Figma: The Designer's Minecraft

Figma is just like Minecraft for me. It's like a designer's version of Minecraft. I would like to share five things that I do with Figma. They're not simply about designing a logo, graphics, user interface, or other design elements, but they are activities I engage in quite often, even when I am not working.

1. Clipboard Saver

I use Figma as my clipboard saver. If you are using a MacBook, you'll find that taking screenshots is a very easy task. Whenever I find something I like, such as visual references or ideas for my desktop research, I simply take a screenshot and put it into Figma.

Figma is a great place to organize your ideas and all the references you find, whether they are text, images, videos, or websites. You can take a screenshot and directly include the link there. I usually add a post-it note to all these references and write down my thoughts about them. Later in the design process, I can organize all my ideas and categorize them in a better order or present them directly to my teammates.

2. Host Workshops & Retrospective Meetings

Another thing I like to do with Figma is to host workshops. If you know Figma, it has a whiteboard feature called FigJam. You can host virtual workshops with people around the world. Even if everyone is working from home and you cannot meet your clients or teammates, you can still conduct many online workshops. It feels like everyone is in the same place because you can see people's cursors around you. This makes it easy to exchange ideas simply by posting virtual sticky notes.

One thing I love about FigJam is that we can give virtual high-fives. It connects people online even when we are not meeting face-to-face. We can play games and find many useful templates in FigJam as well. If you want to conduct a retrospective meeting, you can definitely do it on FigJam and provide interactive feedback to your teammates.

👋 High-five Instructions captured from the FigJam page:

• Shake your cursor left and right.
• Bump your cursor against another collaborator's high-five cursor to start high-fiving!
• The high-five hand will fade if you no longer move your cursor.

3. Create Portfolios and CVs

I believe you have your portfolio and CV as a designer (or a future design/art student!). They need to be updated regularly as you create new designs or gain new experiences. My very old portfolio and CV were created in Adobe Photoshop (a nightmare!) and Adobe Illustrator a long time ago.

After I discovered Figma, I didn't want to use those programs anymore due to my MacBook's performance; they just didn't work well and took a long time to load. What I did with Figma was put all my work results, my portfolio, and my CV on Figma.

The benefits are:

1. I can view Figma files anytime I want, even on my mobile or iPad.
2. I can manage version control better—no more final_final_final_final.pdf files!

4. Create Slides

I also enjoy creating slides on Figma. If you know me, you will know that I really, really dislike PowerPoint (sorry!). I understand that sometimes it's better to use Microsoft PowerPoint if you need to collaborate with clients, as not all clients know how to use Figma or other design tools. PowerPoint would be an easier option for them.

However, as a designer, I still prefer creating presentation decks with tools like Figma, Keynote, and InDesign because we know all the shortcuts and tricks. There's also better typesetting to design, making everything perfect. It's not simply about 'I don't like PowerPoint,' but it's definitely a key to improving work efficiency.

5. Plan Your Space

The final thing I do with Figma is use it to plan my studio. I measured all the dimensions of my studio space and created a simple graphic illustration/floor plan in Figma. Then, I added references for how I wanted it to look next to the floor plan. Now, my studio is well planned, and all the furniture I bought fits perfectly into my lovely space. It helped a lot when I was planning my studio, home, and room, even though I have no background in interior design. I would say it is one of the best tools I've ever encountered in my design career.

6. Cooperation is Key

A long time ago, when I was still using Sketch or other tools, I couldn't collaborate effectively with other designers. We had to pass our design documents via email, upload them to the drive, and then wait for delays if we wanted to work together. We also faced many issues with file version control.

Seeing Figma as a tool that allows designers, developers, project managers, and clients to collaborate seamlessly is a game-changer. We can all share our ideas, organize them, and conduct research/workshops together. There is so much more fun in design than ever!

I am excited to see how Figma will evolve in the future and look forward to more functions being added. 😊

I hope today's article gives you some inspiration on how you can use Figma. If you have other cool ideas about how you use Figma apart from design, feel free to leave a comment and start a discussion. Thank you for your time. See you next time!