Ridd came up with a new tutorial on how to use Kernel for designing in Figma 10× faster with real data. Kernel is a new product that ​“makes it easy to generate and access the content you need so you can design faster than ever”, and connects Figma to other services like Notion, Airtable, Google Sheets, and OpenAI.

Dan Hollick with a fascinating thread on an optimal x‑height size and a visual arc.

Yuhki Yamashita’s talk from WebSummit 2022. I shared slides and an article based on this talk last November. In it, Yuhki explores how design is changing and how we need to change with it. He also offers practical advice on navigating our new always-in-progress world and Figma’s approach to developing collaboration features designed with that in mind.

Another project by Jon Moore, this time for planning your perfect home right in Figma. Hundreds of true-to-size objects for designing a spectacular space, also available as the imperial system version. Wish it was available a couple of months ago when I did something similar from scratch for a home project!

“Introducing the Device Mockups Ultimate Collection — the ultimate resource for designers looking for high-quality device mockups. With over 43+ photo-realistic devices, including phones, tablets, desktops, and monitors, all built with scalable vectors and exact manufacturer specs, your designs will look stunningly accurate.”

The level of customization to virtual spaces that this kit provides is mind-blowing. Make sure to watch the video on the homepage! ​“LabKit offers a new collaborative way to create digital experiences using Figma and FigJam. Our highly detailed vector components come with loads of easy-to-use variants for customization. Everything you find is designed with joyful multiplayer interactions in mind.”

Jon Moore is one of the creators who seized the opportunity provided by the paid resources on Figma Community and launched a collection of helpful design resources. Paying a few dollars for a high-quality asset to save a few hours of work is a no-brainer. Every Collection includes maps, calendars, social buttons, file types, slides, and charts.

Joey Banks is back with this year’s iPadOS 16 UI Kit for Figma! ​“This file contains hundreds of components, templates, demos, and everything else needed to help you start designing for iPadOS. Each component uses the latest version of Auto Layout, supports Component Properties, variants, Light and Dark Mode, and much more.”

Molly Hellmuth shared a few tips from her recent event with Smashing Magazine.

The first installment of ​“Fridays with Fons”, where Fons Mans shows how to create and generate fun, geometric illustrations in Figma in just a few easy steps.

The new series at Figma blog, Meet the Maker, kicks off with Marcin Wichary, a design manager from the Editor team. I wrote about Marcin’s book Shift Happens in issue #102 — since then, it became the #1 tech book of all time on Kickstarter and reached its final stretch goal! This is a lovely interview touching on many topics close to my heart — exploring niche interests, making things, experimenting, prototyping, getting feedback, and obsessing over details.

Rogie King reflects on the launch of new selling tools and the Figma Creator Fund for the Figma Community, and why these additions are important for the next generation of the Figma Community. I’ve been thoroughly impressed with Figma’s openness to the community feedback while preparing this release, and Rogie’s advocacy for the needs of the design community.

Paid resources are finally available on Community! The days of dealing with license keys, paying through 3rd-party websites, and importing downloaded files are over. As a customer, you can try most resources before buying, and if something went wrong easily apply for a refund.

While this release makes the whole experience much smoother for end users, it’s a huge change for Community creators — ​“there’s no dealing with payment integrations, license keys, emailing files, or even managing refunds — just set your price, publish, and start earning”. A few years ago, I was delighted to learn that some creators earn a living from selling Figma plugins and resources. This will become much more common now because of additional exposure and a lower barrier to entry. There has never been a better time to start contributing to the design community.

If that game wasn’t enough, check out these spatial 3D animations made using SkewDat plugin. There is a tutorial as well.

Honestly, at this point, I gave up on trying to understand how Double Glitch creates their prototypes. All possible Tic Tac Toe moves were manually tied together in this prototype, which is an incredible amount of work. Make sure to get a copy of the file and look under the hood!

Luis shares a few tips on structuring library files. He recommends optimizing variants for searching and usage rather than maintenance, and suggests this file structure: Page → Section → Variant. Also, check out his other thread on naming and splitting your library files.

“This workshop will be a deep dive into the prototyping features in Figma. We will cover many of the basic frame-to-frame navigation prototypes for devices, and touch upon some of the more advanced capabilities that you can unlock with video, interactive components, and sections.”

“We will leverage Figma’s native prototyping capabilities to demonstrate how to collaboratively design slide decks, as well as utilize FigJam’s whiteboards to present ideas while others follow along and give feedback. You can use these techniques to give interactive presentations, engage your audience (or students), and communicate your content clearly and compellingly.”

“In this workshop we will cover how to apply motion and animation when prototyping with Figma. We will cover concepts like transitions, delays, timing, smart animate, and interactive components.”

In this series for educators and students, Miggi introduces Auto Layout features and covers best practices and tips for designing layouts that can change with their content.