#Figma link how to#

Similarly, designers can comment directly in each other’s files, instead of sending emails with feedback. And since revisions are a first party feature of each design in Figma, there’s no need to have complex files with names like “profile_design_v23_final_draft2”. When designs are edited with Figma, there are no conflicts. This is why two users editing a file simultaneously creates issues. editing in Google Docs.Īny time a user edits a design, they are in effect checking out a temporary copy.

The files may be stored in the cloud, but the editing happens locally-imagine the difference between sharing Word files in Dropbox vs. This means that Figma users are always working on the same design. Designs in Figma are not just stored in the cloud they are edited in the cloud, too. And often there were complex naming conventions to make sure that people were using the right versions.įigma solved this problem. Because design teams saved all their files in a shared folder like Dropbox, every time a coworker made a revision they would get a notification. The top right corner of their screens were always a nonstop cycle of Dropbox notifications. sadly.), I used to sit with designers at startups and watch them work. In 2014 as I helped diligence Figma (disclaimer: I worked on Greylock’s investment in Figma, but I don’t have a personal stake in Figma. In fact, they could even work on a design at the same time. If design could happen in the browser, then designers could work together on the same projects. When Figma first launched, its value proposition was primarily around making design collaborative. Whether Figma’s bets in building out global network effects will be able to push this level of progress in design will be an important question to watch. Engineering is one field that has exhibited significant compounding progress over time. Whether they can catalyze compounding productivity in design is a core question for the coming years. There are many decisions to make, including which layers should be centralized, whether the ecosystem should be driven by open source contributors or profit-seeking enterprises, how broad in scope to allow the ecosystem to grow and where to not let it grow, and more. Until the playbook is well understood, it is more art than science.

#Figma link how to#

From how to shift the allocation of resources between a company’s core business and its potential future expansions to how to structure a platform to catalyze its growth and more. Our understanding of building platforms and sequencing towards them is still nascent. They have found success with their core product and are trying to push themselves to the next level of value to customers and scale. Many companies are now at this inflection point. While it’s still early, these bets can be unpacked and understood. Figma has begun making its bets on how it will become a platform-namely centered around communities and plugins. Figma’s value to new users should compound as Figma’s adoption grows, even for solo users outside of organizations.

In order to break through that asymptote, Figma must build a global network effect across the ecosystem. There are limits to Figma’s success if it remains only valued and spread within companies.

Focusing on a product purpose built for those designing vector based digital productsįigma’s compounding growth is not only due to product market fit, but is also driven by the alignment between their product and distribution.

Their head start in new technologies like WebGL and CRDTs that made this browser-first approach possible.

Architecting Figma to be truly browser-first, instead of just having storage be in the cloud.

That network effect is made possible by Figma’s key early choices like: Building for this entire process doesn’t take away the importance of designers-it gives them a seat at the table for the core decisions a company makes.īuilding for everyone in the design process and not just designers is also the foundation of Figma’s core loop, which drives their growth and compounding scale. It is the handoff of specs and assets to engineers and how easy it is for them to implement them. It is the mocks and prototypes and the feedback on them. Design is all of the conversations between designers and PMs about what to build. The core insight of Figma is that design is larger than just designers.