Tweets
Gradient position values
The lack of precision in the gradient tool is an old annoyance, but as this tweet grew in popularity I’ve been quietly hoping that maybe the fix would make it to the Little Big Updates. Regardless, the replies provide a ton of smart workaround — distributing stops through double-clicking, nudging stops, using the Precise Gradients plugin, and even looking in the Inspect tab!
Hey @figma, can you show me the position values on here please? I don’t like having to eyeball 15%… pic.twitter.com/cWVLzqNAda
— Arix (@Arix_Ki) March 21, 2023
Building AI design tools with GPT-4
Jordan Singer shares what Diagram learned from participating in OpenAI Converge with early access to GPT‑4 and how they’re using it in Magician and Genius plugins.
as part of @OpenAI’s Converge we’ve been building AI design tools with access to GPT-4 @diagram over the past few months
— jordan singer (@jsngr) March 14, 2023
here’s what we’ve learned and how we’re using it 👇 pic.twitter.com/sSHUympi46
Poster tutorial
Fons Mans is back with a colorful poster tutorial.
Tutorial Thread!✨
— 10X Designers (@10x_designers) March 14, 2023
Learn how to create this colorfull poster with @figma in just a few easy steps.
Let’s dive in 👇 pic.twitter.com/u1GdVXVDvG
Figbruary experiments
Vijay Verma wraps up his Figbruary challenge with a full list of 28 experiments he made last month.
It's Figma Friday Fun 😍
— vijay verma (@realvjy) March 17, 2023
From creating simple illustration to animation and faking 3D rocket in the space. Sharing all 28 @figma experiments with community file here ↓↓ pic.twitter.com/CnLUJ9JI5T
Managing Figma styles
Luis keeps digging into different ways of structuring Figma libraries and styles. In this thread, he thinks through naming conventions on styles and explores the pros and cons of more abstract and specific naming conventions.
Here's another thread about managing Figma styles 🗂
— luis. (@disco_lu) March 16, 2023
It's pretty hard to know how far to push naming conventions on styles, and you can end up in some heavily nested folder structures if you're not careful
So let's take one component and work it out! pic.twitter.com/cO30LFzAd8
Font x-height and legibility
Dan Hollick with a fascinating thread on an optimal x‑height size and a visual arc.
Why are some typefaces harder to read than others at the same font-size?
— Dan Hollick 🇿🇦 (@DanHollick) March 16, 2023
Well, it has a lot to do with x-height but of course it's a bit more complicated than that: ↓ pic.twitter.com/QElNG1aq7q
A redesigned sticky note curl
Such a fun thread by designer Jakub Świadek on how the FigJam team redesigned the sticky note curl. See also another thread by Noah Finer on how it was implemented with CSS and SVG animations.
We're on a roll over here at @figma... we’re launching a redesigned sticky note curl today. Here’s why we’re excited about this tiny little design detail. pic.twitter.com/duFnHshOGc
— Jakub Świadek (@jakub_swiadek) March 16, 2023
Every Collection
Jon Moore is one of the creators who seized the opportunity provided by the paid resources on Figma Community and launched a collection of helpful design resources. Paying a few dollars for a high-quality asset to save a few hours of work is a no-brainer. Every Collection includes maps, calendars, social buttons, file types, slides, and charts.
🚀🚀🚀 LAUNCH DAY 🚀🚀🚀
— Jon Moore (@TheJMoore) March 7, 2023
I'm excited to launch the Every Collection for @figma!
A heap of resource files for those annoying things that no one likes to design in Figma (for the hundredth time in your design career).
Meet the collection below 🧵
Privacy mode
Yes, please.
Designing in @Figma while clients watch has to be the most frustrating ever.
— Brett @ Designjoy (@BrettFromDJ) March 7, 2023
Figma should have a privacy mode for each frame that hides the frame from viewers while you're working on it, but remains visible to editors. Agree? pic.twitter.com/G7qBAK0qSd
Geometric illustrations
The first installment of “Fridays with Fons”, where Fons Mans shows how to create and generate fun, geometric illustrations in Figma in just a few easy steps.
It’s time for the first edition of “Fridays with Fons”! ✨
— Fons Mans (@FonsMans) March 10, 2023
Learn how to create and generate fun, geometric illustrations in @figma in just a few easy steps.
Ready? Let’s dive in 👇#sponsored pic.twitter.com/2jHV76yp88
Structuring a good component library
Luis shares a few tips on structuring library files. He recommends optimizing variants for searching and usage rather than maintenance, and suggests this file structure: Page → Section → Variant. Also, check out his other thread on naming and splitting your library files.
We spend a lot of time talking about component structure, but the library files themselves are often ignored
— luis. (@disco_lu) February 27, 2023
So what goes into structuring a good Figma component library?
Here are a few tips, hopefully a good starting point 📈 pic.twitter.com/2zL7xk9eSx
8 steps to building a file thumbnail component
Patrick Morgan with tips for tidying your Figma account with a file thumbnail component.
Feeling like your @figma account could use some tidying? I know, I've been there.
— Patrick Morgan (@itspatmorgan) February 25, 2023
Here are the 8 steps I follow to build a file thumbnail component that's minimal, consistent, and scales: pic.twitter.com/iJhBEoK0Es
AI isn’t going to take your design job
Nick Stamas is making a good point that Figma is uniquely positioned to create an AI assistant for designers, but instead of replacing them, it will be more like GitHub Copilot. “There’s one place where an enormous pile of UI data exists in a way that could be used to train a large neural network: Figma.”
Spoiler alert: AI isn't going to take your design job.
— Nick Stamas (@nickstamas) February 27, 2023
But there's one company that's sitting on a hidden mountain of data that could radically change the way products are designed. The rest are likely vaporware or toys.
Here's my prediction 👇
3D cube in Figma
I had to rewatch this tutorial by Double Glitch a few times and it still blows my mind. So cool!
3D in Figma for #figbruary @rogie
— Double Glitch 🇺🇦 (@double__glitch) February 20, 2023
This one is pretty minimalistic, and very easy to create. I also discovered some other techniques that I'll share later.
Short tutorial in the thread 👇 pic.twitter.com/9fDXDjHs1k
Temperature widget
A simple temperature prototype by Vijay Verma, made as a part of Figbruary.
A simple temperature prototype in @figma. There are already so many great interactions shared by the community for #figbruary. cc @miggi 🌡️ pic.twitter.com/0RcfSrr3Xs
— vijay verma (@realvjy) February 13, 2023
Animated heart tutorial
Yet another fantastic tutorial by Double Glitch. The use of dodge & burn in animations is really smart and produces a beautiful effect.
And here's the tutorial on how to create this animated heart in @figma
— Double Glitch 🇺🇦 (@double__glitch) February 14, 2023
Might be a bit long, so brace yourself! pic.twitter.com/5ws4dC8cPu
Sections in Figma
Miggi shows how to use Figma sections for prototyping. Besides being a wonderful organizational tool, sections give you the ability to remember the states of areas of your prototype.
Anyone else love sections in Figma? @miggi takes it one step further to show you how to use sections for prototyping. pic.twitter.com/Z3IJZnRGjW
— Figma (@figma) February 13, 2023
Color tokens and Figma
While Figma doesn’t have native support for color tokens yet, Luis kicks off a discussion of how they might work in the future. His approach is similar to how I usually organize color tokens in CSS, so hopefully that will be the direction they take!
There are a lot of questions at the moment about colour tokens and Figma soooo
— luis. (@disco_lu) February 15, 2023
I thought I'd thread some thoughts on it to create a healthy discussion in public 🧂 pic.twitter.com/M2SINRwMER
Icebreakers
Examples of fun prompts and highlights from the Figma design team warmups in FigJam: “Overall, we ask a question, put a generous amount of time on the clock with some tunes, and let folks explore and have fun in FigJam. You don’t need to over-engineer an icebreaker for it to feel meaningful! And letting the room react and respond really lightens the exercise.”
I've been seeing a lot of posts lately, asking about icebreakers that are *actually* fun.
— cai on the internet (@igobycai) February 9, 2023
I'd be remiss if I didn't share some fun prompts and highlights from our @figma design team warmups! We're a delightfully kooky bunch 🤠⬇️
Colorwell
A preview of a new Figma plugin that offers Paper-like paint mixing. That demo brought so many memories! Paper used to be my go-to drawing app on the iPad a decade ago. Love to see some of its smart UI elements getting a second life as Figma plugins.
Colorwell is a new Figma plugin that offers you Paper-like paint mixing. Use and store a 5 color palette for mixing. You can also drag an image in to sample a palette from.
— Dustin Mierau (@dmierau) February 3, 2023
Mixing uses a Kubelka-Munk model to mix colors in a way that’s similar to mixing paint. 🙂
Coming soon! pic.twitter.com/aP1kwsjOzH