GPT-image-1. Designing dystopia. 4px grids.
Release Notes
Updates to AI in Figma
The new Edit Image feature allows changing an image using prompts, powered by gpt-image‑1. The Make an Image feature got an AI model picker so users can choose between gpt-image‑1, Gemini Imagen 3, or Titan V2. Additionally, the AI beta was rolled out to all Professional, Organization, and Enterprise plans. If you’re not seeing AI features, check that your Admin has your AI access toggle turned on.
Introducing our latest image generation model in the API
If you’re curious about the new gpt-image‑1 model, check out this announcement from OpenAI: “Today, we’re bringing the natively multimodal model that powers this experience in ChatGPT to the API via gpt-image‑1, enabling developers and businesses to easily integrate high-quality, professional-grade image generation directly into their own tools and platforms. The model’s versatility allows it to create images across diverse styles, faithfully follow custom guidelines, leverage world knowledge, and accurately render text—unlocking countless practical applications across multiple domains.”
Curved connectors in FigJam
The new curved connectors mode for right-brained people. I’ll stick to my neatly organized “elbowed” connectors.
What’s New
Designing dystopia
A new Config talk just got announced: production designer Jeremy Hindle will talk about the creative vision behind Severance.
Figma’s 2025 AI report: Perspectives from designers and developers
Figma explores five key takeaways from the report, and what they say about the state of design and development: agentic AI is the fastest growing product category; design and best practices are even more important for AI-powered products than traditional ones; smaller companies are going all in; designers are less satisfied with the output of AI tools than developers; there are still questions about how to use AI to make people better at their role.
You can just do things — but should you always?
Andrew Hogan, Head of Insights at Figma: “With AI and the momentum around “just doing things,” we’re embracing experimentation and building at an eye-watering pace. Still, it’s up to us to steer these tools in the right direction—and if history is any guide, the most valuable innovations may be just around the corner.”
Using Figma
Saying bye to 4px spacing and hello to Fibonacci
Luis Ouriach is laying down some uncomfortable truths: “The issue I have with the even number 4px calculation grid systems is that they can feel a bit loose, either vertically or horizontally. Although this is the de facto standard in product design now, I find myself getting focussing on what feels like a few pixels of extra flab within our components.”
Love this experiment, the proportions in multiple-based systems often feel too close to each other: “If I were to try and roll this idea out into a system, I’d probably want to at least try to build in a method to the madness. This is where we can lean on systems like the Fibonacci sequence to handle the heavy lifting.”
How to streamline your design system workflow in Figma
In another article, Luis Ouriach shares tools that save him hours when starting a new design system and introduces 9 recent design systems features (covered in Issue #206) that address some common frustrations.
Design documentation shortcuts in Figma
Miggi explains how to document your design work using Measurement and Annotation tools.
Plugin
Fractal Glass Morphism
“Generate stunning fractal patterns with mathematical precision. Fractalix creates beautiful recursive designs perfect for backgrounds, textures, and digital art. Customize complexity and style with one click.”
Resources
Preline
“Preline UI Figma is the largest free design system for Figma, crafted with Tailwind CSS styles and Preline UI components with extra top-notch additions.”
Backstage
Three ways Figma explored horizontal scrolling
“What seemed like a straightforward request — add a horizontal scroll bar to the Layers panel in Figma — presented unexpected challenges. Here’s how the design and engineering teams iterated and prototyped to find the right solution.”
How a UX writer weighs one word against another
“In UX design, a single misplaced verb can lead users astray, frustrating their expectations and creating confusion. That’s why UX Writer Henry Freedland chose his words very carefully when he was brought in to help polish a new prototyping feature.”