Switching to Figma. Backups. Plugin development.
So nice to write an issue jam-packed with good stuff after the holidays break! Today we’ll contemplate Figma’s direction in the future, dive deep into design systems, explore drawing tools, get to know where and how Figma’s UI was designed, discuss working in private without peering eyes, and get an important reminder about backups. This is a good issue to share with your friends and colleagues!
— Eugene
What’s New
Figma’s killer feature hasn’t even been built yet
A fascinating look at how Figma can evolve from a design tool to a visual communication and collaboration platform. Tom Johnson writes about use cases that are not possible today, but it’s exciting to think they might become a reality one day.
Why design systems fail and how to make them work in 2020
Last year WebNL team built a new and improved design system from the ground up. Daniël De Wit writes about their switch to Figma, researching designers’ needs, building design system starter kit, documenting it, and working hard to improve adoption among designers and developers.
Tips for creating icons and logos in Figma
Deep dive into Figma’s incredibly powerful and unique inventions like the Arc tool and Vector Networks.
Using Rotation to Draw Complex Shapes in Figma
Using his woodworking experience as an inspiration, John W. Long shows how to draw complex gear- and star-like shapes using rotation.
Figma vs. Adobe XD in 2020
A deep and comprehensive comparison of Figma and Adobe XD at Envato Tuts+. There are unique strengths in both, but overall Figma wins hands-down.
My Experiences with Figma Plugin Development
Thomas Gossmann shares his experience of developing Figma plugins and working with their APIs.
Was Sketch designed on Figma / Figma designed on Sketch?
An old comment from Figma founder Dylan Field where he shares what they used to design the user interface of the app.
Switch Stories
How we use Figma to empower the whole company
“Everyone at Cuvva is empowered to use Figma to do their job through collaborative transparency.” Love how their team uses it not just with engineers but also with Customer Operations.
Expanding From Sketch + InVision To Figma
Joann Feng shares some of the highlights of switching her team at Perpetual to Figma from Sketch and InVision combo.
Design at Zego: Planning for scale
The team at Zego switched to Figma and rebuilt their design system utilizing a modular approach based on Brad Frost’s atomic design structure.
Tweets
An interesting discussion about working in private when you’re not ready to share results with the team
A common approach seems to be using a separate private project for experimenting and then moving finished work to a public place. Figma designers use this approach internally as well.
Steve Schoger: Strokes don’t export properly when you have mixed caps and joins
Good to know, I faced this issue a few times before and chose to outline strokes, but this is not always possible or ideal.
Cameron Moll: Reminder to regularly backup your .fig files
Luckily, the support team was able to help Cameron locate his files under a different account, but this is a good reminder to backup your cloud files. (Even more so if the account is managed by someone else and your access can be revoked.)
Sneak peek at updates to Text and Type Details panels
Coming in the next release. So happy to see resizing moved to the top level!
Videos
How to make a pagination or flexible menu component with Figma's Auto Layout Feature
Quick video showing real-life usage of Auto Layout in a few beautiful mockups.
How to Design Responsive Dashboard
A short video explaining Constraints and developer takeoff.
Plugins
Instance Finder
Fantastic plugin for finding all instances of the component. I used it while migrating and unifying a large design system and it was irreplaceable.
Easometric
Easily create isometric layers and groups using the popular SSR30⁰ method.
Spelll
Spelling and grammar checker for Figma. Free for files with fewer than 100 text layers.
Icons8
Access the library of 120,000+ icons without leaving Figma. The free plan provides PNG files and pro license gives access to editable SVGs.
Community Projects
Material Design
Google shared several Material Design kits in Figma Community.
Mobile Apps Library
120+ reconstructed screens of 4 main social apps — Instagram, Telegram, WhatsUp, and Facebook Messenger.
From the Headquarters
Bringing the community together in Figma
Figma COO Amanda Kleha talks about different ways of connecting with and serving the community — Config user conference, meetups, ways to follow the company, and a beta of Figma Community.
The full agenda for Config 2020 conference is published
Great lineup of speakers, including keynotes by Dylan Field (CEO at Figma), Craig Mod, Devon Zuegel (Product Lead at GitHub), and May-Li Khoe. They are going to livestream morning keynotes, so it’s worth registering for an invite.
Figma Help Center
Figma rolled out a brand new help center last Friday. A great resource for learning the app.
Design Systems
In case you missed it, Figma runs its own publication for design systems creators, designers, developers, and managers. Loads of great content.