Finding a Forever Home for FigPals | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)
FigPals were temporary customizable companions in Figma files, designed to make long hours of creative work feel more playful and social. Inspired by nostalgic virtual pets and toy culture, they quickly became a hit, with users creating emotional connections to their pixel-based friends. Although FigPals will not remain permanently active, Figma is preserving them through sticker packs and other commemorative experiences. ## What FigPals Were - Users could create, customize, and name companions across Figma products. - More than 9,000 combinations were possible, including animals, food, colors, and accessories. - FigPals followed users’ cursors and interacted with other companions in the same file. - Users could pose them in a photobooth and save images as keepsakes. - Easter eggs included feeding pals layers and nodes and surprising them by detaching components. ## Nostalgia and the April Fun Day Launch - FigPals launched on April 1 as part of Figma’s annual April Fun Day tradition. - The concept drew on nostalgia for products such as Pet Rocks, Tamagotchis, Neopets, and Furby commercials. - Figma partnered with Night Shift to create a deliberately zany, vintage-style promotional video. - The goal was to make work feel less lonely and repetitive by giving designers playful companions. ## From Maker Week to FigPals - FigPals evolved from internal Maker Week experiments: - **Figmagotchi** featured Tamagotchi-inspired creatures fed with sticky notes. - **FigPets** introduced pixelated pets that moved around Figma toolbelts. - A small team across engineering, product, and design developed the limited-release version. - The project reflected Figma’s emphasis on experimentation, play, and building enjoyable web experiences. ## The FigPal Frenzy - Users saved more than 1.5 million FigPals within a week. - They fed their companions more than 250,000 times. - Five FigPals were saved as the only examples of their particular model, color, and accessory combination. - One user created and saved 210 pals, while the most popular design—a pink cat with a heart speech bubble—accounted for 13% of saved pals. - Community members became emotionally attached, with some modeling their FigPals after real pets. ## Preserving FigPals Through Stickers - A petition seeking to make FigPals permanent attracted more than 2,000 signatures. - Figma extended the feature by one additional week but ultimately chose not to keep the companions active indefinitely. - Instead, it released FigPal sticker packs so users could continue displaying them in Figma files. - Additional FigPal-related surprises were planned for attendees of Config. Figma’s response shows how a short-lived playful feature can create lasting community engagement. While the interactive FigPals have ended, sticker packs provide a simple way to preserve the experience and keep the characters present in users’ work.