“You can now lock the aspect ratio of almost any object in Figma – including frames, shapes, images, videos, vectors, and text – so that the proportions of that object are respected as you scale the object or its parent container. This functionality replaces Constrain proportions, which only worked when you adjusted the width or height fields of an object in the properties panel.”

To see it in action, watch video explainers by Miggi and Christine Vallaure. Miggi shows how to temporarily unlock the aspect ratio by holding down the Ctrl key, while Christine points out the correct CSS syntax for implementation.

A new sidebar provides a large collection of diagramming shapes for engineers, along with quick access to recently used ones. Stroke color is now independent of fill color for shapes and sections, and connector labels are movable. Additionally, there is an updated color palette with more variety and consistency.

This obviously oversimplified attention-grabber made the rounds on design Twitter last week. Tools, processes, and skills are rapidly changing, but they complement each other. Instead of being line cooks focused on a single station, designers can now prepare an entire meal. However, if the ingredients are undercooked and the sauce is sloppy, that meal won’t be worth much.

Ideation, visual exploration, prototyping, and even building deserve the best tools for the job. Check out insightful takes on this from Noah Levin, Jordan Singer, Ridd, and Jess.

Developer Advocate Akbar and Designer Advocate Tom talk about data as an often overlooked aspect of design. Real-world data not only shapes how designs appear but can also challenge initial ideas. This presents a valuable opportunity for designers and developers to collaborate, understand available data, and even imagine new possibilities. This deep dive features a real-world example from the development of Figma’s Library Analytics.

Lewis Healey, Lead Designer at Atlassian Design Systems, looks ahead at the industry, the tools, and the people. His predictions: AI will integrate into delivery workflows, tooling will bridge the craft gap, aspirational design libraries will phase out, accessibility will be the default, and systems will become more streamlined.

The Tinloof team compiled a wishlist of Figma features that would improve their daily workflows. It’s divided into two categories: must-have features that address fundamental workflow limitations and nice-to-have enhancements that add extra polish to an already excellent tool. (This post was published two months ago, and it’s great to see that a few points have already been addressed.)

Jake returns with my favorite video series, this time explaining how to modify variable code syntax using JavaScript in the dev console. (Kudos to the video editor!)

Roman noticed that Figma natively converts OKLCH to HEX in the color field. I held my breath for a moment, but the conversion is inaccurate in files using the P3 color profile. For those curious about why this is a tricky problem to solve, I wrote an in-depth thread a while ago.

Continuing with surprising discoveries, Ridd noticed that interactive Figma prototypes could be embedded on Twitter/​X. In his own words: ​“If I’m looking for work on here… I’m going to have a pre-assembled reply tweet in Typefully that is a Figma embed of my best designs.”

James breaks down the design process behind creating a very cool hover interaction.

Miggi shows a wildly creative application of boolean groups to vector networks.

Create catchy, beat-synced videos using Figma frames and your preferred audio track. Just upload the audio, wait for beat detection, and select the frames you want included in the video.

“WaveMaker AutoCode is an AI-powered WaveMaker plugin crafted for Figma, enabling product teams to jump from design to code in an instant.​AutoCode​produces a full​y‑functional app, with pixel-perfect translation of design elements, app navigations, and intended interactions.” (See the official press release for more details.)

A new plugin for variable management is currently in free beta. ​“Effortlessly visualize, organize, and optimize your variables and nodes with various features designed to supercharge your workflow.” See the in-depth feature list by the author.

“The Handoff Figma plugin makes it easy to extract tokens from your components. Use it to annotate your design system, marking components that are ready to be used. Pick which attributes should be extracted from each component layer. Preview foundational and component design tokens in CSS and configure how they are named.”