Design Teams Share How They Built More Open Cultures

At Config 2021, Figma’s two-day virtual conference, over 40,000 attendees heard from teams working to make collaboration more inclusive. In sessions focused on shifting team culture, speakers shared how embracing vulnerability and building shared resources can create an environment where more voices feel welcome. Here are the key takeaways from those conversations.

Why Vulnerability Matters in a Supportive Culture

Figma researcher Nannearl Brown discussed how her team navigated a year of personal and professional hardship. Brown’s team institutionalized check-ins beyond standard 1:1s, creating a daily routine where each researcher posts focus areas in a shared Slack channel. As part of that update, they are prompted to mention what they are doing that day for personal energy—exercise, a hobby, or time with family.

Brown says this practice keeps the team accountable for life outside work while helping colleagues better understand one another. The deeper point, she notes, is the need to make space for colleagues' emotions and experiences. “We don't have to be okay all the time,” she said, adding that "being honest is more worthwhile than not," even when it’s difficult.

Building Community Through Shared Spaces

Bitcoin designers Johns Beharry of Peak Shift and Christoph Ono of GBKS tackled inclusivity from a different angle. After hearing from designers interested in Bitcoin, they realized the field could alienate people without technical expertise. Beharry saw this as a contradiction with Bitcoin’s core ethos of opening access. “It's essential that everyone's able to participate in this new economy, regardless of their technical expertise or geography,” he said.

Their solution grew from a Slack group into a broader ecosystem: a GitHub organization, a resource hub, and weekly community calls where designers share early work and discuss challenges. The effort culminated in the Bitcoin Design Guide, an open-source repository of learnings and best practices. The team intentionally built the guide to be applicable across cultures, regions, and languages.

For Beharry, the aim was simply a “friendly space” that draws in contributors from varied backgrounds. “When we join with other people and add more people to the design process, we can get those other perspectives that can help us design more inclusive experiences and more accessible experiences,” he said. “We can’t do it alone.”

Recordings of all 20 day-one breakout sessions are available on Figma’s YouTube channel, with day-two sessions posted there as well.