Features

Product design + rapid testing = better outcomes

Figma hosted the Maze team to discuss the best practices for all things user research, building a robust product process centered on insights, and how best to your Figma files for scale.

Issue #44
Jul 18, 2021
#Prototyping
#Maze

Procreate Import

Rogie King built a plugin to import .procreate files into Figma, complete with named layers, groups, blend modes, and clipping masks. Make sure to check out a Twitter thread on his challenges during development.

Behind the plugin: Cards for Humanity

“Idean is a design consultancy that has recently joined frog, a global design and strategy consultancy and part of Capgemini Invent. Last year, they built Cards for Humanity, an online card game that helps teams design accessible, inclusive products. We interviewed them to learn more about how they built the Figma plugin, what they learned, and the power of inclusive design.”

Issue #44
Jul 18, 2021
#Plugins

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

Remove BG

Remove the background of images automatically, using remove.bg’s clever AI.

FigJam tip: fun with stickies

“Learn some FigJam shortcuts, bring FigJam stickies into Figma, change the colors, copy-paste stickies as action items in Asana or a list in text-based applications.”

Auto Layout chat bubble components for FigJam

“In this Figma Tip, we create an Auto Layout chat bubble to be used in FigJam. Chat bubbles outlined in this tip and some additional Auto Layout notecards can be downloaded and reused from a community file.”

Figma Tip: Auto layout chat bubble components for

Copying individual properties

How to copy and paste an individual property for color or an effect.

Trick to Show/Hide Header on Scroll in Figma

“Here is a simple trick that you can use to hide and unhide the app header on scrolling down. This trick can be used in web and mobile app prototyping, as the user scrolls down the header will be hidden and as the user scrolls back to the top the header will be shown.”

Issue #43
Jul 4, 2021
#Prototyping

Right and wrong ways to use Variants

Good thread by Ridd on creating variants from a single base component.

There's a right way and a wrong way to use variants in @figmadesign.

When used correctly, they can be the most powerful part of your entire workflow.

These are the 5 steps I do for every single component I create 👇
— Ridd 🏛 (@Ridderingand) June 20, 2021

Building a menu with nested components

Ridd shows how to build a menu component from multiple nested components.

Building complex nested components is one of my favorite parts of working in @figmadesign

I love seeing how people think about the building blocks!

So this is me peeling back the curtain and showing you exactly how I built this menu component below 👇 pic.twitter.com/2CvgBkPhyj
— Ridd 🏛 (@Ridderingand) June 24, 2021

Editor Quality Updates

“For designers working in Figma, every click matters. We recently launched 30 features, fixes, and improvements to enhance your workflow in Figma.”

Issue #42
Jun 20, 2021
#App Updates

Swap your individual variant properties from the right-click menu

A nice way to switch variants without leaving the context. I wonder why this change didn’t make it to the above list of updates?

Calling all @figmadesign component experts – you can now swap your individual variant properties from the right click menu 🪄 pic.twitter.com/TpGu9QfgQP
— luis. (@disco_lu) June 9, 2021

Introducing a timer to FigJam

Set a shared timer in FigJam to keep brainstorms, retros, and workshops on track. (See the demo below.)

Update to font fallback in FigJam and Figma

Improved font fallback in Figma and FigJam to prevent missing characters when using scripts like Traditional & Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

20 Figma Plugins and Tools to Boost your Design Workflow

Great overview of plugins and external tools on Awwwards blog.

Issue #42
Jun 20, 2021
#Plugins

Using Auto Layout to make a table

New short video from Figma:55 on using Auto Layout and Variants to make a table.

Over a year ago I made a 56(?!) second video on how to make a table using auto layout. Since then Figma has released a ton of amazing updates, like variants! Here's a 55 second video on a simple way to make a table with auto layout and variants pic.twitter.com/nZ33gPqSzq
— Figma:55 (@figma55) June 16, 2021

Animation easing styles

u/TheJMoore has been posting a lot of useful content on the r/FigmaDesign subreddit lately. This one compares animation easing styles side-by-side.

Issue #42
Jun 20, 2021
#Animation

Mock data fonts

Instead of mocking data with a bunch of rectangles in a rough prototype, use a specially designed font like Flow or BLOKK Neue.

Figma tutorial: Auto Layout review card iterations

“In previous Auto Layout videos, we showed how to create an Auto Layout component from scratch with the end-product already in mind. But what if you’re still ideating and don’t know what the finished product will look like yet? Designing can be messy and unpredictable. But you can easily add auto layout at any point of this process.”

#Features