Figma: a limitless creative tool

What is Figma?

Figma is an application available on Desktop/Mobile/Tablet/Web. It is composed of two branches allowing two uses.

Figma Design : Figma allows all designers, or non-initiated, to create their sites/publications or icons for free. Its innovative tools allow speed and fluidity in the creation of our models or other graphic elements.




Figjam : Figjam on the other hand, is Figma's newcomer, its reputation is only growing and will surely soon equal its competitors such as Miro and LucidChart.

Why use Figma?

Wireframe, Model, Prototype. Whether you are a designer, developer or product owner, each design step is simplified as much as possible in creating and sharing. For this purpose, Figma only requires a browser and an internet connection.

Thanks to these points, our customers can take part and follow the progress of their projects in real time. How? Simply thanks to “view only” mode which allows you to leave comments directly on the models in case of misunderstanding or change of direction.

Thanks to this function, the designer can quickly be notified to make the requested changes. This allows more human collaboration in the new era of teleworking.

In addition, Figma perfectly masters the technical constraints linked to the production phase, thanks to Inspect mode. The “Inspect” mode provides the CSS/IOS or Android code. Thus, a developer can understand and/or apply the tasks that are required of him more easily and intuitively.

The advantages of Figma

The biggest advantage of Figma is its easy and intuitive handling.

The wireframe is used to create a global vision of the architecture of an interface: the choice of elements (images, texts, videos), their location as well as the content to be placed in each zone. This phase makes it possible to identify future UX (User Experience) problems that may be encountered. This process is crucial for the rest of the design.

The second phase is the Mock-up. Here, we are going to set up the graphic charter in order to obtain a “Design System”. The design system is based on the component/pattern system. The buttons and other objects will thus only be created once (with variants if necessary) and then reused on our platform. Everything is automated and can be changed at any time. So we will only talk here about UI (User Interface).

The third and penultimate phase is The prototype. Once the models are made we will create a form of interactive presentation, a kind of artificial platform for customers so that they can easily project themselves into their future platforms.: validation of animations and other functionalities before development.

The development, and yes! Because even here Figma goes beyond its limits by providing coding assistance allowing the stylization of the platform. This results in considerable time savings during production, as seen previously with the “Inspect” mode.

Finally, another asset that is often overlooked is its community. The Figma community has a strong mutual support between its users. Figma tutorial videos, YouTube tutorials, Template, Inspiration. Users are full of ways to improve and shape their ideas or those of their customers.

An application in full swing

At present, Figma easily surpasses its competitors. In just a few years, this application went from a small startup to a giant in the creative world.

So much so that Adobe bought it for $20 billion This places it in the top 20 of the most expensive buyouts for a startup. Slightly below the acquisition of Whatsapp app by the Facebook group ($22M).

One thing is certain, Figma is constantly preparing new features for its users: new ways of communicating, possibility of making calls directly on the application, addition of”Widget“created by the community...

Figma at Capsens

Chez Capsens, we are a generalist web agency with a dominance in fintechs, we have been using Figma for two years and have perfectly integrated it into our methodologies.

I myself took advantage of the advantages of this application, because as a work-study student and a beginner in the company, I lacked experience. Thanks to its easy handling, Figma was a great help when I started in the world vocational.

Because Figma allows you to learn quickly without being a hindrance for communication, and it is a real opportunity! In this way, each stage of a creation can be carried out in a clear way, offering the possibility of taking advantage of all the indications as well as all the instructions from our project managers.

My arrival took place while Capsens I was just starting out with Figma, my relationship with the company went perfectly, giving teamwork a exceptional dynamics.

Sa versatility in fact an application that can also be used by designers Only by developers, which contributed to making my training very completes and in perfect harmony with my expectations as a student at Gobelins.

Note that while there may be some problems with waiter, prototyping or others, Figma remains a powerful tool, which we have all our confidence in. It simply requires knowing certain rules of use which will, why not, be the subject of a future article...

We are closely following the promising developments of this small startup that has become Adobe Figma.