Ridd just launched Dive with an amazing lineup of design educators. In this tutorial, he designs the new Dive website and shows how his use of components to speed up workflow in Figma, talks about visual design principles and his approach to UI design in Figma. Lastly, he shows how easy it is to go from Figma to Framer to a published website.

Ever wanted to collaborate in FigJam using virtual reality? A note from the developer: ​“We wouldn’t build a better tool than Figma, so we used their super SDK to write a plugin that integrates with our XR application. We develop our applications for Snapdragon Spaces technology, available for Lenovo A3 glasses, as well as for Quest 2 and Quest Pro. We use Unity technology, so in the future the app can be open on any device like Android/​iOS/​MagicLeap/​Quest etc. The app is still a prototype, but we consider of going forward and release it in some day.”

Alex Einarsson made a great FigJam plugin that recognizes shapes you draw and converts them to native shapes with editable text. Perfect for wireframing on both tablets and desktops.

A few tricks for successfully exporting Figma mockups to Framer. In the end, it all comes down to using flexible and consistent structures in Figma that translate to code in Framer really well.

Framer published a selection of the best Framer websites made last year. Lots of great designs to get inspired from, but I didn’t expect to see such a heavy dose of personal websites of designers and agencies.

Just in time for Hanukkah!

If you’ve been hearing the hype about Framer on #designtwitter and are curious to give it a try, check out this quick tutorial on bringing your design from Figma to Framer and building a website without writing code.

I write about this survey every year, and it’s always full of interesting insights into our industry. Figma is still the most used UI tool, but interestingly Adobe XD took second place from Sketch. Besides Figma, ProtoPie and Framer are the tools people are the most excited to try in 2023.

Framer and Fons Mans teamed up to create an advent calendar of design gifts, from heavily discounted apps to free icon & wallpaper packs. So far they’ve offered big discounts on Sketch and Campsite subscriptions, as well as a free typeface from The Pangram Pangram Foundry.

Clara Ujiie with a nifty FigJam trick.

A beautiful deep dive into the making of a new background music feature in FigJam.

Copy-pasting objects from FigJam to Figma never disappoints.

Give words more meaning on the fly with Markdown support.

Get on the same wavelength as your team by working to the beat together in FigJam. Don’t miss a fantastic easter egg shared by Anthony and Miggi — you can put the needle on the record to start the timer and music in FigJam.

Speed up decision-making and remove bias by empowering teammates to vote anonymously on ideas and prompts.

Vijay Verma is a prolific member of the Figma community (see his projects featured in the past), and in this Twitter thread, he explains why he picked Figma over Sketch or Penpot. Don’t miss his time-lapse comparison of all three tools on YouTube, where he created the same icon and analyzed some key points.

I love his conclusion: ​“At the end, I learned that a tool is just a tool. It doesn’t matter what tool you choose depending on your needs, just start creating. You will find a way to achieve what you want to create with what you have on hand.”

Sorry to hear the bad news and wish the best to the Sketch team: ​“In response to challenging market conditions and with a desire to keep our product-first strategy, we’ve taken the difficult decision to reduce our team by just over 80 people. This will mostly impact Operations and Marketing, who have done great work in the recent weeks and months. Our Product team remains well-equipped, with a core team continuing to drive things forward.”

Graeme Fulton looks into the difference between ​“open design” and ​“open-source design tools”, the new opportunity for an era of open-source design amidst Adobe ⨉ Figma, and how designers can be a driving force behind open-source itself. Sketch’s open file format is something we’ve always taken for granted.

Convertify plugin just added the import of the Adobe XD files. I believe the writing about XD’s future is on the wall, so it’s a good time to start the migration.

Updates to a new file screen in FigJam: ​“Instantly populate your file with the building blocks needed to host a brainstorm, create a flowchart, or craft a meeting agenda with the new quick start guide in FigJam files.”