Design UI: 10 good reasons to choose Figma
Web designers have a choice of tools to develop web sites, like Sketch, Adobe XD, Invision Studio, or Figma, to name a few. Each has its own strengths and features, but, in my humble opinion, one of them is superior to the others. You guessed it: Figma!
Figma is a web application for creating web- and mobile-based interfaces. It can be accessed directly in the browser, or it can be downloaded as a standard application. Since it is entirely Internet-based, it obviously requires an Internet connection. If you are not familiar with Figma or are wondering whether Figma is for you, here are ten arguments to help you make the leap:
3 applications in 1
While we often use several different applications on a daily basis (Sketch, Invision, Zeplin…), Figma includes all the features a production team needs: design, layout, prototyping, presentation and code inspection all in one. And as a bonus, it’s free with all the essential features for up to 3 projects and 2 editors.
Short learning curve
If you’re already familiar with Sketch, finding your way around Figma won’t take very long, thanks to the many similarities between the interface and tools of the two applications.
Collaborative work
The main difference between Figma and other design tools resides in collaborative work. In other words, several designers can work on the same file at the same time. No need to share VXX files or to merge elements into a final document. All work is automatically saved and displayed in real-time. This feature can be scary at first, as you may feel like you’re being “watched” as you work, but look at the up side: transparency and sharing supports collaboration on every front!
Simplified presentations and feedback
As mentioned earlier, there is no need to export your completed design: the presentation is performed inside the tool, and team members can leave comments right on the layouts. No more exporting of screens or jumping between Sketch and Invision.
Targeted sharing
You can share an entire project, a page thereof, or even just one artboard through a single hyperlink. No need for long and complicated directions; just beam your teammates there directly!
Flexibility of components
Figma’s components, called “symbols” in Sketch, are much more flexible to use. While managing a symbol’s style properties can be limiting in Sketch, Figma handles every property individually. This means that every element can be changed independently, right from layer properties in a component instance.
Compatibility
Since Figma is entirely on-line, any machine with a web browser can share, open or edit a Figma file. While Sketch is only available for Mac, Figma is notably accessible to all.
Easy developer handoff
Properties inspection is performed right in the tool and you can display code snippets for any selected element in CSS, iOS or Android formats.
Powerful Team Libraries
Figma is the ideal tool to develop a corporate Design System. Once the library is created and shared to the entire team, anyone can access and grab any asset they need, knowing that they always have the latest version. (This feature is not available in the free version.)
Clean, intuitive prototyping
⇨ YouTube, “Figma Tutorial: Smart Animate and Drag Triggers.”
The main prototyping features are embedded and easy to use. No need to export screens to see what your prototype actually looks like. Plus, the “Smart Animate” feature lets you easily create very sophisticated animations between two screens. Wow.
And now, take it away!
