larger Multiplayer Sessions - Figma increased its limit to 500 concurrent users: 100 editors and 400 viewers. - The company planned to raise the limit to 1,000 users across Figma and FigJam, with 200 editors and 800 viewers. - These limits support large presentations, workshops, classrooms, and other emerging collaborative uses. ## Publishing to the Figma Community - Everyone can publish files, templates, techniques, and other resources to the Figma Community. - Users can both discover work from others and share their own contributions. - FigJam templates were highlighted as an early example of this expanded community ecosystem. Figma’s Config 2021 updates recommend a broader model of design collaboration: teams can ideate in FigJam, experiment through branching, review work on mobile, communicate through audio, and share results with the wider community.

Collaborative Design Figma Design Systems Figjam+3

figmaApr 5, 20212 min readCurated summary

About Figma’s new Starter plan | Figma Blog

Figma’s updated free Starter plan, launched April 21, 2021, prioritizes unrestricted multiplayer collaboration over unlimited shared files. Drafts remain an unlimited personal workspace, while team spaces gain unlimited editors but are limited to three files with three pages each. Figma concluded that removing the arbitrary two-editor cap would better let teams experience real-time collaboration. ## Changes to the Starter Plan - Drafts become a personal workspace: - Unlimited files, pages, and viewers remain available. - Co-editing requires moving a file into a team space. - Team spaces now support: - Unlimited editors. - A maximum of three files. - Up to three pages per file. - Existing files, pages, and projects created before the rollout were not moved or altered. - FigJam was also introduced to all plans with unlimited usage during its beta period. ## Why Figma Removed the Editor Limit - Collaboration is central to Figma’s browser-based product and often the main reason teams choose it. - The previous two-editor limit prevented users from experiencing the full benefits of multiplayer design. - Figma considered simply increasing the editor limit but decided any fixed number would be arbitrary. - The new approach supports teams ranging from two collaborators to dozens of teammates. ## Results from User Testing - 87% of users were excited about unlimited editors in team spaces. - Teams collaborated 29% more after the two-editor restriction was removed. - Users typically worked actively on only two or three files at a time, making the new team-space limits seem reasonable. - Unlimited files remained available in Drafts for personal work. ## Rollout and Additional Options - Figma announced the changes ahead of the April 21, 2021 rollout. - Users received notifications through email and the Figma app. - Students and educators could apply for the Figma for Education plan, which provided Professional-plan features for free. The updated Starter plan was designed to make Figma’s multiplayer experience accessible to teams of any size while reserving broader file capacity for paid plans.

Collaborative Design Figma Figjam Real Time Collaboration+1

figmaDec 8, 20202 min readCurated summary

Meet us in the browser | Figma Blog

Figma’s five-year journey demonstrates how browser-based software can transform design from a siloed, offline activity into an open, collaborative practice. Although this shift initially threatened designers’ sense of control and identity, the browser’s multiplayer, accessible nature encourages shared ownership and transparency. Field argues that this ethos should extend beyond design to all software and society. ## The Browser as a Radical Bet - Figma launched by betting on the browser rather than traditional desktop software. - The founders were drawn to browser-native values: - Collaboration - Transparency - Accessibility - Figma offered practical benefits such as cross-platform support, multiplayer editing, and a single source of truth for files. ## Why the Change Felt Threatening - Moving design from an offline, single-player experience into a shared browser environment challenged established workflows. - Designers worried that transparency could lead to: - Over-demystification of the creative process - Increased micromanagement - Tighter deadlines - Loss of control over their work - Broader access also raised an identity question: if anyone can design, what does it mean to be a professional designer? ## From “My Ideas” to “Our Ideas” - Collaborative digital spaces encourage teams to treat work as shared rather than individually owned. - This requires trust, transparency, and a willingness to let others modify or remix personal creative work. - Figma’s multiplayer environment makes collaboration part of the process, especially when people might otherwise hide unfinished or blocked work. ## Digital Spaces and Broader Access - The browser represents a larger transition from physical spaces to digital ones, accelerated by COVID-19. - Unlike physical spaces, digital spaces can be open by default and less hierarchical. - Browser-based tools reduce dependence on expensive hardware, specialized software, and restrictive titles or credentials. - Figma aims to make design accessible throughout the entire process, from ideation through production. ## A Broader Software Philosophy - Field sees the browser as more than a productivity improvement; it is a medium for cultural change. - Software makers have a responsibility to make platforms usable by more people, not fewer. - The ideal is to create environments where people can work together, embrace creative messiness, learn from failure, and leave ego aside. The article recommends building software around openness, accessibility, and collaboration. Figma’s experience suggests that browser-native tools can help replace siloed expertise with shared participation.

Collaborative Design Figma Multiplayer Editing Web Browser+1

figmaOct 12, 20203 min readCurated summary

Reflections on Figma’s inaugural Student Fellowship | Figma Blog

Figma’s inaugural Student Fellowship was created in response to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift away from campus-based education. Rather than organizing local meetups, Figma worked with students to build accessible resources, communities, and programs for remote learning and collaboration. Over 10 weeks, the fellowship successfully produced classroom tools, student-focused content, and virtual community experiences while establishing a model for future student programs. ## Rethinking the Student Program - Figma originally planned to make on-campus meetups central to its education efforts. - As students faced remote semesters and uncertain campus plans, the team reconsidered how to support them beyond physical classrooms. - Student conversations focused on: - Recreating classroom and campus collaboration online - Supporting extracurricular projects - Helping educators adapt to new teaching environments - Understanding students’ changing needs - The program centered on classroom resources, student stories, the Virtual Campus Slack Community, and hackathons. ## Setting a Broader Vision - The fellowship aimed not only to ship content but also to establish a foundation for future fellowship programs. - Figma considered how the program could complement: - On-campus student ambassadors - The Friends of Figma community - The broader design ecosystem - The group prioritized resources that were both accessible to students and aspirational. - Although fellows worked across separate workstreams, they operated as a cohesive team and intended their work to reach Figma employees and professional designers as well as students. ## Classroom Resources - The fellows created six classroom templates usable both online and in person. - Examples included: - A research-project toolbox - A playground file for learning Figma’s editor - An assignment-creation template - They also curated a broader collection of community resources to help teachers and students learn, create, and use Figma effectively. ## Student Stories and Career Questions - Conversations with students revealed widespread uncertainty about whether to take a gap year. - Figma responded with a “Back To School?” interview series featuring: - Dylan Field - Marc Andreessen - May-Li Khoe - Karlie Kloss - John Maeda - Laura Deming - The interviews explored gap years, education, and alternative paths through higher education. - Fellow Abigail Africa also published guidance on pitching and presenting, emphasizing audience awareness, confidence, and storytelling. ## Virtual Campus and Camp Figma - More than 1,000 students joined Figma’s Virtual Campus Slack Community during the summer. - The community enabled students to connect, teach, learn, and socialize remotely. - Figma also hosted Camp Figma, a two-day virtual make-a-thon involving hundreds of students across dozens of time zones. - Featured winning projects included FigmAdventure and Slice. ## Overall Impact - The fellowship demonstrated that student programming could extend beyond campus events through digital communities and reusable resources. - Its success gave Figma a practical foundation for developing future fellowships and strengthening its broader education initiatives. - The program also showed the value of involving students directly in designing services intended for their own community.

Collaborative Design Figma Prototyping Slack+2

figmaApr 29, 20202 min readCurated summary

Figma’s Series D round | Figma Blog

Figma announced a $50 million Series D funding round on April 30, 2020, led by Peter Levine and Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz. The company planned to use the funding to strengthen its collaborative design and prototyping platform while expanding into broader visual communication and creativity tools. The announcement also highlighted Figma’s growing relevance as remote work accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. ## Funding and Investors - The Series D round raised **$50 million**. - It was led by **Peter Levine and Marc Andreessen at a16z**. - Existing investors—including **Index, Greylock, KPCB, Sequoia, and Founders Fund**—also participated. - New participants included **Henry Ellenbogen of Durable Capital** and several angel investors. ## Expanding Uses for Figma - Figma reported increased engagement as work and home life became more digitally connected. - Customers were using the platform beyond interface design for: - Visual whiteboarding - Diagramming - Slide creation - Virtual design sprints - City-building projects - Minecraft skin creation - These examples supported Figma’s broader vision of making design accessible to everyone, including non-designers. ## Planned Use of the Capital - Figma intended to invest further in its core design and prototyping platform. - Priorities included making the product more: - Powerful - Reliable - Collaborative - The company also planned to explore dedicated products for new visual communication and creativity use cases. - Figma viewed the shift toward remote collaboration as an opportunity to accelerate this work. ## Hiring and Company Mission - Figma continued hiring to support its expansion. - Its long-term mission remained making design accessible to a wider audience through web-based collaborative tools. Figma’s Series D funding was positioned as both an investment in its core collaborative design product and a step toward becoming a broader platform for visual communication.

Collaborative Design Figma Prototyping Web Design+2

figmaApr 19, 20202 min readCurated summary

11 activities in Figma for your classroom | Figma Blog

Figma’s collaborative, browser-based workflow makes it well suited to hands-on design education. This post presents classroom activities that help students learn Figma while practicing visual design, research, geometry, prototyping, and collaboration. The exercises range from beginner icebreakers to intermediate component and illustration projects, with duplicateable files for educators. ## Getting Started with Figma - **Student trading cards** - An introductory activity combining class introductions with basic Figma practice. - Students create social-media-style profiles using Auto Layout and components. - Working in one shared file exposes students to classmates’ processes and styles. - A gallery page can showcase the finished cards. - **Level:** Beginner - **Features:** Auto Layout, Multiplayer Editing - **Make a heart** - Students create and customize a heart using the Pen Tool, Layout Grid, and the Properties panel. - The exercise builds familiarity with foundational drawing and layout tools. - An optional challenge uses Smart Animate to make the heart pulse. - **Level:** Beginner - **Features:** Pen Tool, Properties Panel, Layout Grid ## Exploring Form, Geometry, and Research - **Figma tangrams** - Students use the seven-piece tangram puzzle to explore geometry and form. - Prompts include creating recognizable animals and experimenting with abstract shapes. - A more advanced version asks students to research and build their own reusable puzzle sets. - **Level:** Beginner - **Features:** Components, rotation, alignment - **Design research paper** - Students visualize research findings in a compelling, readable format. - The class builds a collaborative library of articles that peers can read and comment on. - Reviewing the collection encourages discussion about visual hierarchy and communication design. - **Level:** Beginner - **Features:** Layout Grids, Keyboard Shortcuts ## Practicing Components and Collaboration - **Chat windows** - Students design reusable chat components for conversations and visual feedback. - The activity emphasizes customization and creating components useful in future collaborative work. - **Level:** Intermediate - **Feature:** Auto Layout - **Collaborative illustrations with constraints** - Students work together to create a consistent system of illustrations or icons. - Shared constraints—such as a bespoke geometric grid and limited color palette—encourage cohesion and creative problem-solving. - Peer support and critique are central to the exercise. - **Level:** Intermediate Educators can adapt these activities to their students’ experience levels and duplicate the accompanying Figma community files. Together, they provide a practical progression from basic tool literacy to structured collaboration and reusable design systems.

Collaborative Design Figma User Interface Auto Layout+2