Time to ship new features after a winter break! During the last couple of weeks, Figma released multiple updates and improvements. File templates may be the most noticeable one, but personally, I’m more excited about improvements to Styles. A way to review library updates before accepting them is a nice touch too! Also in this issue, check out how non-designers use Figma at Dropbox, how teams use Zeplin for developer handoff, and even how to organize your design system with Notion. Enjoy!

Happy New Year! 🎆 Hope you had wonderful holidays and feeling excited for the new year. 2020 is finally over, so let’s hope things will get only better from now on. Here is an original song with holiday greetings from the team at Figma!

In this issue, see the results of a design tools survey, watch ​“Love Triangle” by Pablo Stanley, listen to podcasts with Dylan Field, and read how Discord is building open-source design tools. Don’t miss an intro to Figma Motion plugin, a tutorial on creating type scales, and the whole new section with artworks made in Figma. Enjoy!

Figma celebrated five years since its public launch! Before that, a small team been working on it for over three years. Dylan Field wrote an excellent essay, ​“Meet us in the browser”, on their choice of the platform, the initial negative reactions, and a cultural change it delivered. Figma also ran its biannual Maker Week, and while the event is internal, I collected a few publicly shared projects and experiments.

I’m taking some time off during the holidays, so the next issue will be sent on January 4th, 2021. Happy holidays! 🎄

P.S. Readwise is one of my new favorite apps, and they’re currently looking for a Principal Product Designer. Passion for Figma is one of the requirements! They didn’t pay me to share this, but as a user I have skin in the game and want them to find someone great 😎

Auto Layout 3 with a new look is here! Now we can control how objects are stretched and distributed within an Auto Layout frame, and set its padding values independently. This update brings Auto Layout even closer to Flexbox layouts in CSS, which is great for aligning code and design. The new UI took some folks by surprise, so take time to go through the links and learn how it works.

P.S. Today is the final day of the Black Friday & Cyber Monday sale of my book Designing in Figma. Right now, the ebook is available for only $15, which is almost 50% off! The book was already updated with Variants and other recent releases, and the next update will include the new Auto Layout. All future updates are free.

A year ago, I sent the first issue of this newsletter to 19 subscribers 🥳 I started it with zero expectations, but this year Figmalion affected my life in a meaningful way. I wrote a post about starting it, finding the audience (👋), getting sponsors, it’s role in self-publishing the book, and running it behind the scenes. Thank you for being with me this year!

Last week Figma released Variants, one of the key features announced in the keynote at Config Europe. Many teams already started updating their design systems, making them easier to use and implement in code. If you don’t know where to start, this issue includes a large overview of resources and tips on using them. (I was caught a little off guard by an early release and now working on updating the book. The free update should be available in the next few weeks.)

Don’t miss a tutorial on creating isometric illustrations, Figma55 video on supercharged boolean options, Anima 4.0 release, and a few interesting updates from the competitors. Enjoy the issue!

Last week, Figma published over 8 hours of video recordings from Config Europe, so get comfortable! Software engineer Jamie Wong shared a great story of debugging a sneaky bug in Figma. Roman Shamin from Evil Martians wrote an epic blog post on building an internal plugin to create and maintain a dynamic color system. So many artists and illustrators keep pushing the limits of what’s possible with Figma — check out their work in the Resources section!

I’m really happy to welcome Bravo Studio as a sponsor of this issue. I first wrote about them back in January, and last week they released a major new version. It’s mind-blowing that iOS and Android apps now can be created by connecting a Figma prototype to external APIs and services without writing any code. Check them out!

Figma celebrated four years since its public launch by releasing a few important quality-of-life updates. Fast Company named them a winner of the Innovation by Design award for enabling other businesses to work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Marcin Wichary wrote an epic blog post on font fallbacks, which is worth finding time for. Last but not least, Friends of Figma have a great curated collection of artworks and illustrations made right in Figma. Enjoy the issue!

📘 My book ​“Designing in Figma” is finally here! 🙌 I started collecting material while working on the Figmalion almost a year ago, spent six months writing it, and another two illustrating, designing, and producing different versions. Lots of tips and tricks I previously included in the newsletter made it to the book. There are over 220 illustrations and screenshots inside! It’s available as an ebook (handcrafted PDF + EPUB) and a print-on-demand paperback from Amazon.

Right now, I’m running a limited-time launch price on an ebook — it’s only $19 instead of the full price of $29. Check out the website figma​book​.com to see the Table of Contents and what’s inside. I’ve put a lot of time into the book, and it would mean the world to me if you check it out and help spread the world!

Now, onto the Config Europe and fantastic updates from Figma.