Have you watched Apple’s WWDC this year? Some folks threw together a Keynote Watch Party in FigJam, which is yet another creative way to use this fantastic app. Joey Banks has already updated his massive UI Kit to iOS 15, which you can find below. Figma shipped a huge set of quality updates to the editor — 30 new features, improvements, and fixes! Make sure to review the community file to not miss anything.
— Eugene
App Updates
“For designers working in Figma, every click matters. We recently launched 30 features, fixes, and improvements to enhance your workflow in Figma.”
A nice way to switch variants without leaving the context. I wonder why this change didn’t make it to the above list of updates?
Set a shared timer in FigJam to keep brainstorms, retros, and workshops on track. (See the demo below.)
Improved font fallback in Figma and FigJam to prevent missing characters when using scripts like Traditional & Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
Using Figma
Great overview of plugins and external tools on Awwwards blog.
As I was reading this post about a digital agency switching to Figma, I realized that I didn’t have a switch post in months. When I started publishing this newsletter almost two years ago, every issue included a few of them. Figma truly became a new de facto standard in the community.
New short video from Figma:55 on using Auto Layout and Variants to make a table.
“Interactive, responsive, and powerful tables in Figma. Control all your rows through a local component and populate your table with data easily using plugins.” Don’t miss Part 2 on this YouTube channel.
Speaking of tables, this is a good tip!
u/TheJMoore has been posting a lot of useful content on the r/FigmaDesign subreddit lately. This one compares animation easing styles side-by-side.
Instead of mocking data with a bunch of rectangles in a rough prototype, use a specially designed font like Flow or BLOKK Neue.
Good use for links in Figma, especially in a large design system.
Miggi aka Professor Figma shows how to use stacked fill layers and blend modes to create an easily repeatable, image swappable duotone-like effect for your photo mockups.
“In previous Auto Layout videos, we showed how to create an Auto Layout component from scratch with the end-product already in mind. But what if you’re still ideating and don’t know what the finished product will look like yet? Designing can be messy and unpredictable. But you can easily add auto layout at any point of this process.”
FigJam
“Long before we launched FigJam in beta, teams across Figma had been using it for everything from user research to Maker Week projects. Here, Product Manager Emily Lin shares how she and the PM team at Figma use FigJam, along with templates to get you started.”
“Last week, we launched a timer in FigJam, allowing you to start, stop, and pause activities as a team. There are so many ways to work collaboratively in FigJam, so we talked to Figmates across the company to learn how they come together in the file.”
“FigJam was built as a space for teams to ideate together, so we wanted to dive a bit deeper into the earliest stage of collaboration: brainstorming. Product Marketing Manager Wayne Ng spoke to Cristen Torrey on the research team and Andrea Helmbolt on the growth marketing team to get their tips on running and facilitating an effective brainstorm.”
Miguel with a nifty tip. (Makes me curious why it’s not in the menu?)
“A brief introduction to the new whiteboard timer available in FigJam. Great for timed group activities, breakout sessions, and meetings. Timer is multiplayer and global for everyone in the document.”
“Make a placeholder PNG graphic in Figma Design for use in FigJam templates. This is great for setting up FigJam files for group activities and team meetings to help your collaborators easily place images into preset spaces.”
Resources
The best iOS 15 UI kit by ex-Figmate Joey Banks.
Cool reproduction of the original emoji set from 1997.
A beautiful illustration of Pixar’s Luca by Vijay Verma.
Plugins
This is ridiculous, and I absolutely love it! A game plugin built by one of the Figma engineers during their annual Maker Week. Play and create race courses to compete with your friends.
Easily set up frames that are sized properly for printing at specific DPIs.
Syntax highlighting for your code snippets.
Backstage
Figma opens their offices as the world is getting back to normal.
Love the creative names for the rooms!
“How do product teams hire UX Designers? Anthony DiSpezio, Designer Advocate at Figma, explains the most significant factor in cross-functional team hiring and how this may very well be why you are not hired. In the second part of the episode, Anthony describes the role of Designer Advocate at Figma: a mix of hands-on design and advocacy. To be hired for this role, you need to be a Figma expert with a knack for communication!”
100 Race
Print for Figma
Code Syntax Highlighter