What is Figma? Why is it considered one of the best design tools?

Figma is an advanced UI and UX design tool. It stands out as the designer’s choice for both collaboration and remote work by allowing multiple designers to comment on designs at the same time. This means your team will always have a clear understanding of any specifications required, making for a seamless UI process that saves countless hours down the line.  Other tools have caught up over recent months. Still, none of them can match Figma’s reliability when it comes to accessibility across devices or their seamless interface, which makes it ideal for any task you need to do.

In this blog, we will discuss how and why so many people around the world trust Figma. 

Why should web designers choose Figma?

Figma is considered to be a web-based application design for interactive interfaces. The platform allows people from all over the globe to collaborate on designing apps. When designing in Figma, you no longer have to scramble to recreate your designs in another application just to show clients! It’s simple; you can share your designs and get feedback or approval easily from other people on your team. The best part is that the client can see exactly what you’re working on as it takes shape!

Accessibility

Figma is easily accessible by web designers. It works well in different browsers, which means it is available on multiple platforms. Figma can also be accessed through its desktop app, which provides almost every feature that exists in its web-based application. It is a free tool for the first few projects, which gives beginners room to learn how to use the design tool.

Easy project management

‍Figma files are stored in a cloud. This means that users are able to access files from pretty much anywhere. If users make changes to these files, they will be saved automatically, and only they -unless otherwise set by their administrators- have access to see the original design file. Users will always have the option of reverting their edits back up to the last point where other team members had edited the item, within which case a new version is created for everyone else involved. Project management is made easier through this tool because all design projects can be kept in one place.

Collaboration‍

The use of the cloud for sharing design files is fast becoming a trend. It allows users to easily share project designs with others or even change them on the fly in real-time if need be so that others can see what you have done and vice versa. You can also use this file collaboration capability as an aid when working in groups to achieve the best possible design results and make sure all participants get the credit they deserve!

Figma has come a long way since its humble beginnings. Figma emphasizes design and continually strives to improve every step of the way by implementing new features that help streamline the design process. Today, everything exists on the Web, and Figma makes full use of it by bringing together designers and developers while ensuring they are working more efficiently than ever before.

Let's take a look at some of the special features that make Figma stand out.

Figma is fast and frictionless

Simply put, Figma is akin to a racehorse, fast and agile. Open your dashboard, and you'll be able to zip around the workspace with no delay, drag files in a flash, zoom in on details, and scroll smoothly through designs fluently without any lag or awkward pacing. When designing, nothing can replace speed - it's the one thing you need from your design tool to keep up with your thoughts, movements, and workflow as you make them. So go for a powerful product that can catch up!

Cross-platform Functionality

Figma is a proprietary, collaborative and user-friendly design platform that allows you to take your workflow to the next level. No more waiting for large files to download or making sure only Mac users can access the file; Figma is here to cater.

Anyone can upload their designs and share them with anyone without any problem, and there are no barriers or obscurity! You don't have to rely on a third-party tool or an increasingly complex and fragmented collection of plugins when you put Figma to the test. Since many designers work on Figma, this is truly essential for keeping your team in sync. Any designer can receive a link from you, inspect the design, and get the colors, fonts, and even CSS & Swift Code.

Components

A component is a reusable piece of design. A component could be an interface element like a button or a whole experience such as login flow or the profile page of a social network. In Figma, you can create multiple custom components and combine them into more complex components. Components are different from libraries in that they usually take less time to build, are smaller in file size, and each one requires customization to work for your project's individual needs. On the other hand, Libraries are larger files and are intended for specific design patterns. You can easily combine components with elements from libraries and parts from any other individual components to make something entirely new!

Embedded Figma files real-time updating

Figma offers a real-time collaboration feature that can be used with Confluence, which is a very popular project documentation and content management tool. What this means is, if you’re using Confluence as your project documentation site, any changes made by anyone in Figma to documents embedded via the iFrame will be reflected within Confluence right away.

• Before using Figma, several other tools were used to facilitate the exchange of design mockups and updates. The iteration cycle went like this: a potential client would give you certain requirements in whatever software they’re comfortable with, then we’d generate the mockup for them in Sketch or Illustrator and send it over to them for review. They'd then provide feedback that we could act on before sending them another iteration of the design. This process would repeat itself until everybody was happy with the final result.
  

• After using Figma, there is no need for more traditional design tools. With Figma's capabilities, like synchronizing and sharing designs with team members, designers don't have to worry about creating multiple versions between formats because it all happens inside one streamlined platform. This saves them considerable time and resources when redesigning a flow since there are no visual discrepancies that could disrupt workflow or confuse the user.

Figma has Slack integration

Figma’s Slack integration is a fantastic way to take care of pesky notifications. By posting Figma comment notifications directly in Slack, design teams can ensure that they won’t miss a thing! Say goodbye to the days when someone forgot to tell you about an issue with your client’s details on their website because now you will be able to receive notifications for all new comments posted anywhere in Figma. This does more than help keeps designers organized; it helps them do their job better! This integration works especially well in distributed teams where everyone might not necessarily be working at the same time of the day or under the same roof.

Sharing prototype with client or team

What makes Figma special? Well, you can hand your work off to anybody in the office, and they can pick up where you left off. They’ll be able to examine the color properties, sizes, and distances at a glance. You can also select any asset and export it to PNG or SVG as easily as pasting HTML or copying code.

Invited users can either be users who can only view the content or editors who can edit it. This means that virtually anyone can become a member of your team, including product managers, other clients, and any person via a link!

Figjam

FigJam is an online collaboration tool that acts as a shared canvas where you can whiteboard, draw and plan your next big idea with other people who might otherwise live on the other side of the globe. Whilst Figjam won’t necessarily enable you to instantly present concepts directly with stakeholders, for example, it will give every member of your team access to planning documents such as wireframes, site maps, or drawings all in one place - something that adapts to fit both your organization’s and design process needs!

Figma is great for design review feedback

Figma supports instant commenting so that team members can give feedback as they work with each other, and it’s all tracked directly in the tool itself. Because Figma seamlessly combines design tools with code editors and hosting capabilities, you can save time while working on a unified prototype instead of having to switch back and forth between third-party collaborative prototyping tools like InVision or Marvel!

During design reviews, team designers can discuss your work by sharing their screens easily and quickly making changes in Figma on a large screen. With the live instant collaboration of Figma, there are no more uploads to a cloud service because, with Figma, you don't need any uploads at all!

The price

Figma is free to download and use for up to 2 projects with a team of 5 people or fewer. Most Figma users choose to upgrade to a paid plan because it simplifies their experience as well as provides access to more business and marketing tools that regular free users don't get (such as downloading files without watermarks). Suppose you don't feel comfortable upgrading right after signing up. In that case, there are still many benefits to using Figma, like being able to learn the basics of how things work before diving into advanced features at your own pace and trying out new collaborative features (like adding comments) before having to learn; how they work!

Figma Starter plan comes with a lot of useful features that allow startup teams, organizations, and freelancers to stay on top of things. Not only do you get all the necessary resources such as threaded commenting, unlimited drafts, and views, but you also get access to historical versions.

Creator’s community

As an extra bonus for designers, Figma provides a community where they can share and collaborate with other designers while also providing free resources and advice such as templates, landing pages, invoices, and design systems to help them take their design game to the next level.

Conclusion

Not all designers use the same tools. Some prefer to work with Adobe XD, whereas others may be fans of Sketch. But when you're working as part of a team, it can help if everyone has access to the same tools; after all, you don't want to waste time translating one set of instructions into another format, for example. A great choice for many different projects for individuals and teams alike is Figma because it allows for a whole variety of configurations depending on what you need! Figma works for both team and solo projects – especially if you’re working on something visually involved, such as a design or illustration. And even if you’re doing graphic design for the first time, Figma’s interface is really intuitive to use, so it won’t take long before you get the hang of things.

Looking for UI/UX design and graphic design solutions? Explore our Design Services.