New component property features in open beta: exposed nested instances for more customization, preferred values for more clarity when instance swapping, and simplified instances for more focus on relevant properties.

Sho Kuwamoto, Director of Product at Figma, on new features and applying the concept of ​“composition” from engineering to design systems.

Joey Banks explains why new features are so important for the design systems’ work.

Molly Hellmuth with a detailed walkthrough of beta features and why they’re worth using right away.

Nice update to the desktop app making it easy to pick up where you left off.

Use the Figma for Chrome extension to attach Figma & FigJam files to your Google Calendar events.

Auto-convert pasted text links to Jira and Asana tasks into FigJam widgets.

Dann Petty hosted an open chat about Figma’s acquisition with Scott Belsky from Adobe.

A good summary of topics discussed at the Figma All-Hands call on September 16th.

Rafa from Layout FM podcast shares his thoughts and predictions after the acquisition. Also, listen to his podcast episode on this topic.

Karri Saarinen, cofounder and CEO of Linear: ​“Adobe missed the one of the largest transformations in the design industry and lost the product designers for over a decade. Spending $20B on Figma is their ticket back in and hopefully evolving their thinking from the ​“software in a box” model.” Also love his take on Sketch ​“building a tool for a designer vs. building a tool for teams”.

During a VC job interview in 2018, Kyle Harrison built a model with Figma becoming a $19B company in 2025. His analysis was called ​“unrealistic”. Good thread on compounding growth, and there is a deeper dive in his newsletter.

Garry Tan on 10,000 landmines that Dylan Field and Figma had to overcome on their way to success.

Index Ventures is Figma’s first and largest venture partner. In this post, Danny Rimer questions what makes Figma so special and talks about the generational significance of design thinking and Dylan’s focus on the community.

The Wall Street Journal gathered thoughts and concerns on the deal from folks in the industry, including Scott Belsky, Fons Mans, and Yuhki Yamashita.

Matt Stoller: ​“My instinct is that this merger is illegal and that it will be blocked or abandoned. But I’m not 100% sure, as there are also technical issues here that I’m still trying to wrap my head around. But even within the merging parties, there is genuine concern about whether this merger will close. Internally, Adobe executives are already telling employees not to write anything down about the merger for fear it will be found by government investigators.”

A piece on why businesses should adopt a design-centric mindset to ensure success, with commentary by Nikolas Klein, Product Designer at Figma since 2018.

Ridd with a pro tip on using Variants. Good prep work for the design tokens in the future!

Luis shares jumping-off points for starting a new design system in Figma.

Vijay Verma shares a few techniques for adding simple halftone effects in Figma. See also his experiments with Rogie’s upcoming NT plugin and how he achieved a frosted glass effect.

Really fun animation and interaction made by Figmatelier.

“Using Component Properties, we can update our library and make the components a bit more clear, flexible, and semi-self-documenting for the users of the library. In this tip, we share how preferred values and exposed instances can make the component consumption experience easier for designers.”

“In this episode, Figma Designer Advocate Chad Bergman and Product Manager Jacob Miller will dive into the architecting a healthy culture of collaboration, branching best practices, and the nuances of contribution!”

Congrats to the FigJam team! It’s definitely the most fun and delightful product I’ve used in a while.

Sho Kuwamoto describes how the editor team works. Building the process around ​“What do our users want us to make better?” instead of self-centered questions is probably what makes Figma so magical.