Who uses Figma? They've been in the news a lot lately but I've never tried it. I have been hesitant to use design/AI platforms like Figma and Canva, because I'm worried as these sites become more popular, brands will have less use for designers like myself. Am I being overally paranoid?
https://www.fastcompany.com/91128367/figma-innovation-by-design-2024
I use Figma daily. It’s not used for its AI, it’s used for its design system management, advanced component optimizations and options and collaboration tools.
The devs I work with are enjoying devmode so far. Smart move on Figma. Expensive, but smart.
Figma and Canva aren't really comparable — Figma is a professional design tool whereas Canva is mostly meant for non-designers. Highly recommend learning Figma since it's pretty much the industry standard nowadays.
It really depends on what the OP is designing. An app that needs a large, use case based design system…absolutely go with Figma. Or a company with a pre-existing Figma design library.
A land page or a businesses new brand web site? Use something else.
Figma is just a web design platform for user interface and prototyping like adobe XD and sketch.
No need to catch feelings here. Whatever you call it, or whatever it does…does it really matter ?
Unfortunately yes, it is undue paranoia. Figma’s first and main offering is a designer tool that as many have mentioned is the standard for industry. Their latest extension DevMode is technically an ai offering but, it’s not especially efficient or widely received.
Don’t get caught up in the hype, most of these “ai tools” are early stage to established products (Canva included) and poorly executed and thus adopted.
Ai is *decades* away from replacing anyone and that’s at the highest best performing level.
Half the job is working with Product management to identify all the user UX use cases from the feature requirements and designing for those. I don’t see Figma AI being able to do that anytime soon.
As someone who was at Config this year, the applause for the new Figma AI tools was crickets compared to when they announced Slides lol.
It's definitely more for design systems management and product design work, and can be incredibly powerful for automating and making design work more efficient depending on how you set up your files. It's a must if you're planning to work on the digital design space.
Adobe is no longer supporting XD. You can use it, but it's no longer getting bug fixes or dev.
Figma is growing and is getting attention for a reason. Good interface and works well with Adobe platforms. The trick is to get your library's common files solid before you start designing. Agree, that it is more of a UX Design tool. AI is a bit clunky at the moment from what I have seen.