Figma

An update on our decision to roll back the Figma AI Make Designs feature: After we learned about an issue with the underlying design system we made for it that resulted in some designs resembling existing apps, we temporarily disabled it to not only fix the issue but to review and understand what we could have done differently. Here is our retro: https://lnkd.in/gsz7T_j6

In what is now a tradition—we wanna give ya’ll a little peek behind what motivated the #Config2024 visual identity and all of the work and thought the Figma Brand Studio poured into our annual user conference. As we do with each installment, we find inspiration in the slate of features and new products we launch on the mainstage at Moscone. Given that we start ~10 months out, we veer towards conceptual metaphors and abstractions to avoid anything too overt or literal. With a refreshed UI, Figma Slides, and new AI features we homed in on what these updates might enable. ⊹✷˚ Starting early with motion * ✹+   Early on we knew motion would be important to uncover motifs that echoed this fluid and transformative way of working in Figma. We further identified the key actions we wanted to express: amplification, transformation, shifting perspectives, and activation. And while these started as motion principles, they ended up informing everything. ⊹✷˚ Supergraphics * ✹+   Of course, geometric shapes are a given within the Config and Figma brand. We really dug into this concept of using those transitional techniques to evolve humble, simple shapes into more complex, dynamic supergraphics. You also can’t just call them supergraphics and not go big with 70-foot wide murals. (thank you Barbara Stauffacher Solomon and Sol LeWitt) ⊹✷˚ Experiential * ✹+   Sculptural and functional installations activated different areas of Moscone, including a hanging constellation of 14 multi-color box kites, some as large as 17 feet! Collaborating closely with the our Events and Web Experience teams, we designed everything in a single Figma file. If you ever wanted to find Chelsea White, she was probably in the file. It's not a stretch to say crafting the Config brand is an exercise in UX design. By considering our audience, defining a scalable system, and collaborating closely across teams, we set out to create an event that embodied the dynamism and creativity of the Figma community. There’s honestly so much more, like the color palettes we managed using variables, the opening hype film that Relay Studio brought to life, and the incredible sound design from Sounds Like These. I encourage you to check out the deep dive the team wrote → https://lnkd.in/eQVffHGe Shoutout to the core studio team Jessica Svendsen, Chelsea White, Gustavo Delgado, Andy Luce, and Mika Kunisaki. Motion system developed by Chad Colby, Gilles Desmadrille and Jordan Scott. And a big thanks to Azra Daniels, Kelley Sauer, and the whole Figma events team for their support and trust! 💛

They turned out so well

Everyone say thank you Grammarly for t̵h̵e̵r̵e̵ their new plugin. Get suggestions on any text layer →  https://lnkd.in/dSQpKTAn

Today was a career highlight. It is an absolute privilege to introduce Figma Slides, Figma's newest product, to the world 💥 We launched Figma Slides this morning at Config, Figma's annual conference, after a year’s long effort to reimagine presentations and visual storytelling. Debuting this labor of love to thousands of designers during our opening keynote was a true pinch-me moment. I first pitched what we internally dubbed 'Flides' as an internal hackathon project in Fall 2022. What started as a scrappy prototype is now a tool that channels the power of Figma in a form that helps you tell your stories. Built for both professional designers and their collaborators in product, marketing, research, and beyond, Figma Slides enables anyone to craft a powerful story. Figma Slides is free to use while in beta! Try it out today 🎉 Thank you to the absolute dream team behind this product - it is an honor to work with you ❤️ Keeyen Yeo Alice Ching Karl Jiang Jonathan Kaufman Noah Finer Laura Pang Katie J. Silas Tsui Jessica Wang Delong Fu Duong Vu Joshua Korn Willy Wu Chang Liu Christa Simon Susan Su Michelle Huang Jung Chang Aaron Tesfai Linda Zhang Alex Bettadapur Augustus Griffin Adam Barrus Natasha T. Conor Woods Jerry Wu Catherine Hwu Peter Damrongpiriyapong Cynthia Jia Greta Huang Alexander C. Chris Bevan Chinmay Maheshwari Jeffrey Tousignant Jillian Latimer Ryan Reid Jakub Swiadek Khalil Cader Wendy Lu Ben Steinberg Soundharya Muthukrishnan Xuewei Ouyang Song Xie and many more.

#ConfigAPAC → https://lnkd.in/ejM6NmQ6

This past Thursday, I had the great honor of interviewing Dylan Field (CEO and co-founder of Figma) live on stage at Figma Config. This was the first ever live recording of this podcast, and was so much fun. If you watch the interview on YouTube you can see the epic stage they built for us to recreate my podcast studio 👏🔥 In our conversation, we dig into: 🔸 Building your intuition and product taste 🔸 The importance of keeping things simple 🔸 The future of product management 🔸 Stories from Figma's early days 🔸 Dylan’s journey as a leader 🔸 The future of design tools and AI 🔸 Much more Listen now 👇 - YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gfTw9ckp - Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gmbvNig7 - Apple: https://lnkd.in/gJquvTDx Some key takeaways: 1. Figma took 3.5yrs to launch their initial product, and despite their success, Dylan said this was “Way too long. Don’t do that.” Dylan recommends following common advice to ship and get feedback quickly. He adds that there are three things that you get to pick two of: Quality, features, deadline. 2. Intuition should play a significant role in product development, but it should be viewed as a hypothesis generator rather than the final word. Treat them like ideas. Discuss and test them with data. Then, refine them into solid plans that everyone agrees on. This way, you can make better decisions and move ahead confidently. 3. The best product managers deliver outcomes and “bring everyone along with them”. They put everyone in a shared headspace around what they’re doing, and they create an environment where people are happy after hitting milestones. Product management falls down when it’s too focussed on process, at the expense of focus on the problems a team is solving. 4. Aim for a “minimally awesome product” when launching new features or products. This means balancing feature completeness with a high enough quality to meet user expectations.

AI promises to reinvigorate the way we design and build, but how we realize that potential is still an open question. By answering a series of prompts, leaders in this rapidly evolving field take stock of where we stand, what the limits are, and where we’re bound to grow. Welcome to The Prompt.

Thanks for bringing the vibes to SF. Next up, #ConfigAPAC Everything that happened at Config → https://lnkd.in/efwiw3tC Watch all the sessions → https://lnkd.in/e4vGTuxg Huge thanks to you and to our sponsors for building #Config2024 with us: Material Design (Google), Coda, Ditto, dscout, Freepik, Locofy.ai, Rangle.io, Anima, Atlassian, Frontify, GitHub, Great Question, LottieFiles, Maze, Notion, One North, UserTesting

Building new products can be tricky. A glimpse into how Figma Slides (fka Flides) came to life