figmaFeb 12, 2025

Meet the Makers Defining Tech’s Next Chapter | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

The post previews Config 2025 and introduces speakers exploring how technology can become more human-centered. Their work spans AI-native devices, creator tools, AI interfaces, and expressive robotics. Together, they suggest that technology’s next chapter will depend not only on technical capability, but also on accessibility, empathy, and thoughtful design. ## Config 2025 and Its Vision - Figma’s Config conference will take place in San Francisco from May 6–8 and in London on May 14. - The event will examine how AI and automation are changing the way people create and experience technology. - Figma emphasizes tools and experiences that respond to evolving human needs. - In-person London tickets are sold out, while San Francisco tickets and free virtual attendance remain available. ## Building the Next Computing Platform - Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, Meta’s CTO and Head of Reality Labs, began coding through a 4-H club and later taught Mark Zuckerberg’s AI class at Harvard. - As Facebook’s 10th engineer, he helped create the News Feed. - He now leads Meta’s work on AR glasses, mixed-reality headsets, and the metaverse. - Bosworth envisions AI-native devices and proactive, personalized assistants becoming part of everyday computing. - At Config, he will discuss Meta’s efforts to develop a new computing platform. ## Making Creator Tools More Inclusive - Ebi Atawodi, Director of Product Management for YouTube Studio, combines experience in literature, technology, and product leadership. - Her work focuses on helping creators develop ideas and reach new audiences, including through AI-powered features. - Atawodi stresses that technology must be accessible and designed for people who have historically felt excluded by products. - Her approach centers on creating tools that serve a broad range of creators rather than assuming a single user experience. ## Designing Interfaces for Advanced AI - Joel Lewenstein, Head of Product Design at Anthropic, works on the interface for Claude. - He compares designing AI systems to watching a child discover new abilities, highlighting the uncertainty and possibility of emerging technology. - AI’s growing sophistication challenges traditional assumptions about how software interfaces should work. - Lewenstein argues that strong designers are defined more by how they think than by experience in a particular industry. ## Giving Robots Personality - Dr. Madeline Gannon uses her research studio, Atonaton, to transform industrial robots into expressive, lifelike mechanical creatures. - Supported by a Knight Foundation grant, she investigates how art and empathy can influence relationships with autonomous machines. - Her work explores how easily people attribute life and intention to nonliving objects. - Rather than reproducing the complexity of the human mind, Gannon demonstrates how movement, appearance, and context can make robots feel animated. Config’s featured makers represent a broad view of technological progress: more capable devices and systems must also be accessible, intuitive, expressive, and emotionally resonant. The conference aims to explore that balance through the experiences of people actively shaping AI, design, and robotics.

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figmaMay 17, 2023

Four years in, here’s what Config tells us about the state of design | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

Config 2023 submissions suggest that the design industry is emerging from pandemic-era uncertainty with renewed optimism. Figma analyzed more than 1,000 conference proposals and found increasing interest in accessibility, creativity enabled by design systems, and broader collaboration. Overall, the submissions portray designers as focused on turning recent challenges into opportunities for more scalable, inclusive, and effective product development. ## A More Optimistic Design Community - Config submissions increased from 420 in 2021 to 520 in 2022 and more than 1,000 in 2023. - Positive sentiment rose from 63% of submissions in 2021 to 72% in 2023. - Submissions increasingly emphasized possibilities and ways teams had “thrived,” rather than focusing on outdated practices or persistent problems. - References to the pandemic fell to one-sixth of their 2021 level. - Mentions of “remote” declined by roughly 20%, suggesting that teams are adapting to changed work patterns. ## Design Systems as Creative Infrastructure - The perceived divide between creative freedom and systematic processes is narrowing. - Designers increasingly view design systems as tools that reduce repetitive work and create more space for creative thinking. - Teams operating at scale are investing in design tokens and reusable systems to maintain speed and consistency. - In 2021, design-system discussions focused mainly on foundational tasks such as auditing, scaling, and establishing basic infrastructure. - By 2023, submissions connected design systems more directly with creativity and visual expression, using terms such as “art,” “transition,” “color,” and “creating.” The emerging view is that systems do not suppress creativity; they can provide the structure and efficiency needed to support it.

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figmaJan 9, 2022

The year ahead: a conversation with Soleio, Julie Zhuo, and May-Li Khoe | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

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.

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