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figma3 min readCurated summary

The Right Jams for Your Jam | Figma Blog

Music in FigJam was designed to help remote teams share momentum without becoming a distraction. Figma drew on the psychological effects of musical “entrainment,” using rhythm and atmosphere to support collaboration, timed work sessions, and periods of focused silence. The resulting challenge was to create music that felt inclusive, varied, and useful across different teams and working styles. ## Music as a Collaborative Tool - Fast-paced sounds can influence people to move and work faster, potentially increasing focus or stress. - In remote collaboration, shared music can create a sense of collective flow and help teams feel “on the same page.” - The wrong music can disrupt concentration or become a blocker, making musical choice especially important in a diverse group. - Figma partnered with Sounds Like These to develop a sound portfolio suited to collaborative work. ## From Jam Sessions to Timed Work - The concept came partly from the familiar practice of playing music while working together. - It also addressed a practical FigJam problem: silent timers create an abrupt contrast between lively discussion and quiet, heads-down work. - During Figma’s Maker Week, engineer Chris Brainerd created an interactive music sequencer that could function as an alternative to a conventional timer. - The prototype revealed a broader opportunity: music could fill awkward pauses and sustain momentum rather than merely signal the end of a timed exercise. ## Designing Music That Stays in the Background - Music in a group setting needed to be: - Inclusive but not bland - Attention-supporting but not attention-grabbing - Diverse while still feeling connected - Suitable for unpredictable design and brainstorming sessions - Because music is personal and emotional, recognizable artists or songs could excite some users while alienating others. - The composers’ goal was the opposite of conventional advertising or entertainment music: create a comfortable “audio area” that supports thought without pulling focus away from the work. ## The Tradition of Functional Background Music - Figma’s approach connects to the older tradition of “functional,” “furniture,” or “elevator” music—sound that is intentional and present but not demanding. - French composer Erik Satie’s early-20th-century “furniture music” provided a historical model for music designed to accompany activities rather than command attention. - Satie’s work, including *Vexations*, later influenced minimalist and conceptual music. - This tradition suggests that effective background music should accommodate different levels of attention and remain easy to ignore when necessary. Ultimately, FigJam’s music was conceived less as entertainment than as a collaborative workspace tool. The best tracks create atmosphere, smooth transitions, and shared energy while allowing teams to decide how much attention the music deserves.

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FigjamRemote CollaborationMusic CompositionStep Sequencer+2
figma3 min readCurated summary

Making multiplayer more reliable | Figma Blog

Figma improved multiplayer reliability by adding a durable write-ahead journal alongside its existing checkpoint system. Instead of relying on full-file snapshots every 30–60 seconds, Figma now records incremental changes frequently, allowing crashed servers to recover nearly to the latest state and reducing deployment-related database spikes. The goal was to reduce potential data loss from up to 60 seconds to less than one second. ## How Figma’s Multiplayer System Worked - Browsers connect to Figma’s multiplayer service over WebSockets. - The service authoritatively handles: - Validation - Ordering - Conflict resolution - Broadcasting updates to connected clients - File state is held in memory for speed. - Every 30–60 seconds, the entire file is: - Encoded into a binary format - Compressed - Uploaded to Amazon S3 as a checkpoint ## Problems with Checkpoint-Only Persistence - A multiplayer crash could lose up to 60 seconds of server-side work. - Checkpoints become increasingly expensive as files grow in size and complexity. - Redeployments caused large write spikes: - All in-memory files had to be closed. - Each file needed a final checkpoint. - The resulting burst increased database load. ## Introducing the Journal - Figma added a durable transaction log, or journal, backed by DynamoDB. - Each accepted change receives an incrementing sequence number. - Checkpoints store the latest sequence number they include. - During recovery: - Multiplayer loads the latest checkpoint. - It queries the journal for entries with higher sequence numbers. - It replays those incremental changes to reconstruct the latest file state. - Journal entries are much smaller than full-file checkpoints, since they contain only user edits. - Figma writes journal data roughly every 0.5 seconds rather than waiting 60 seconds between full snapshots. - The target was less than one second of data loss in rare failure scenarios. ## Smoother Deployments - During deployment, Figma can close connections and wait for unsaved changes to reach the journal. - The 99th percentile persistence time is under one second. - Since journal writes happen continuously during normal operation, deployments no longer create a sudden checkpoint-writing surge. - Database write load is therefore steadier and more predictable. ## Datastore and Batching Decisions - Figma selected DynamoDB because the journal requires a horizontally scalable datastore with high write capacity. - Postgres was considered but rejected because the anticipated write volume exceeded Figma’s current horizontal-scaling approach for Postgres. - Clients send updates at approximately 30 frames per second, or every 33 milliseconds. - The journal does not need that granularity, so multiple changes can be batched before being persisted, improving performance. Figma’s approach combines inexpensive, frequent incremental journal writes with larger periodic checkpoints. This provides faster recovery, minimizes data loss, and avoids deployment-related load spikes while retaining checkpoints for efficient long-term storage and features such as version history.

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PostgreSQLReal Time CollaborationWebsocketsDynamodb+2
figma2 min readCurated summary

Our approach to security at speed | Figma Blog

Figma’s security team aims to help teams ship quickly without compromising safety. Its approach combines early risk assessment, reusable technical controls, decentralized decision-making, and transparent collaboration rather than rigid mandates. The goal is to make security an enabler of product development. ## Systematically Assessing Risk - Security reviews upcoming features and workflows to identify risks early. - Teams use a three-question “ThreatJam” survey before security office hours, held three times weekly. - For FigJam’s rich link previews, the team identified risks including: - **SSRF**, where attackers could request internal Figma resources. - **Denial-of-service attacks** against linked websites. - Malicious HTML that could deface or execute code within FigJam. - Figma isolated link scraping and parsing in a cloud function running on a separate virtual machine and network. - Additional protections included: - Cloud-function rate limiting. - Temporary storage of scraped data. - Restricting requests to standard HTTP and HTTPS ports. - Limiting parsed HTML to approved tags. - Reusing existing plugin and widget security mechanisms. ## Reusable and Decentralized Security Solutions - Security provides customized guidance while avoiding centralized approval processes. - The team builds reusable libraries, frameworks, documentation, and security patterns. - Solutions developed for one product can serve as case studies for other engineering teams. - Office-hours notes are shared across Figma so teams can understand security reasoning and apply it independently. - This model allows security practices to scale as the company grows. ## Defending Against Phishing and Information Disclosure - Figma uses technical controls to protect employees, devices, and internal data. - Access to internal sites requires a passwordless second factor scoped to the specific site. - New employees receive hardware authenticator keys. - Employees are also encouraged to register biometric authenticators such as Touch ID or Windows Hello. Figma’s model demonstrates that security can move at development speed when teams assess threats early, isolate risky functionality, automate defenses, and share solutions broadly. Companies seeking a similar approach should prioritize reusable controls and security collaboration over process-heavy gates.

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Cloud NativeMulti Factor AuthenticationWeb SecurityDenial Of Service+3
figma2 min readCurated summary

How we use data | Figma Blog

Figma uses data in two broad ways: functional data to provide its service and analytics data to improve the product. The company emphasizes collecting only the information necessary to operate Figma, while using aggregated usage insights and experiments to guide product decisions. Examples include improving file sharing and identifying performance problems in the iOS app. ## Functional Data - Functional data supports core account and product operations. - Figma collects a relatively small amount of information at signup: - Email address - Name - Role - This information enables usernames, password-reset messages, file creation, and collaboration. - Figma generally does not require sensitive information such as identity documents or verification. - Payment information for paid plans is collected and processed by Stripe. ## Analytics Data - Analytics data describes how users access and use Figma. - It helps teams understand: - Which features users adopt - Which features they ignore - Where users encounter difficulties - How usage varies across platforms - Data scientists analyze these signals alongside user research, product intuition, and direct feedback. ## Improving Features Through Experiments - A/B testing is a central part of Figma’s product-development process. - Experiments test hypotheses and measure how proposed changes affect user behavior. - In one study, Figma examined its file-sharing modal, where users invite collaborators, manage permissions, and publish work. - Research showed that: - Only 20% of users opened the share modal during their first month. - Only half of those users successfully shared a file. - Figma simplified the interface and moved secondary functions into separate tabs. - The change produced: - A 2% increase in users sending invitations - A 2% increase in users invited to each file - No observed decline in users publishing work to Figma Community ## Identifying Performance Issues - Figma uses data to monitor application performance across platforms and prioritize improvements. - After launching the beta iOS app, the data team analyzed crashes by platform, scenario, and timing. - The analysis found that prototypes were a major source of iOS crashes. - About 25% of prototype crashes occurred within the first 10 seconds of loading. Figma’s approach combines minimal functional data collection with analytics, experimentation, and performance monitoring. The practical goal is to use data selectively to improve usability, reliability, and collaboration while limiting the amount of sensitive information required from users.

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iOSData ScienceA B TestingData Analytics+2
figma3 min readCurated summary

Behind the feature: find and replace | Figma Blog

Find and replace in Figma and FigJam proved far more complex than adding a search bar. The team had to design an intuitive experience for navigating a multidimensional canvas, develop reliable result-ordering logic, and adapt the feature across two different products. They combined prototyping, experimentation, internal testing, and lessons from an earlier plugin to create a native tool. ## Building an Intuitive Search Experience - The team began with a brainstorm involving design, engineering, product management, UX writing, and product marketing. - They studied search experiences in other applications and established three principles: - Fast and lightweight - Smooth when navigating across the canvas - Familiar, like search in a browser - Jackie Chui built an early prototype based on her 2019 Find and Replace plugin. - Engineers continuously iterated on working designs, while Figma employees tested the feature in daily work, participated in bug bashes, and provided feedback. ## Establishing the Core Experience in FigJam - The team launched the work in FigJam first to focus on the fundamentals: - Finding text - Highlighting matches - Navigating through results - FigJam provided a simpler starting point before tackling Figma’s broader range of objects and file structures. ## The Challenge of Sorting Search Results - Unlike web pages or documents, Figma and FigJam canvases are multidirectional and multidimensional. - Search results needed a predictable order so navigation would feel coherent rather than jumping randomly across the canvas. - The team had to account for the user-defined spatial structure of each file. ### Reusing Existing Sorting Logic - The first solution reused row-by-row sorting from Figma’s prototyping engine. - This worked for orderly layouts such as presentation slides. - It was less effective for FigJam boards, where stickies, shapes, and other objects may be scattered across the canvas. ### Using Sections and Spatial Grouping - The introduction of FigJam sections gave files clearer structure. - Results could be sorted within each section, producing an order that better matched visual groupings. - The team observed that users commonly clustered stickies around themes, next steps, or threaded discussions. - To handle groups outside sections, an engineer created a spatial-sorting algorithm that groups nearby elements together. ### Developing Heuristics - The team mapped heuristics for determining how section shapes should influence sorting direction. - These rules helped the system infer a natural reading and navigation order from the canvas layout. The broader lesson is that seemingly simple productivity features often require product-specific interaction models. Building prototypes early, testing with real files, and combining existing logic with new spatial heuristics helped Figma create find and replace that felt natural across both structured and free-form canvases.

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FigmaFigjamUser Interface DesignFind And Replace+2
figma2 min readCurated summary

A sneak peek at Schema 2022 | Figma Blog

Schema 2022 is Figma’s annual conference focused specifically on design systems rather than design in general. The event combines in-person gatherings in New York, London, and Tokyo with a virtual livestream, bringing together designers, developers, and advocates to discuss practical challenges, emerging standards, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. ## A Global Design Systems Conference - Schema 2022 includes: - In-person events in New York, London, and Tokyo - A virtual event open to anyone unable to attend in person - Community meetups in each host city - Each city features a distinct lineup of speakers representing different areas of design expertise. - The conference is invite-only, but interested attendees can apply online. - Talks were later made available through DesignSystems.com. ## A More Focused Conference Than Config - Whereas Figma’s Config conference addresses design broadly, Schema concentrates on the specialized field of design systems. - Its narrower focus allows speakers and attendees to explore the field’s specific opportunities and challenges in greater depth. - Organizers aim to balance innovative content with introductory material for people who are still new to design systems. ## Collaboration Between Designers and Developers - Design systems require a mix of design, engineering, and organizational skills. - Schema is intended to encourage “creative cross-pollination” between designers and developers. - Designers can share ideas for plugins, extensions, and integrations. - Developers can demonstrate tools and systems they are building. - The event highlights how design systems create a shared language between the two disciplines. ## Design Tokens and Emerging Standards - The W3C Design Tokens Community Group is highlighted as an important part of the program. - Design tokens provide a technology-agnostic way to scale visual design across tools, devices, and platforms. - The group is working toward standards that allow products and design tools to share design-system styles consistently. - Figma’s developer advocates are especially interested in how the group addresses accessibility and internationalization early in the standards process. Schema 2022 presents design systems as both a specialized practice and a meeting point for design and software engineering. Its recommendation is implicit: people working with design systems should use the event and its talks to learn from adjacent disciplines, follow developing standards such as design tokens, and connect with the broader community.

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FigmaDesign SystemsAccessibilityDesign Tokens+2
datadog3 min readCurated summary

DRUIDS, the design system that powers Datadog

Datadog created DRUIDS in 2018 to provide consistent UX patterns across its rapidly expanding observability platform. The system succeeds only if designers and developers trust and use it, so its documentation and tooling are designed to be easy to understand, implement, and contribute to. Datadog’s approach connects design, source code, documentation, and development workflows into a shared source of truth. ## Easy to Understand ### Fast Navigation and Discovery - The DRUIDS documentation supports Cmd+K (or Ctrl+K) quick navigation for finding components, patterns, icons, logos, and other resources. - The “DRUIDS Loupe” lets Datadog employees inspect components directly on product pages. - Hovering over an inspected component reveals links to its source code, Figma files, and documentation. ### Connected Documentation - Component pages link to GitHub, Figma, and VS Code. - JSDoc comments provide descriptions and links back to DRUIDS documentation inside VS Code. - Figma also links back to relevant components and guidance. - These connections minimize dead ends and keep supporting context close to where people are working. ## Easy to Implement ### Editable Playgrounds - DRUIDS treats React, TypeScript, and CSS implementation as the source of truth because code defines the actual browser experience. - Interactive playgrounds let users explore component props, test variations, and copy production-ready code. - A Code Sandbox page allows multiple components to be combined into live prototypes. - Stateful internal URLs make it easier to share ideas and reproduce bugs. - The tools also help teams without dedicated frontend specialists build internal applications using familiar Datadog patterns. ### Auto-Generated API Documentation - Each component includes an API table listing its props, allowed values, and descriptions. - The tables are generated directly from source code rather than maintained separately. - This prevents documentation from drifting away from the implementation across more than 150 components. - Clear, meaningful prop names improve predictability for both designers and developers. ## Easy to Contribute Back ### Contribution Guidelines - DRUIDS is intended to evolve as Datadog’s products and customer needs change. - Internal contribution guidelines define expectations for core design, structure, prop naming, documentation, styling, responsiveness, accessibility, and testing. - The guidelines aim to reinforce quality without making contributions burdensome or intimidating. ### CLI Tooling - A command-line wizard generates the standard structure for new components, including code, tests, and documentation examples. - For example, `yarn component button` creates the scaffolding for a button component. - Automating boilerplate lets contributors focus on design, user experience, and performance. Datadog’s central recommendation is to treat a design system as more than a component library: it should connect users, designers, and developers through consistent patterns, live examples, source-linked documentation, and lightweight contribution workflows.

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FigmaUser ExperienceReactTypeScript+4
datadog1 min readCurated summary

DRUIDS, the design system that powers Datadog | Datadog

The provided content does not include the blog post itself; it contains Datadog navigation links and a URL titled “Druids: The Design System That Powers Datadog.” As a result, the article’s arguments, implementation details, and conclusions cannot be reliably summarized without inventing information. ## Available Information - The page appears to be a Datadog engineering blog post about **Druids**, Datadog’s design system. - The surrounding navigation lists Datadog products across: - Infrastructure and application monitoring - Logs, security, and digital experience - Software delivery and service management - AI and platform capabilities - No article sections, examples, technical architecture, or conclusions are included in the supplied text. ## Practical Conclusion Please provide the article body or a working copy of the page content for an accurate section-by-section summary.

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KubernetesDatadogObservabilityApplication Performance Monitoring+2
figma2 min readCurated summary

The outsized role culture plays in attracting design talent | Figma Blog

Companies that attract strong design talent tend to cultivate cultures where designers feel valued, supported, and empowered. Figma’s research suggests that design culture directly influences hiring success and designer happiness, especially through strong operations, visible design leadership, and meaningful professional development. Recruiting also requires engaging designers in the communities and channels where they already connect. ## Design Culture as a Hiring Advantage - Companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Airbnb attract designers through established design principles, tools, processes, and respected teams. - Organizations known for strong design cultures are **4.3 times more likely** to report hiring success. - Designers look for evidence that they will not have to repeatedly defend design’s value or fight for influence in business decisions. - Public visibility matters: - Design leaders speaking at industry events - Teams publishing their perspectives and work - Designers being quoted or recognized externally - When the broader design team—not only senior leadership—shares its work and experiences, it sends an even stronger signal. ## The Role of Design Operations - Design Operations helps teams work effectively by facilitating, organizing, and supporting designers. - **83% of organizations successful at hiring** had a Design Ops practice. - Useful operational investments include: - Evaluating and improving design tools - Streamlining staffing and resourcing - Balancing project timelines, deliverables, and milestones - Companies making these quality-of-life improvements are **twice as likely** to report successful hiring. ## Meeting Designers Where They Are - Posting a job on a general careers site is often insufficient, particularly for experienced designers and design leadership roles. - Recruiters and hiring managers should build relationships with designers and participate in design communities before or beyond the hiring process. - Effective recruiting requires understanding which Slack groups, specialized job boards, and professional communities are active and relevant. - Examples include design-focused boards and communities such as Design Dept, Leaders of Awesomeness, and ADPlist. A practical hiring strategy is to treat culture as part of the recruiting process itself: invest in designers’ daily experience, make design’s organizational influence visible, and engage authentically with the communities where design talent already participates.

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FigmaProduct DesignDigital DesignDesign Ops+1
figma2 min readCurated summary

What’s new in Figma: September 2022 | Figma Blog

September 2022 brought Figma and FigJam updates focused on collaboration and design-system workflows. Component properties became more flexible through an open beta, while Google Calendar integration made it easier to connect files with meetings. Figma also announced Schema events and released more than 300 templates for common design and team activities. ## More Flexible Component Properties The open beta expands component-property capabilities to make design systems easier to manage and customize: - **Preferred values** provide curated component options when swapping instances. - **Exposed nested instances** let users customize nested-instance properties from the parent component. - **Simplified instances** hide unnecessary layers and details, emphasizing only editable elements for people using the component. ## Figma and FigJam in Google Calendar A new Google Chrome extension connects Figma and FigJam directly to Google Calendar: - Users can attach a Figma or FigJam file to a calendar event. - Teams can add meeting materials without leaving Calendar or manually copying links. ## Schema Design Systems Conference Figma opened registration for Schema, its design-systems-focused conference: - Programming is available virtually and in person. - In-person sessions are planned for New York, Tokyo, and London. - The event brings together design-systems leaders and practitioners to share ideas and improve their systems. ## More Than 300 New Templates Figma and FigJam added hundreds of templates organized by role and use case, helping teams start projects more quickly. Examples include: - Brand guidelines for documenting a brand’s visual source of truth - Product development roadmaps for moving features from idea to execution - Team meeting agendas - Roadmap planning, SWOT analysis, and design critique activities These updates make Figma more practical for collaborative meetings while giving design-system teams greater control over reusable components.

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FigmaDesign SystemsFigjamComponent Properties+3
figma2 min readCurated summary

Designing in the cloud with confidence | Figma Blog

Figma’s post announces that it has received the EU Cloud Code of Conduct compliance mark, making it one of only 17 companies to earn the designation at the time. The certification signals that Figma’s privacy and security practices have been independently validated against GDPR-related cloud data protection standards. Figma presents this as reassurance for global teams, particularly organizations operating in or expanding into Europe. ## Commitment to Global, Secure Collaboration - Figma says scaling design work across regions requires a reliable and trustworthy product. - Its international strategy includes: - Building features for users around the world - Expanding its global presence - Protecting customers’ design intellectual property - Meeting regional security and compliance requirements - The company emphasizes transparency around its security practices and track record. ## EU Cloud Code of Conduct Compliance - Figma became one of only 17 companies to receive the EU Cloud Code of Conduct compliance mark. - The Code is described as a leading European standard for cloud data protection. - The mark indicates that Figma has established processes intended to handle user data in compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). - Figma’s privacy and security policies were validated by SCOPE Europe, the accredited monitoring body for the Code. ## What It Means for Customers - Figma users can have greater confidence that their design data is handled according to recognized security standards. - European organizations and companies planning international expansion can use Figma with clearer assurance about its compliance posture. - The company directs readers to the EU Cloud Code of Conduct and its broader security documentation for more information. Figma’s practical message is that customers can continue using its cloud-based design platform with increased confidence in its European data protection and security controls.

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FigmaCloud SecurityCloud ComputingData Protection+1
figma2 min readCurated summary

A New Collaboration with Adobe | Figma Blog

Figma announced in September 2022 that Adobe would acquire it, presenting the deal as a way to accelerate Figma’s mission of making design and development more collaborative and accessible. Figma said it would remain operationally autonomous, with Dylan Field continuing as CEO and the product, culture, pricing, and education offerings largely unchanged. However, the proposed acquisition was ultimately abandoned in December 2023 after the companies concluded they could not obtain regulatory approval. ## Strategic Opportunity - Adobe’s technology, expertise, and resources were expected to accelerate Figma’s growth and innovation. - Figma highlighted potential access to Adobe capabilities in: - Imaging and photography - Illustration and video - 3D tools - Font technology - The companies also planned to explore new creative tools built on Figma’s collaborative technology. ## Figma’s Continued Autonomy - Adobe committed to keeping Figma operationally independent. - Dylan Field would remain CEO and report to Adobe executive David Wadhwani. - The entire Figma team would continue reporting through Field. - Figma said it would keep prioritizing its community, culture, and existing business practices. ## Product and Community Plans - Figma intended to continue improving: - Figma Design - FigJam - The Figma community platform - The company planned to expand into new areas while considering whether new capabilities should become separate products or be integrated into existing tools. - The Friends of Figma program would continue supporting local communities. - Figma said it had no plans to change pricing in the near term. - Figma’s education offering would remain free, with Adobe supporting efforts to grow the global population of designers, developers, and creatives. ## Broader Responsibility - Field described the acquisition as an opportunity to help build the next generation of creative tools. - He connected that responsibility to the rise of AI-generated content and growing questions about the role of human creativity. - He also reflected on Adobe’s influence in his own creative development and expressed optimism about working with the company. ## Final Outcome - The announcement was subject to regulatory, shareholder, and other closing conditions. - On December 18, 2023, Figma and Adobe ended the proposed acquisition because they no longer saw a viable path toward regulatory approval.

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FigmaCollaborative DesignDesign ToolsAdobe+4
figma2 min readCurated summary

What’s new in Figma: August 2022 | Figma Blog

Figma’s August 2022 update focused on improving collaboration, usability, and education support across Figma and FigJam. The headline release was a Microsoft Teams integration, while more than 20 smaller improvements refined everyday design and diagramming workflows. Figma also expanded its education offerings through new resources, templates, events, and Chromebook support. ## Microsoft Teams Integration - The new Figma app for Microsoft Teams lets users collaborate in Figma and FigJam without leaving Teams. - Users can: - Present files during meetings - Brainstorm and riff together - Add relevant files to Teams channels - Receive real-time feedback notifications - The integration targets the more than 270 million people who use Microsoft Teams for work. ## Usability Improvements Figma introduced more than 20 “Little Big Updates,” designed to make frequent tasks faster and more intuitive. - **Gradient editing:** Double-clicking gradients makes it easier to space gradient stops evenly and add depth to color fills. - **Frame markups:** Users can annotate frames without worrying that markings will be clipped or affected by auto layout. - **FigJam diagrams:** New prompts automatically create shapes, while connector mode remains active to speed up flowchart creation. - The updates cover shortcuts, design tools, collaboration features, and other day-to-day workflows. ## Expanding Figma for Education Figma highlighted new initiatives for educators and students through its Commons education conference. - Hundreds of educators participated in workshops, panels, and talks about collaborative classroom practices. - New education-focused FigJam sticker packs were released. - Figma launched an Education Community collection featuring classroom templates. - A monthly YouTube series, **“Study Hall,”** provides additional educational content. - Updates to the Chromebook beta allow U.S. high school districts to deploy Figma Organization to students and teachers for free. Overall, the update shows Figma investing both in major workplace integrations and in small workflow refinements. Teams, designers, and educators can benefit by adopting the Microsoft Teams app, exploring the usability improvements, and using Figma’s growing education resources.

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FigmaFigjamReal Time CollaborationAuto Layout+2
figma3 min readCurated summary

Collaboration’s next chapter with Microsoft’s Jon Friedman | Figma Blog

Figma’s integration with Microsoft Teams reflects a broader shift toward seamless, hybrid collaboration across design, communication, and productivity tools. Jon Friedman argues that distributed work expands access to global talent, while collaborative platforms give teams more equal participation and reduce duplicated effort. However, in-person interaction remains valuable for rich social connection, and adopting collaborative systems requires significant cultural change. ## Hybrid Work and Global Talent - The pandemic accelerated Microsoft’s existing shift toward a more globally distributed workforce. - Strong talent exists far beyond company headquarters, including locations such as India, China, Atlanta, and Norway. - Remote work makes it possible to promote and support high-impact employees without requiring relocation. - Microsoft’s earlier experiments with remote-work practices helped the company transition more effectively during the pandemic. ## Collaboration Tools and the Role of In-Person Work - Tools such as Microsoft Teams and Figma can sometimes enable more effective collaboration than in-person meetings. - Digital tools are relatively non-hierarchical, allowing people to participate with a stronger and more equal voice. - The next challenge is determining when in-person interaction is genuinely useful rather than assuming it should be the default. - Virtual work can support spontaneous interaction, but face-to-face meetings provide richer social signals, including body language, appearance, and mannerisms. - In-person experiences remain important for building human connection and shared rituals. ## Design Systems as Creative Infrastructure - Moving from individual contribution to collaboration-first work can require a multi-year cultural transformation. - Friedman initially worried that design systems might restrict designers who enjoy controlling every detail. - Instead, designers embraced the idea because shared systems allow them to avoid reinventing established solutions. - A strong design system is not primarily about enforcing rules; it frees creators to focus on more important problems while maintaining coherence. - Reusable tools and patterns provide a foundation for better, more ambitious work. ## Integrated Tool Chains - Using Figma alongside Teams’ chat and video capabilities allows teams to design, discuss, and iterate in the same ecosystem. - Collaboration can happen synchronously or asynchronously, with fewer barriers between creating and communicating. - Teams also benefits from enabling third-party companies to build on its platform. - Combining Microsoft’s communication infrastructure with Figma’s collaborative design environment supports Microsoft’s broader goal of becoming a company that builds together. The practical recommendation is to treat collaboration tools and design systems as cultural infrastructure, not merely software purchases. Organizations should combine flexible remote practices with intentional in-person interaction and use shared systems to give teams more time for meaningful creative work.

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FigmaDesign SystemsFigjamReal Time Collaboration+2
figma2 min readCurated summary

My summer as a Figtern | Figma Blog

Jaelyn Brown describes her 2022 internship at Figma, from discovering the opportunity through a platform supporting minority students to leading an HBCU recruiting strategy. She found Figma’s interview process welcoming, its hybrid workplace flexible, and its culture strongly focused on intern growth and inclusion. Her experience showed how an internship can combine professional development with meaningful work aimed at improving access to technology careers. ## Finding the Figma Opportunity - Brown discovered Figma’s Early Career Program Manager internship through Student Career Studio, which connects minority students with career opportunities. - As a Howard University student, she understood the experiences and priorities of HBCU applicants. - Conversations with hiring manager Kristen Dauler emphasized Figma’s investment in employees and inclusive company culture. - The interview process focused on Brown’s interests, passions, and growth rather than formal presentation, allowing her to be authentic. ## Starting as a Figtern - Brown moved from North Carolina to San Francisco and began her internship on May 23, 2022. - Her onboarding included virtual sessions and meeting the intern cohort. - Hybrid work allowed her to split time between home and Figma’s San Francisco office. - Interns were treated as important members of the company, including through an ask-me-anything session with co-founder Dylan Field. ## Working in Early Career Recruiting - The Early Career Recruiting team manages hiring and strategy for interns and candidates with up to 12 months of industry experience. - Brown received regular one-on-ones and guidance on interview processes, recruiting strategy, and external partnerships. - The team collaborated with Engineering, Design, Marketing, and other departments to improve the applicant experience. - She worked on Maker Week projects and Fignite, a program offering interview preparation to underserved people pursuing software engineering roles. ## Developing an HBCU Recruiting Strategy - Brown’s experience with Fignite inspired her main internship project: creating a strategy for recruiting HBCU students. - She conducted cross-functional meetings, held one-on-ones, and led brainstorming sessions to develop campus and virtual engagement plans. - The project allowed her to take ownership of work with significant potential impact. - Because both Brown and her grandmother attended HBCUs, the initiative had personal importance and addressed what she viewed as a broader lack of lasting relationships between technology companies and HBCU communities. Figma’s internship program gave Brown practical recruiting experience, meaningful ownership, and the opportunity to use her personal background to advance more inclusive hiring connections.

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FigmaSoftware EngineeringTechnical RecruitingProgram Management