Design Thinking | Techlist.io

figmaAug 24, 20212 min readCurated summary

Rethinking a design thinking workshop for good | Figma Blog

Design the Future adapted its two-week design-thinking program for more than 100 high school students to work remotely during the pandemic. Using FigJam, students collaborated with university coaches and people with disabilities to design practical solutions to real-world challenges. The virtual format not only preserved the program’s hands-on approach but also made it more inclusive by enabling students from across the country to participate. ## Finding the Right Collaborative Tool - The program required up to eight hours of online collaboration each day, making ease of use and engagement essential. - The team initially considered Figma but chose FigJam because students could learn it quickly and interact directly within shared boards. - Existing Figma templates could be copied into FigJam, reducing preparation time. - FigJam supported collaboration among large groups and smaller project teams without relying entirely on video meetings. ## Structuring the Design Process with Team Whiteboards - Students followed the full design process, from gathering requirements and developing empathy to creating a shippable app. - Program creator Durrell Coleman built a central FigJam whiteboard to organize each stage and provide a single source of truth. - Templates served as activity worksheets, giving students structure while preserving space for experimentation, feedback, and iteration. - Designs created in Figma were migrated into FigJam for use throughout the workshop. ## Building Community Online - FigJam was also used for social activities between project sessions. - Students participated in icebreakers, mapped their hometowns, and completed IDEO’s “30 circles” creativity challenge. - These activities helped transform the shared workspace into a virtual lunchroom where students could connect informally. ## Empathy as the Central Lesson - The remote format expanded access, allowing more students to join from different parts of the country. - Working with project partners who had disabilities encouraged students to understand challenges from perspectives different from their own. - Participants gained not only design skills but also greater appreciation for people with different backgrounds, experiences, and needs. - The program demonstrated that remote collaboration can support meaningful, inclusive design education when tools combine structure, interaction, and community. Design the Future’s experience suggests that virtual workshops can be highly effective when collaboration is designed intentionally. A shared workspace like FigJam can connect large groups, guide complex activities, and create opportunities for empathy and belonging alongside practical project work.

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Design Thinking Figma Figjam Remote Collaboration+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.

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Design Thinking Figma User Experience Prototyping+2

figmaAug 2, 20213 min readCurated summary

A Q&A with Figma’s VP of Product | Figma Blog

Figma VP of Product Yuhki Yamashita describes FigJam as a response to how customers and Figma employees adapted collaboration during the shift to remote work. He argues that design, engineering, and product roles are becoming more collaborative and less ownership-driven. FigJam supports this by providing an informal space for exploration, brainstorming, and human interaction before ideas become polished interfaces in Figma. ## Why Figma Built FigJam - Figma observed users stretching the product beyond interface design. - During the early pandemic, customers used Figma for: - Brainstorming - Team warm-ups - Social events - Other offline activities moved online - Figma’s own transition to remote work reinforced the value of gathering in a shared virtual space. - FigJam emerged to support these broader collaboration needs. ## Design and Product Work Is Becoming More Collaborative - Design teams are riffing together more frequently. - People outside design are joining earlier in the development process. - Figma and FigJam links are increasingly shared across organizations for everything from copy edits to major product changes. - The boundaries between engineering, design, and product management are becoming less rigid. - Collaboration is shifting away from role-based ownership toward collective problem-solving. ## The Changing Role of Product Managers - Product managers and designers have always had overlapping responsibilities, but previously lacked shared tools for exploration. - Design files were once treated as belonging primarily to designers, making edits from PMs feel intrusive. - Today, product development is viewed more as a shared endeavor. - PM and design roles are increasingly interdependent. ## Designing Through “The Mess” - Design is nonlinear and requires repeated exploration, iteration, evaluation, and revision. - Teams may abandon ideas early or develop them significantly before seeking new perspectives. - Effective tools should support multiple levels of engagement: - Zooming into detailed work - Stepping back to evaluate broader direction - Figma and FigJam together create a more fluid workflow from ideation through development. ## When to Use FigJam Instead of Figma - FigJam is best for ambiguous, early-stage work. - It supports: - Brainstorming - Mapping - Gathering reactions or “temperature checks” - Exploring ideas before they become interface designs - Figma is more appropriate when teams begin building and refining a concrete interface. ## Making Meetings More Expressive - Yamashita values FigJam’s informal and expressive character. - Unlike polished, linear shared documents, FigJam emphasizes collaborative problem-solving over status updates. - Cursor chats, emojis, and stickers let people respond naturally without interrupting or formally speaking. - Ephemeral interactions can communicate emotions such as laughter or encouragement without creating a permanent record. - These features help make remote meetings feel more human and can change the tone of collaboration. ## Future Development - Users are applying FigJam to many workshops and collaborative exercises. - Figma sees opportunities to improve facilitation for these activities. - Features such as the timer are examples of efforts to make workshops easier to run. FigJam is positioned as a flexible space for early exploration and shared participation, complementing Figma’s more structured interface-design workflow. Teams should use it to embrace uncertainty and involve broader groups before committing to polished solutions.

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Design Thinking Figma Figjam Product Management+2

figmaJun 15, 20212 min readCurated summary

The five stages of an effective brainstorm | Figma Blog

Effective brainstorming requires more than generating creative ideas: it depends on preparation, inclusive facilitation, focused ideation, and a clear path toward action. Figma recommends creating psychological safety while also giving participants structure, context, and a shared goal. The process should ultimately turn divergent ideas into tangible outcomes. ## Prepare and Plan Ahead - Explain why each participant was invited and how they can contribute. - Share pre-reading, briefs, or collaborative files before the session. - Use short pre-meetings with key stakeholders to gather feedback and address concerns early. - Treat the work before and after the meeting as just as important as the brainstorm itself. ## Make Introductions and Manage Expectations - Begin with an icebreaker, such as drawing an animal or creating collaborator cards, to encourage a creative mindset. - Establish shared rules for participation, including expectations about attention and multitasking. - Clearly explain the brainstorm’s purpose and acknowledge that not every idea will be used. - Facilitators should create an open, inclusive environment where people feel comfortable contributing. ## Generate Ideas - Use adaptable templates as “recipes” rather than starting from a blank canvas each time. - Lower the barrier to participation with prompts such as “How might we…?” or simple warm-up exercises. - Define a “north star” that states what problem the group is solving and what it should produce. - Encourage ambitious ideas by making the session playful, including small rewards for especially creative suggestions. ## Share Artifacts and Outcomes - Move deliberately from divergent idea generation toward convergence and prioritization. - Ask questions and refine suggestions rather than accepting ideas at face value. - Evaluate ideas against the session’s shared goal or “north star.” - Ensure the brainstorm produces useful artifacts and clear tactical direction, rather than ending with a collection of disconnected ideas. The provided text ends partway through the fourth stage, so details of the fifth stage are not included.

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Design Thinking Figma Figjam Slack+1

figmaApr 20, 20212 min readCurated summary

Introducing FigJam | Figma Blog

FigJam is Figma’s online whiteboard for collaborative brainstorming and early-stage design. Figma argues that remote work and the shift toward cross-functional collaboration have created a need for more informal, shared online spaces—not just tools for producing finished designs. FigJam addresses this with a lightweight, approachable environment that connects directly to Figma. ## Why Figma Built FigJam - Remote work has reduced in-person collaboration and increased reliance on online tools. - People were already using Figma for activities beyond interface design, including games, icebreakers, meal planning, and brainstorming. - These uses showed that teams wanted a place to share ideas and connect without necessarily designing products. - Figma concluded that these interactions needed a dedicated space where non-designers felt welcome while designers still felt at home. - The product also supports Figma’s broader goal of making design accessible to everyone by involving more people earlier in the design process. ## FigJam’s Role in Early-Stage Design - FigJam is described as a lightweight, easier-to-learn version of Figma for ideation and brainstorming. - Teams can use it to: - Define user problems - Gather inspiration - Explore product ideas - Map user flows - Build and document processes - Multiplayer tools include sticky notes, emojis, drawing tools, stamps, and cursor-based chats. - Shapes, lines, and connectors make diagramming and systems thinking easier. ## Collaboration and Connection - Built-in audio lets teams discuss ideas without switching to a phone or video call. - FigJam integrates seamlessly with Figma, allowing work to move from initial concepts through final prototypes in one ecosystem. - Expressive features such as emojis, stamps, and cursor chats are intended to make collaboration feel warmer, more spontaneous, and more enjoyable. - The product is designed to combine practical functionality with the informal energy of “hanging out” together online. ## Early Users and Pricing - Teams at Stripe, Netflix, Salesforce, Twitch, and Discord tested FigJam during its development. - Discord’s design leadership praised it as a focused, uncomplicated version of Figma suitable for brainstorms, retrospectives, and similar activities. - FigJam was free for everyone through the end of 2021. - Planned 2022 pricing included free and paid plans costing $3 and $5 per editor per month. FigJam’s central promise is to give distributed teams an inviting, collaborative space where product ideas can emerge before formal design work begins.

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Design Thinking Figma Figjam Collaboration+3

figmaMar 3, 20202 min readCurated summary

Finding confidence in design decisions | Figma Blog

Design confidence is not an innate quality but something built through reflection, information, practice, and support from others. Designers must balance data, experience, taste, instinct, and stakeholder perspectives, which can create persistent self-doubt. The article argues that confidence grows by gathering relevant evidence and repeatedly confronting difficult situations. ## Reframing Early Fears - Reflecting on childhood or earlier experiences with insecurity can reveal how confidence was developed in the past. - Sharing these stories with peers encourages empathy and helps people see their struggles from a more generous perspective. - The suggested exercise is to: - Recall a skill or activity that once felt intimidating. - Identify the steps, support, or practice that helped build competence. - Discuss the experience in a small group. ## Building Confidence Through Data - A lack of confidence may indicate that there is not yet enough information to make a well-grounded decision. - Designers can gather confidence-building evidence through: - Research and validation - Conversations with peers and experts - Input from people experiencing the problem directly - Feedback from stakeholders - Collecting these perspectives helps designers understand more variables and make solutions feel increasingly clear. ## Building Confidence Through Experience - Confidence also comes from repeatedly practicing the difficult thing until it becomes familiar. - Experience is gradual and nonlinear; designers revisit similar problems over time and apply previous lessons in increasingly nuanced ways. - Both successes and failures create emotional connections that strongly influence future confidence. - Some challenges—such as giving difficult feedback or making decisions in unfamiliar situations—cannot be solved through more research alone and require courage and repetition. ## Applying the Exercises - Identify an area where confidence is currently lacking. - Decide whether the primary need is more data, more experience, or both. - Share the challenge with trusted peers and use their perspectives to clarify the next step. - Treat confidence as an ongoing practice rather than a feeling that must exist before taking action. Confidence grows when designers combine informed investigation with repeated action, supported by a community that can provide perspective and encouragement.

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Design Thinking Product Design User Research Data Driven Design+2

figmaAug 4, 20193 min readCurated summary

How to run a design sprint | Figma Blog

Design sprints help teams solve complex problems quickly by combining alignment, ideation, prototyping, and user testing within a fixed timeframe, typically five business days. The method emphasizes one clearly defined challenge, a small cross-functional team, and rapid validation of ideas. Effective preparation is essential: the better the brief, research, agenda, and logistics, the more productive the sprint will be. ## What a Design Sprint Is - A structured process for solving major problems through: - Designing - Prototyping - User research - User testing - Usually runs for five business days with clear goals and deliverables. - Follows six phases: - **Understand** - **Define** - **Sketch** - **Decide** - **Prototype** - **Validate** - Teams may adapt the framework based on their existing knowledge, timeline, and goals. ## Origins of the Google Design Sprint - The methodology was developed at Google to strengthen UX culture and design leadership. - It draws from: - Traditional UX practices - IDEO - Stanford’s d.school - Business strategy - Psychology - Its modern form is flexible and can be tailored to different organizations and challenges. ## Preparing the Sprint Preparation should take roughly as much effort as the sprint itself; teams should reserve planning time before the workshop begins. ### Write a Focused Brief - Define the problem, goals, deliverables, agenda, and methods. - Include relevant project background and existing research. - Focus on one major challenge and frame it as a specific question. - For example, replace “Make our homepage more shoppable” with “Redesign a user flow to increase conversion.” ### Assemble the Right Team - Keep the group to approximately five to seven people. - Include people responsible for implementing the outcome afterward. - Typical participants include: - UX designers - User researchers - Product managers - Developers - Relevant leaders - Larger organizations can divide participants into smaller teams working on the same problem. ### Create the Agenda - Use the six sprint phases as the basic structure. - Adjust the time allocation according to the team’s knowledge and objectives. - For example, a team familiar with the problem may shorten **Understand** and spend more time prototyping. ### Prepare Visual References - Gather screenshots, competitor or inspirational examples, data, research summaries, and other relevant material. - Make these references easily accessible throughout the sprint, whether in a presentation or another shared format. ### Compile User Research - Existing and exploratory research gives the team evidence to guide ideas. - Research can reveal: - What users want - How they currently use the product - Which behaviors or experiences need to change - This information provides the foundation for the **Understand** phase. ### Schedule Lightning Talks - Invite internal presenters or outside experts to provide focused perspectives. - Talks should generally last 10–15 minutes. - Useful topics include customer-support findings, competitive analysis, and product-performance data. - Presenters can join remotely by audio or video if necessary. ### Set Up the Workspace - Choose a bright, flexible space that supports creativity and collaboration. - Ensure there is room for whiteboards, visual references, and rearranged furniture. - Changing locations during the week—such as working from a café or park—can add variety. ### Plan an Icebreaker and Supplies - Use an icebreaker to help participants become comfortable and encourage creative thinking. - Prepare all necessary workshop supplies before the sprint begins. A successful design sprint depends on disciplined scope, the right cross-functional participants, useful research, and thoughtful facilitation. Teams should treat planning as a core part of the process rather than an administrative task.

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Design Thinking Figma User Experience Prototyping+3

figmaJun 27, 20183 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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Design Thinking Figma Interaction Design Visual Design+2

figmaNov 19, 20173 min readCurated summary

5 international cities with up-and-coming UI/UX design communities | Figma Blog

The article argues that UI/UX innovation is no longer concentrated in Silicon Valley. Global conferences, meetups, education programs, and remote work are helping design communities grow in cities with distinct cultural and economic environments. It highlights São Paulo, Shenzhen, Riga, and the beginning of Lima’s profile as promising international design hubs. ## Global Design Is Becoming More Distributed - Silicon Valley’s influence can create a narrow view of the technology industry. - Design communities are expanding worldwide through: - UX conferences and local meetups - Remote work - Educational and internship programs - Growing collaboration between designers and developers - The article presents these cities as opportunities for graduates, digital nomads, and remote freelancers seeking active design communities. ## São Paulo, Brazil - São Paulo’s cultural diversity and progressive social environment support experimentation in technology and design. - The **Design Thinking para Startups** Meetup had more than 5,000 members discussing design sprints and Value Proposition Design. - **Front UX** focuses on improving collaboration between designers and developers. - UX/UI consultancy **Key Ideas** works with major clients including Nestlé, Samsung, and Colgate. - The city is portrayed as an emerging design powerhouse shaped by its large, educated population and craft-oriented culture. ## Shenzhen, China - Shenzhen transformed from a fishing village of roughly 30,000 people into a metropolis of approximately 11 million after becoming a Special Economic Zone. - By 2017, it had around: - 6,000 design firms - 100,000 design professionals - Its design scene spans digital products and many other creative disciplines. - UNESCO recognized Shenzhen as a cultural and creative center. - Industry observers predicted that Shenzhen could become a global innovation leader comparable to Silicon Valley. ## Riga, Latvia - Riga combines historic architecture with a growing contemporary creative and technology sector. - The annual **UX Riga** conference brings international speakers, workshops, and roughly 450 attendees. - The **UX/UI Riga** Meetup had 667 members discussing e-commerce UX and practical prototyping. - Riga-based startup DigiPulse attracted international attention by launching an early version of a digital cryptocurrency vault. - The city demonstrates how smaller European capitals can build globally connected design communities. ## Lima, Peru - Lima is introduced as a major coastal Latin American city, ranking behind Mexico City and São Paulo in metropolitan population. - Its Spanish Baroque and colonial architecture provide a distinctive cultural setting for its emerging design and technology scene. - The supplied excerpt ends before the article details Lima’s specific design organizations, companies, or programs. The broader recommendation is to look beyond established technology centers: emerging cities can offer strong professional networks, distinctive perspectives, and meaningful opportunities for UI/UX designers.

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Design Thinking User Experience Prototyping Digital Design+4

figmaOct 18, 20173 min readCurated summary

How to throw a design-friendly hackathon | Figma Blog

Hackathons have traditionally centered on engineers, but design is now essential to building successful technology products. To attract and retain designers, organizers must deliberately recruit them, communicate the event’s creative value, make applications inclusive, and provide design-focused support. Hack@Brown’s experience shows that these efforts can raise designer participation to roughly one-fifth of attendees. ## Why Hackathons Need Designers - Early hackathons were created around programming and engineering, reinforcing the idea that they were primarily for coders. - As design became a major product differentiator, hackathons began seeking stronger collaboration between designers and engineers. - Hack@Brown, Brown University’s annual event with more than 500 participants, experimented with different approaches and reached about 20% designer participation by 2017. ## Recruit Designers Directly - Designers often do not encounter hackathon promotions through computer-science networks. - Organizers should contact: - University art departments - Campus design clubs and social groups - Local art and design schools - Hack@Brown reached out to institutions including RISD, Parsons, and Northeastern’s design club, Scout. - Organizers with personal connections to design communities have an advantage, but broader outreach is necessary to build awareness. ## Market the Creative Opportunity - Generic messaging such as “24 hours” and “loads of prizes” may not appeal to designers. - Promotional materials should demonstrate strong visual design and involve artists or visual thinkers on the organizing team. - Hack@Brown replaced conventional hacker-focused messaging with “Make, play, learn,” emphasizing creativity, collaboration, and experimentation. - The goal is to show designers that they can make meaningful contributions to hackathon teams. ## Create an Inclusive Application Process - Application systems can unintentionally favor experienced engineers or exclude candidates from nontraditional backgrounds. - Organizers can use: - A lottery system with reserved designer spaces - A separate evaluation process for design applicants - Design experts to help review applications - Hack@Brown received about 3,000 applications for 500 places and used representation targets, including at least 15% designers, 50% women, and 20–30% first-time hackathon participants. - Broader participation produced more varied and innovative projects. ## Build a Design-Friendly Event - Recruiting designers is not enough; the event must also support their needs and make them feel included. - Useful initiatives include: - Design workshops before or during the hackathon - UX/UI introductions for participants unfamiliar with design - Designer mixers to help attendees build community - Design mentors, especially those with coding experience - Design recruiters offering job and internship opportunities - Hack@Brown scheduled its event shortly after Brown and RISD career fairs so recruiters could meet many potential candidates efficiently. ## Recognize Designers - The article begins a section on rewarding designers to encourage them to return and recommend the event to others, but the provided text ends before describing the specific reward strategies. A design-friendly hackathon requires intentional outreach, inclusive selection, relevant programming, and visible support for design participants. Treating designers as equal contributors—not as an afterthought—helps create stronger teams and more innovative projects.

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Design Thinking User Experience Collaborative Design Visual Design+2