Why Figma is the best tool for digital design
It seems that every decade, there's a new tool on the scene to disrupt our lives, and usually - we need to upskill. The 2021 Design Tools Survey (yes, I know there's a survey for that, and no, I can't read the logo properly either).
However, the collection of people who have completed this survey seemingly confirms what I'm saying.
Figma. It's a big deal. Why? Because before Figma, we had Sketch. And Invision and a bunch of other competing tools all did something similar. It's also browser/cloud-based when you need it. It's also a shit hot prototyping tool. It also versions your edits; you can make commits like a developer.
It sings and dances like the one tool you need and delivers. Unfortunately, Sketch is still a massive desktop app. It requires loads of updates and falls apart if you or other users try to collaborate on something (using Abstract, an entire product built off the success of another). It all costs money and is quite frankly annoying to use.
Figma is all rolled into one, and they've just introduced a Miro board facility called FigJam.
Working with clients, it's easier, too. You can share one link to a prototype view; no login is required.
This is some work I did for a client back in 2019. I was doing a demo of "the uses of Figma" and demonstrating the power of a design system. You can see here how the look and feel of the product have changed since then.
It's also cheap, which, if you're an aspiring designer and want to get to grips with it, you can do for $15 for a month - no long-term commitment. I endorse Figma; I don't work for them.
2023 Update: The above article was written in 2020, and since then, much has happened with Figma; as you can tell by the video screenshots used, they have either expired or look very old! I'm glad I wrote this when I did, as Figma is now widely adopted in the industry as the main software tool of choice, and it's been bought by Adobe.
Many designers now widely adopt Figma as the primary software tool of choice.
