Community | Figmalion

Smarter default colors

Default Pencil and text colors are now smarter. When you draw or type, they are now black or white, depending on the background. Miggie shows this behavior in action.

Now in @figmadesign you can totally draw straight lines with the pencil tool while holding down the shift key!

But did you know that depending on the background when you start drawing with the pencil, it will auto adjust white to black and vice versa? Same when placing text! pic.twitter.com/i1mCFHjBcc
— miggi from figgi (@miggi) July 22, 2021

Plugin API to write prototype interactions

This update allows plugins to create new prototype interactions in the editor. Check out a code sample by Anthony DiSpezio.

We’ve updated our Plugin API to make reactions writable. Now you can build plugins to automate the prototype creation process or modify interactions in bulk.

Check out @adispezio's code example to get started. We can’t wait to see what you create! https://t.co/Q9KOnXwzz3 pic.twitter.com/fdoyNbKYcu
— Figma (@figma) July 27, 2021

21 Best Figma Plugins for Designers in 2021

Molly Hellmuth and the UI Prep team installed and tested over 100 plugins to find the true gems. In this article, they recommend 21 plugins organized into 6 different “stacks”.

Use component descriptions

Ana Boyer with a thread of multiple ways to use descriptions to improve your team organization and collaboration.

Figma Tip! Descriptions are some of the easiest and oftentimes overlooked ways to improve your team organization and collaboration. Here are some ways you can use these to your advantage:
(Thread)
— Ana Boyer (@_AnaBoyer) July 22, 2021

Figma Mirror in Safari and lightweight Figma Viewer

Rasmus Andersson shares a few hidden Figma tips. His second tip on adding viewer=1 to the URL query part to load a file very quickly in Figma’s lightweight “viewer” renderer is something I may use in the future.

Try https://t.co/RWZ0T90aQr in safari. The iOS app is really just a web view loading that. So, likely iOS bit rot 🤷
— Rasmus Andersson (@rsms) July 22, 2021

Vectorizing Robotos in Figma

Pablo Stanley live-streamed his process of vectorizing a couple of character sketches.

Tricycle

Jordan Singer announced Tricycle, a set of automation tools for designers powered by AI. Over the years, Jordan has built some of the most interesting Figma plugins and experiments, so I’m stoked for this product.

HEIC Import

A new plugin from Rogie, this time for importing files in Apple’s default photo format.

Knockout shadow

By default, drop shadows are no longer displayed through transparent areas of objects. Check out this thread by Rogie on how this feature came to life.

Figma just rolled out a feature that allows you to turn off showing a shadow behind transparent areas. I'm ridiculously stoked about this because of what it means for turning designs into code.

Left: HTML shadows
Right: Figma shadows

🧶 A thread this little/big feature... pic.twitter.com/AgvnWL8UAa
— ˗ˏˋrogieˎˊ (@rogie) July 22, 2021

Design potion

This one is from a few weeks ago, but another fantastic artwork by Vijay Verma.

Figma is not just meant for UI design or prototyping. It's a magic wand for the design wizard to design anything you want. Design Potion - purely made in @figmadesign. Available to collect as #NFT from @withFND. pic.twitter.com/aBL6FWzgQP
— vijay verma ᵍᵐ (@realvjy) July 3, 2021

Loki by Vijay Verma

Vijay is a true Figma wizard. Look at his process on Twitter.

Figma Community “magazine” concept

Ridd shares an idea of what a collaborative magazine made by a Figma community can look like.

Figma files are the single most exciting way to create and distribute content

So what if @figmadesign launched a "magazine" for the community delivered as a design file?

It would be interactive + educational + community-driven

Here's what I think it could look like 👇
— Ridd 🏛 (@Ridderingand) July 14, 2021

Issue #44
Jul 18, 2021
#Ridd

Cropping images

Luis shows a few ways to crop images.

Happy Monday folks, here are a few ways to crop images easier in @figmadesign:

• Double click whilst holding Option (Mac) / Alt (Windows)
• Hold CMD (Mac) / Control (Windows) and drag the handles
• Use shapes and boolean operations

Happy croppin' ✂️ pic.twitter.com/Pex2IcerVF
— luis. (@disco_lu) July 12, 2021

Joey Banks recommends Figma shortcuts

A few of his favorites to move a bit more quickly while working.

A few @figmadesign keyboard shortcuts ⌨️✨ that help me move a bit more quickly while working:

⇧A: Add Auto Layout (⌥⇧A to remove)
⌥L: Collapse layers
⇧⏎: Select parent (⏎ to select children)
⌥W/A/S/D: Align top/left/bottom/right
⌘K: Create link from text
— Joey Banks (@joeyabanks) July 12, 2021

Reminder: never use variants for different icons

Gleb is right – icons as variants can’t be previewed or searched. In fact, Figma doesn’t recommend using variants to group different icons either. If you have different sizes or versions of the same icon, then you could combine these as variants instead.

PSA reminder: never use variants for different icons in @figmadesign!

Use regular separate components to:
- Preview icons when swapping instances
- Search via name and icon description (bonus tip: add synonyms for easier search)#FigmaTip pic.twitter.com/4oGqs2GxIb
— Gleb Sabirzyanov (@gleb_sexy) July 7, 2021

Make a pattern in Figma

Gleb Sabirzyanov shows an easy way to create tiled patterns in Figma.

Randy Savage covers Procreate and Image Tracer plugins

A special guest in a new video by Figma:55.

Figma in 55 Seconds: Procreate Import and Image

Issue #44
Jul 18, 2021
#Plugins
#Figma55

Updates to quick create for faster diagramming in FigJam

Hover over the quick create icon on a shape or sticky to see a preview of what will be created, or drag it to add connectors between shapes. See a quick demo by Ana Boyer.

Edit names on canvas

Now you can edit flow and frame names directly from the canvas. Just double-click the name and start typing.

Today at @figmadesign we shipped a fix for one of my longest standing pet peeves about the product — now you can edit frame names directly on the canvas! Just double click and start typing.

Thank you to Linda Zhang for making this happen! pic.twitter.com/iUqTmvl5dw
— Dylan Field (@zoink) July 13, 2021

Create multiple flows

Compare, test, and present multiple interactive ideas from a single page. Check out a couple of quick tips for using the new feature by Miguel Cardona.

#Community