Community: Miguel Cardona

You’re rewarded for risks you take

Designer Advocate Miguel Angel Cardona is a guest at the Latinxs Who Design podcast. He talks about his background and path to design. Before joining Figma, Miguel was a tenure track professor in the New Media Design program at The Rochester Institute of Technology teaching user interface and product design, and before that, the first designer at imgix.

Issue #46
Aug 22, 2021
#Miguel Cardona

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

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.

Make duotone-style photo effects

Miggi aka Professor Figma shows how to use stacked fill layers and blend modes to create an easily repeatable, image swappable duotone-like effect for your photo mockups.

Make duotone-style photo effects in @figmadesign with #ProfessorFigma in 59 seconds or less!

While not perfect, you can use stacked fill layers and blend modes to create an easily repeatable, image swappable duotone-like effect for your photo mockups. pic.twitter.com/LDfegzBOev
— miggi from figgi (@miggi) June 10, 2021

Issue #42
Jun 20, 2021
#Miguel Cardona

Hide or show the dot grid

Miguel with a nifty tip. (Makes me curious why it’s not in the menu?)

#FigJam Protip: Easily hide or show the dot grid with 'Command + /" and type "Show Dot Grid" to turn the dot grid on and off.

(Command + P on international keyboards)
(Ctrl + / or Ctrl +P) on Windows) @figmadesign pic.twitter.com/INjWcprr2L
— miggi from figgi (@miggi) June 8, 2021

Making a sunburst graphic

Miggi makes a sunburst graphic and puts a bird on it. Don’t miss part two, where he explores a totally different and quite creative way to build it with a stroke.

Make a sunburst graphic (and put a bird on it) in @figmadesign with #ProfessorFigma #figmatip pic.twitter.com/GvIPJw9bgN
— miggi from figgi (@miggi) May 26, 2021

Professor Figma videos

Miguel took over Figma’s Instagram account for a day and shared a bunch of quick tutorials.

Yesterday I took over @figmadesign's instagram with some Professor Figma 1:1 aspect ratio videos. Here is a thread of them since many of you cannot watch them without an IG account. Enjoy:

1. Making a Gear Icon: pic.twitter.com/shbZwSO5VE
— miggi from figgi (@miggi) May 18, 2021

Issue #40
May 23, 2021
#Miguel Cardona

Setting file thumbnails with FigJam

Miguel shows how to add file thumbnails from Figma to FigJam files.

Setting thumbnails with FigJam with Professor Figma, let’s go! #figjam @figmadesign #figtoks #figmatips #professorfigma pic.twitter.com/gRRTAFFuPG
— miggi from figgi (@miggi) May 11, 2021

Masking explained in 59 seconds

Miggi from Figgi shows how to use masks in Figma. Don’t miss Part 2!

Masking in @figmadesign explained in 59s or less by #professorFigma.

What do you want to see next?! #figtoks pic.twitter.com/Yj5iMBkQRu
— miggi from figgi (@miggi) May 3, 2021

FigJam toolbar demo

Miggi from Figgi aka Professor Figma shows the FigJam toolbar.

The one where Professor Figma demos the FigJam toolbar #figtoks @figmadesign #figjam pic.twitter.com/tn7Z3Ewpz4
— miggi from figgi (@miggi) April 30, 2021

Copy-paste a variant into FigJam from Figma

Another good tip, this time from Miggi. Love how tightly the apps are integrated!

FigJam Tip! Hot off the Press!

You can copy paste a variant into FigJam from Figma.
As long as a component library is published to your team*
(Update, because I forgot critical text)#fimgatip #figjam @figmadesign pic.twitter.com/d9ZgdH7AIF
— miggi from figgi (@miggi) April 23, 2021

Publish individual components

You can now select specific components to publish changes in your libraries. Miguel Cardona gives a quick demo in the video, and Figma’s Director of Product Sho Kuwamoto provides context behind this release.

Create new projects and files from the team browser

Miggi from Figma points to another small improvement shipped as part of this release.

Me, finding more things that I had no idea @figmadesign snuck in the release today... like being able to create new projects and files from the team browser. 👀 pic.twitter.com/d7OpCZTRYu
— miggi from figgi (@miggi) March 31, 2021

Office Hours: Get started with Interactive Components

Check out Figma’s office hours to get an Interactive Components demo and learn tips and tricks.

Creating overlapping animations

Miguel shows how to create bouncing circles animation with different timings.

Hi everyone! Wanted to share something I'm excited for w/ interactive components in @figmadesign, overlapping animation!

Here I have three different interactive components using delay interactions to make bouncing circles with different timings. Let me know what you think! pic.twitter.com/xg6Dy3zmCP
— miggi from figgi (@miggi) February 26, 2021

Criss-Cross Game

Miguel builds a criss-cross game with a single frame and Interactive Components.

Interactive Components in Figma bring so much potential for prototyping interactions.

Sign up for the beta here! https://t.co/d4xztICaFA

This is one frame 👇🏽 pic.twitter.com/XKmgEr4FKj
— miggi from figgi (@miggi) February 25, 2021

Using “Set Default Properties”

Miguel shows how to use “Set Default Properties” preference to style your new diagram arrows.

Super Quick Bonus @figmadesign #FigmaTip Friday ... "Set Default Properties" to keep your diagram arrows going as you want them styled —great for working on the fly a little faster. pic.twitter.com/YPQGpP4w5L
— miggi from figgi (@miggi) February 19, 2021

Issue #34
Feb 28, 2021
#Miguel Cardona

List of objects beneath your cursor

A good tip from Miguel – Command-Click on an object to show a list of all layers below.

Here is a micro #FigmaTip for your hump-day! Easily select something in @figmadesign by holding ⌘ (Mac) or Ctrl (Win) when you right-click. This will pull up a list of objects directly beneath your cursor.

This is where naming your layers pays back dividends! 😊 pic.twitter.com/t4RNeGW9w7
— miggi from figgi (@miggi) February 10, 2021

Short keys to help master placing images in your designs

⌘+⇧+K to place an image, ⌘+⇧+C/V to copy/paste it from/to an object.

Happy Friday! Here is a #FigmaTip showcasing some short keys to help master placing images in your @figmadesign designs.

⌘ + ⇧ + K to load and place images
⌘ + ⌥ + C to copy an img style from an object
⌘ + ⌥ + V to paste an img style to an objecthttps://t.co/VN7ZPDibzX pic.twitter.com/KrPEtlL7qc
— miggi from figgi (@miggi) January 22, 2021

More control over your Bezier handles

And another short video from Miguel, this time about Bezier curves.

Here is a #FigmaTip to give you more control over your bezier handles when creating vector illustrations in @figmadesign. 🖋

Use command + option when clicking anchor points to change the behavior of bezier handles and control them independently.https://t.co/rSbcUA1bTA pic.twitter.com/Lz5ozxN5pH
— miggi from figgi (@miggi) January 19, 2021

#Miguel Cardona