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Ask DN: Has anyone been using Figma?

over 7 years ago from , Co-Founder → A Kids Book About

I just got into the Figma beta this week. Gave it an initial try and went back to Atomic. Then gave it another try redesigning our landing page for Circle with Disney.

OK, this app is freaking amazing:

  • Frames are seamless and easy to export (akin to Sketch's artboards)
  • can create and save company-wide color palettes
  • image masking (in the browser? what!?!)
  • can drag and drop any assets in there from Sketch, IconJar, SVG, JPEG... all work seamlessly
  • snapping and alignment is a breeze and a joy to use
  • font syncing tool syncs custom brand fonts from my desktop computer

Seriously working with Figma has been more productive than Sketch. Full export, and anyone on my team can jump in and collaborate.

Curious to hear about what your guys' experience has been like with Figma.

15 comments

  • Michael CookMichael Cook, over 7 years ago

    I've only done icon work in it so far but I'm seriously in love. I've plopped in a handful of sketch files and it handled them really well. Even though there are still some issues with SVG export it's miles better than Sketch and when I reported the issue the dev who works on SVG stuff popped up with to help me with it and talk about what they're doing. It was a wonderful experience.

    I'm almost definitely switching from Sketch to Figma. What I've seen of the constraints and grid system is amazing and the app runs smoother than Sketch from what I've experienced so far. Plus it has a handful of novel features like being able to copy/paste layer effects and export options.

    As a fan of Chrome OS, this is a dream come true.

    3 points
    • Jonathan SimcoeJonathan Simcoe, over 7 years ago

      That's awesome, Michael! I'm blown away by what their team was able to produce in a browser. Web apps are changing the future of design before our eyes.

      Do you know if they plan to add interaction/motion design to their repertoire at all?

      1 point
      • Michael CookMichael Cook, over 7 years ago

        I don't. I would be surprised if it wasn't in their roadmap in some way. Though I was told that atomic.io is planning to add much more advanced vector tools. I feel caught in a delicious love triangle between them and have no desire for it to stop.

        1 point
  • Vasil EnchevVasil Enchev, over 7 years ago

    Am I the only one still on the waiting list not being invited ? I've been on it for 3 weeks.

    1 point
  • Brian HintonBrian Hinton, over 7 years ago

    I'm very jealous. Glad to hear that the experience is good though :)

    I sort of hope that they offer a Electron / Chromium / insert other option version of Figma as well for offline use.

    1 point
  • Morgan CarterMorgan Carter, over 7 years ago

    I've tried again and again to get into Sketch, but I've found it really buggy and to have poor typography compared to Photoshop. How does Figma compare on this front?

    1 point
    • Jonathan SimcoeJonathan Simcoe, over 7 years ago

      In my experience, more solid and seamless than Sketch. It takes getting used to things like the gradient overlay but it is definitely solid.

      1 point
  • Brian HintonBrian Hinton, over 7 years ago

    Can you export sketch files? That would be interesting, and very useful. (especially with tools like Qwikly, Fluid, etc.)

    0 points
  • Alexander Adam, over 7 years ago

    Shameless plug but I am really curious how this compares to Gravit (http://www.gravit.io), did anyone try out both?

    0 points
    • Jonathan SimcoeJonathan Simcoe, over 7 years ago

      I haven't tried Gravit but Gravit looks more billed as an overall design tool for fliers, websites, etc. where Figma is really geared toward designing interfaces. Not that you couldn't use it to do whatever you wanted to.

      0 points
      • Alexander Adam, 7 years ago

        Jonathan -- Yeah we're trying to cover more than screen design though note that Gravit raised from being a screen design tool first :)

        0 points