Pablo Sánchez’s 7 rules for designing the unexpected
The designer of Ableton’s Note app shares unconventional principles for creating unforgettable digital experiences.
The making of the Figma Pattern Library
UI3 prompted us to rebuild our own design system from the ground up. Here’s how designers and engineers came together to create a new foundation for building consistent, accessible products.
Why devs should play an active role in design
Advocating for Dev Mode changed my team’s workflow. Here’s how you can do the same.
8 ways to craft an unforgettable Config talk
Where do inspirational people find inspiration? Our Config speakers share their favorite talks from 2024, revealing what makes a session truly stand out.
Updating our web system for a new era
An inside look at how we leveraged Figma’s features to reimagine our web design system.
How we built AI search in Figma
How we built a search tool that’s changing the way designers find and use existing work
Made in Figma: The National Park Service goes from paper to pixels
How do you design an app for 431 diverse national parks and monuments? Learn how a small team adapted Massimo Vignelli’s seminal design system for a digital interface.
The infrastructure behind AI search in Figma
A behind the scenes look at the technical problems we faced and how we solved them.
The search for speed in Figma
Our months-long investigation into slow search speeds led to a solution that not only improved performance but also set the foundation for future scale.
Figma on Figma: Our approach to designing UI3
Overhauling Figma’s interface meant reimagining how designers work. Here’s how we shaped UI3 by balancing user feedback with our vision for the future.
Building a better First Draft for designers
We’re reintroducing our Make Designs feature with some key improvements, including a new name—First Draft
The VS Code method: Tightening a developer’s inner loop
How VS Code gets developers into the flow state
Figma on Figma: Evolving our visual language
From playful primitives to a vibrant new palette, we’re unveiling our latest brand evolution—one that speaks to all product builders.
Just our type: The story of creating Figma Sans
We’ve overhauled our entire visual identity from color palette to illustration style, and even commissioned a new typeface.
Breaking in: A guide to landing your first product design role
Curious about early career opportunities at Figma? Here are some tips on how to get your first product design job, along with insights on what we look for.
A year with Dev Mode: 10 lessons from an engineering manager
After integrating Dev Mode into our design system workflow, I’ve gathered several insights to help teams navigate this powerful tool. Here are my top takeaways.
How Crunchyroll clarified confusing workflows with Dev Mode
The anime streaming service supports 15 platforms and is available in 12 languages. Here’s how they deliver a consistent experience across touchpoints.
The three Cs of Figma: A beginner’s guide to success
I spend a lot of my time helping others learn the basics of Figma. Here’s how I approached it, what I would do differently now, and the framework you can use to get started today.
The Atlassian method: The power of developer joy
How developer joy became the north star for a workstream that overhauled tooling, systems, and company culture.
How we migrated onto K8s in less than 12 months
Migrating onto Kubernetes can take years. Here’s why we decided it was worth undertaking, and how we moved a majority of our core services.
Issue no.6: The prompt
Figma’s editorial newsletter about how products take shape—and shape our world.
How HP powers up design handoff with Dev Mode
HP’s design system team reveals how they used Figma to streamline processes, break down silos, and save developers 98 minutes per week across their diverse product ecosystem.
An update on our Make Designs feature
After learning about an issue with Make Designs, part of Figma AI, we temporarily disabled the feature. Here’s our retrospective.
Crafting the visual identity for Config 2024
Figma’s Brand Studio on how they designed an immersive, dynamic conference experience—all in one Figma file.
Why are we so afraid of code as a commodity?
An exploration of the problems that AI can currently solve, and where there is whitespace to go beyond that.
What is good design in the age of AI?
As AI democratizes product development, design will be the differentiator. But what exactly does “good” look like, and what does it mean for our craft? Four Figma designers weigh in.
Should robots be building our homes?
Jason Ballard, co-founder and CEO of Icon, explains why AI and his fleet of 3D-printing robots may be our ticket to more affordable housing.
Can we reach beyond the echo chamber?
Two creatives behind the browser that’s breaking the internet discuss what Zadie Smith, A24, and sunspots have to do with building a product.
Are we finally entering the age of androids?
Humanoid robots are here, and they’re asking us to come face to face with the promises and pitfalls of AI.
Inside the redesigned Figma, where your work takes center stage
Our biggest redesign of Figma’s interface in five years clears space on the canvas for designers to turn their wildest imagination into reality.
What is minimum viable data?
As many focus on the possibilities and limitations of AI tools and their output, Ovetta Sampson reminds us to pay attention to the power of the input.
Config 2024 in review
We’re launching a redesigned Figma, Figma Slides, and a new suite of AI features, along with major updates to Dev Mode and usability improvements.
Welcome to The Prompt
AI promises to reinvigorate the way we design and build, but how we realize that potential is still an open question.
Meet Figma AI: Empowering designers with intelligent tools
We’re introducing a suite of AI-powered features to help you push past creative blocks and bring your best ideas to life.
Stack the deck with Figma Slides
Say goodbye to lackluster presentations. Today, we’re announcing the open beta of Figma Slides, here to set a new standard for telling visual stories that move work forward.
Making Figma work better for freelancers and agencies
As part of a broader effort to refine our billing model, we are sharing our roadmap to better address the needs of independent freelancers and agencies.
AI + design: Navigating the promise and pitfalls of AI
In this continuation of our AI + Design report, we explore how leaders can keep moving forward with building AI products.
Charmaine Lee’s 10 rules for building developer tools that feel like magic
As a product manager working on Snapchat’s Lens Studio for AR developers, Charmaine knows what it takes to delight creators.
Drafts are changing—here’s what you need to know
Starting June 2024, Figma’s drafts will live within Starter and Professional teams.
The Linear method: Opinionated software
How the Linear team builds products, and the principles and processes that guide their work
Speeding up file load times, one page at a time
How dynamic page loading improved the slowest load times by 33%
Unlocking the power of Code Connect: Best practices for design systems teams
Design system leads and developers at Bumble, GitHub, and HP share how they’re leveraging the new Dev Mode feature to bridge the gap between design and code.
Keeping it 100(x) with real-time data at scale
After years of playing catch-up with Figma’s growth, it was time to fundamentally rethink LiveGraph’s architecture.
Craft and beauty: The ROI of marrying form and function
Leaders from Stripe, Linear, and Figma explore how craft and beauty are core to product and business growth.
The evolution of Figma’s mobile engine: Compiling away our custom programming language
Figma's team recently converted one of its codebases from a custom programming language to TypeScript without disrupting a single day of development.
Speeding up C++ build times
How we cut build times by 50% and shipped a solution for scale.
Issue no.4: Find your framework
Figma’s editorial newsletter about how products take shape—and shape our world.
What we launched at Framework
We announced Code Connect for developers, typography and gradient variables, and our Library Analytics API to help you drive design system adoption across your entire organization.
Alaska Airlines reaches new heights with the help of variables
By leveraging advanced design system features like variables, Alaska Airlines accelerates and streamlines how it ships cohesive digital experiences.
Codegen plugins (and other tips) for automating design to code
Everything you need to know for a fast and efficient workflow.
The future of design systems is marketing
Design systems have many benefits, but their impact is only as strong as their adoption. Designer Advocate Ana Boyer tells us how to get the entire team on board.
The anatomy of a component sprint
The Washington Post’s inclusive process for creating new design system components bridges the gap between design and development.
Design system 102: How to build a design system
Learn the basics of creating a system tailored to your unique goals and challenges, whether building from scratch or starting with existing pieces.
Surf the web like it’s 1999 with these old-school cursors
404 isn’t just an error code—this year it’s our annual April Fun Day. We’re throwing it back to our favorite digital design eras.
Join us for Framework by Figma: Our global design systems event
We’re bringing together the design systems community on April 16 to share new features, best practices, and a peek into what’s coming next.
AI + design: Figma users tell us what’s coming next
What do designers, developers, and executives really think about the promise of AI? Our new survey aims to find out.
23 prototyping resources to bookmark right now
These resources will help you level up your process, whether you’re new to prototyping or ready to dive deeper.
How Figma’s databases team lived to tell the scale
Our nine month journey to horizontally shard Figma’s Postgres stack, and the key to unlocking (nearly) infinite scalability.
How we built a custom permissions DSL at Figma
When our permissions system broke at the seams, everything came to a halt. This is the story of how we fixed it.
Behind the feature: The multiple lives of multi-edit
Every now and again, we ship a feature that makes us wonder how we ever got along without it. That’s the story with multi-edit, which simplifies how you edit multiple objects across Figma.
