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The Figma prototype challenge: 15 tips in 15 days | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

figmaprototypinguser-testinginteractive-componentssmart-animatemicrointeractions

The Figma prototype challenge is a 15-day learning series designed to help designers move from basic prototyping to advanced, high-fidelity interactions. It emphasizes experimentation, user testing, developer handoff, and critique, using Figma’s newer features—especially Smart Animate and interactive components—to create more realistic prototypes with less wiring.

Building a Foundation with Smart Animate

  • Smart Animate creates animated transitions between screens by matching layers with the same names.
  • It can be combined with preset transitions such as slide and push.
  • Matching layers with Smart Animate is useful for interfaces such as tab navigation.
  • Preserving consistent layer names between screens is essential for the animation to work correctly.

Creating Reusable Interactive Components

  • Interactive components define interactions and animations between variants within a component set.
  • Instances become interactive immediately in prototype mode.
  • Component-level interactions reduce the size and complexity of larger prototypes.
  • They are particularly useful for demonstrating microinteractions.

Nesting Components for More Complex Behavior

  • Interactive components can be nested inside one another.
  • Nested components allow elements such as list items to contain their own built-in interactions.
  • This reduces the number of prototype links required between component variants.
  • The approach makes complex interfaces easier to maintain and reuse.

Applying the Techniques to a Mobile Prototype

  • The first week concludes by combining Smart Animate, matching layers, interactive components, and nesting.
  • These techniques are used to build a mobile prototype with interactive bottom navigation.
  • The challenge progresses from foundational transitions to increasingly complex, component-based interactions.
  • Figma Community files accompany the daily challenges so designers can follow along or create their own version.

The practical recommendation is to learn prototyping incrementally: start with Smart Animate, preserve layer structure carefully, then introduce interactive and nested components to create sophisticated interfaces with fewer connections and more reusable behavior.