MDS launched a free course that teaches the basics of Figma in one hour with 12 fast-paced videos. The production quality is totally bonkers, and Matt’s knowledge is so deep that even Figma experts might pick up something new.
Designer Advocate Clara is interviewed by Lovers Magazine about her path into design, getting inspiration, community work, and workstation.
New plugin from Meng To: “AI Text Generator is a super handy Figma plug-in made for designers who want to rewrite their text in a couple of clicks. It uses OpenAI GPT‑4 to give you smart, creative text suggestions—think names, titles, or even Lorem Ipsum dummy text—right where you need them. It automatically detects the selected text’s length and generates the perfect amount of words for your alternatives. You can also add custom prompts, which is useful for more control, generate any type of text, in different languages and amount of words.”
Luis built a starter kit for system font stacks with 123 variables, including numbers and strings for font weights in CSS, SF Pro, Segoe UI, and Roboto fonts.
Christine Vallaure shows how to use typography variables and modes to create responsive typography across different screen sizes. The video also covers applying multiple modes at once and automated typeface changes, such as for iOS and Android setups.
Developer Advocate Jake explains some of the reasons why product experience can be misaligned between design and development. He points out that the source of truth can vary depending on the scenario, from the design system to the code in production to the design files. To find the truth, we have to ask a few questions: “What do we want?”, “What do we have?” and “What is the difference?”
The second edition of the UI Battle! Watch as Miggi from Figgi aka The Notorious PNG, Pablo Stanley aka The Layer Slayer, and Mariana Pedroza aka Da Design Thunder take on design challenges, shit-talk, and throw a fantastic performance. This is the only live sport I need!
Split tabs are now available in the desktop app! Miggi shows how to get the most out of them. Keeping split tabs with raw materials in FigJam while designing in Figma is surprisingly convenient and something I’ve been doing a lot this week.
A new plugin by Vijay Verma for generating pleasant color palettes and gradients in one click.
Chad with a timely reminder that the variables icon appears only if there are variables with the right type in your file.
Designer Advocate Hugo Raymond shows all the places where you can bind variables inside the Figma UI, including the newly released typographic variables and gradient stops.
Joey Banks recaps the Framework announcements. On choosing between styles and variables: “Wait, but styles don’t allow for modes, right? Wouldn’t the use of styles prevent us from switching themes or brands? Actually, this is what I’m most excited about with this update, and it’s the further positioning of how styles can be useful in combination with variables. Because all styles (yes, typography now, too!) can use variables, adjusting one variable mode within a style will adjust all variables to reflect that new mode change.”
Chad Bergman continues the series on getting started with design systems with a walkthrough of the basics of creating a system tailored to your unique goals and challenges, whether building from scratch or starting with existing pieces.
In this session, Verizon Design Systems Leads Talia Fisher and Kshitij Tambe explain how their team implemented variables and how it’s helping them take their design system to the next level.
Code Connect delivers code from your design system to Dev Mode, helping developers build with consistency and speed. In this session, Jake Albaugh, Figma Developer Advocate, shares an overview of Code Connect and some tips on how to get started.
Designer Advocate Ana Boyer takes us on a deep dive into typography and gradient variables, sharing best practices for leveraging these new features in your design system.
Jacob Miller, a Product Manager for Design Systems at Figma, gives an overview of everything launched at Framework — Code Connect for developers, typography and gradient variables, and the new Library Analytics API. All of the above is designed to drive design system adoption across the teams because “building a design system is only half the battle — the real challenge is getting it adopted by both designers and developers.” If you missed the event, that’s one summary you need.
A starter kit from Luis Ouriach shows how to set things up with typographic variables.
Developer Advocate Jake shows Jason Lengstorf how to bring your code into Figma with Code Connect.
A new plugin from Pablo Stanley is an AI design assistant that turns simple prompts into websites. The promise is to “get your design 80% of the way, so you have time to obsess over the final little details”.