Bloomberg: ​“Design software business Figma Inc. hired Morgan Stanley to lead what could be one of the year’s biggest initial public offerings, according to people familiar with the matter. Figma, backed by Index Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, has also brought on Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Allen & Co. for the listing, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information wasn’t public. Figma, which said in April that it had filed confidentially for an IPO, could go public as soon as this year, the people said.”

Noah Levin, VP of Design at Figma, gives a shout-out to designers behind the new product releases. First, I love seeing the individuals getting recognized for their hard work. Second, this is a great list of people to follow right away.

After wrapping up his time as a PM at Figma, Robert Bye reflects on what he learned there and shares a few patterns that he thinks made the difference. This post focuses on craft: ​“There was this unspoken agreement that craft mattered. Everyone, from PMs to engineers to designers, took serious pride in their work. But no one took themselves too seriously. It was confident without ego. People wanted to do great work and genuinely cared.”

Claire Butler demystifies the role of marketing and sales in Figma’s bottoms-up go-to-market (GTM) strategy. It starts with a framework you can apply to your business, and this post will help you decide whether this approach is right for you.

“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.”

“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.”

Robert Bye reflects on his time at Figma. I love the way he defines product sense as ​“Reading data + Listening to users + Taste + Intuition + Craft”. Here is how to develop it: ​“I’ve come to believe that product sense isn’t really something you can learn in the traditional sense. You can’t just read a book or take a course and expect to be good at it. It’s something you develop over time – by being curious, by trying things out, and most importantly, by surrounding yourself with people who have great taste who are willing to constructively critique each other’s work.”

“We founded Modyfi to build the design platform that multidisciplinary designers deserve. We have known the team at Figma for a while, and have admired what they’ve built for the broader design community, as well as their shared mission to make design more accessible. We believe that together, we can continue to innovate and push the boundaries of what’s possible for designers. As part of this transition, Modyfi will no longer be available after Friday, June 13th.”

The design community never lets a good meme opportunity go to waste. ​“Figma slapped Swedish AI coding startup Loveable with a cease-and-desist warning for naming one of its new product features ​“Dev Mode.” It turns out Figma successfully trademarked the term Dev Mode in November last year, according to the US Patent and Trademark office, having introduced its own Dev Mode feature in 2023.”

The time has come: ​“Design software maker Figma said on Tuesday that it has submitted paperwork to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering.”

Jay chats with Natasha Tenggoro who shows how she designed AI features for Figma Slides. You will learn about Natasha’s design process, AI design, designing shadows, design explorations for Slides and more.

Claire Butler: ​“A love letter to scaling from 10 to 1400 people and 0 to millions of users over a decade as Figma’s first marketing and business hire.” One of my favorite insights: ​“As a product marketer I’d been trained to lead with ​“benefits over features,” but with designers that didn’t work. They cared about what the tool could actually do. They’d believe the benefits once they experienced them.”

“In this interview, Jay chats with Natasha Tenggoro who shows how she designed AI features for FigJam. You will learn about Natasha’s design process, AI design, presenting to leadership and more.”

So excited to dive into it! ​“This file showcases the UI3 design language from Figma’s internal design system, featuring the styles, components, and variables that help Figma’s design team build products. By sharing this publicly, we hope to support other teams and creators, whether it’s with developing Figma plugins/​widgets, exploring ideas, or even creating your own design guidelines and UI Kits in Figma.”

In time for fully transitioning to UI3, Jay chats with Tim Van Damme who shows how he designed UI3 icons in Figma. You will learn about Tim’s icon design process, preserving visual weight, how he makes icons playful, and more. Don’t miss part 2, where they discuss designing UI3.

Figma’s designer advocates, product designers, engineers, and PMs hung out in London to record a mini-series about craft, users, and the design process. In this episode, they discuss the challenges designers face in the industry and how Figma approaches the design process to overcome these challenges. In the following Users episode, they cover how Figma product development teams approach user feedback and incorporate it into their design process.

In this interview, Jay chats with product designer Kelly Li who shows how she redesigned Figma Community. You will learn about Kelly’s design process, A/B testing, sharing research findings, and design explorations for the Figma Community.

Luis is working on an incredible community resource. Can’t wait to dig into it!

Jay chats with Tammy Taabassum, a Product Designer at Figma, who shows how she redesigned notifications for Figma. You will learn about Tammy’s design process, handling tough user feedback, design explorations, and more.

(Read without a paywall.) Bloomberg: ​“Design startup Figma Inc. plans to double the number of employees in its New York office over the next nine years, taking advantage of state subsidies to continue to add to an expanding workforce. San Francisco-based Figma now has 1,600 employees, up from 500 at the start of 2022, a spokesperson said. The New York office, Figma’s second biggest, will grow to about 500 people by 2034, supported by a tax credit from the state.”