Six Memos for the Future of Digital Creation | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)
The article presents six Figma “memos” about the future of digital creation in 2025. Drawing on the tradition of influential workplace memos, it argues that documenting observations, strong opinions, and emerging opportunities can stimulate dialogue and change. The themes range from creative coding and broader definitions of design to emotional differentiation, handmade websites, and generalist careers. ## The Memo as a Tool for Shaping the Future - Figma frames the memo as a concise way to communicate ideas, critique strategy, and encourage organizational change. - The article references influential examples, including Bill Gates’s advocacy for graphical interfaces and Stewart Butterfield’s “We don’t sell saddles here” memo for Slack. - Memos can be strategic, metaphorical, playful, or reflective documents that preserve how thinking develops over time. - Figma’s six contributors use the format to examine trends across design, development, product, writing, analysis, and community work. ## Developers Should Embrace Creative Coding Again - Modern browsers now support capabilities that often exceed those available in conventional design tools. - Developers are encouraged to move beyond templates and standardized production workflows. - The memo calls for renewed experimentation with the web as a creative medium. - Creative coding is presented as a way to explore the browser’s full expressive and interactive potential. ## Expanding the Definition of Design - The second memo argues for a broader understanding of what design encompasses. - Its inclusion reflects the article’s wider focus on how digital creation crosses traditional professional boundaries. ## When to Leave the Product Roadmap - The third memo examines when teams should move beyond planned roadmap work. - It suggests that product development may require responding to unexpected opportunities rather than following predetermined priorities exclusively. ## Emotion as a Competitive Advantage - The fourth memo identifies emotion as an emerging source of competitive differentiation. - As digital products become increasingly similar in function, how they make people feel may matter more to their success. ## Making Space for a Handmade Web - The fifth memo advocates preserving room for distinctive, human-made experiences on the web. - It contrasts this idea with increasingly standardized, templated, and automated digital production. ## The Rise of the Generalist - The final memo focuses on the growing importance of people who work across disciplines. - Its inclusion reinforces the article’s view that future digital creation will depend on collaboration between design, development, product, writing, and other fields. The article’s practical recommendation is implicit: observe emerging patterns, write down strong ideas, and share them. Memos can turn informal workplace thoughts into conversations that influence products, teams, and the broader direction of digital creation.