figmaJun 24, 2025

Canvas, Meet Code: Building Figma’s Code Layers | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

Figma’s code layers bridge visual design and web development by making React code behave like editable objects on the Figma canvas. They preserve the canvas’s flexibility—moving, resizing, nesting, duplicating, and comparing layers—while enabling advanced interactions, APIs, shaders, and forms. The approach combines a new canvas primitive, an integrated web IDE, AI-assisted coding, and multiplayer collaboration. ## Reconciling Design and Code - Figma’s canvas is spatial, flexible, and designed for rapid experimentation. - Code is traditionally organized in a hierarchical filesystem with strict syntax and structure. - This difference raises workflow questions about duplication, source of truth, and how canvas objects should map to files. - Figma identified three major challenges: - Integrating code layers with Figma’s existing ecosystem and components - Building an accessible but powerful browser-based IDE - Supporting collaboration between designers and developers ## Code as a Canvas Material - Code layers are implemented as a new Figma canvas primitive. - Like regular layers, they can be: - Moved, resized, and reparented - Nested inside frames - Used in layouts and components - Duplicated and arranged side by side - Option-dragging creates a fork of the source code, making experimentation comparable to creating Git branches but faster and more visual. - Figma chose React because its reusable component model aligns with Figma components. - React props connect to Figma component properties, allowing users to edit code-defined values through visual controls such as toggles, sliders, and dropdowns. ## AI and Direct Code Editing - Code layers can be created and modified using AI, including the model behind Figma Make. - Users can also edit the underlying code directly when they need complete control. - Designs can be converted into code layers with a single click, after which developers or designers can add behavior and interactivity. ## A Web-Based IDE - Figma built an integrated coding environment rather than requiring users to leave the canvas. - The editor uses CodeMirror as its extensible foundation. - CodeMirror supports features including: - Syntax editing and extensions - Themes - Find-and-replace - Line numbers - Figma customized default editor behavior to fit its own systems, including replacing CodeMirror’s undo and redo with Figma’s multiplayer-aware undo stack. Code layers are designed to make code feel like another creative material: structured enough for developers, but flexible enough to support the visual experimentation that defines Figma’s canvas.

multiplayer-collaborationreactcode-editorcodemirror+2

figmaMar 26, 2025

What Makes Designers and Developers Happy at Work? | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

Designers and developers are generally becoming happier at work: 41% report higher satisfaction than the previous year. Based on a survey of 943 product builders, Figma identifies organizational design strategy, hybrid-work policies, leadership, and cross-functional collaboration as major influences. The article argues that clear expectations, empowered teams, and stronger designer-developer partnerships can improve workplace satisfaction. ## Design’s Place in the Organization - Designers are more satisfied when design is treated as a strategic partner rather than a service function. - Strategic design encourages greater customer focus and gives designers more influence on product direction. - Designers can strengthen this position by balancing exploration with execution. - Wise recommends a “now, next, future” model: - 70% of effort on current deliverables - 20% on upcoming work - 10% on longer-term possibilities ## Company Policies on Hybrid Work - 97% of respondents work remotely at least part of the time; more than half are fully or mostly remote. - One-size-fits-all hybrid policies can create logistical problems, such as overcrowded offices on certain days and empty workspaces on others. - Organizations should establish clear, predictable expectations around where and when employees work. - Companies may need to choose a coherent model—fully remote, mostly in-office, or a deliberately structured hybrid approach. ## How Leaders Empower Their Teams - Managers influence happiness by understanding what support employees need and ensuring good work is recognized. - Effective leadership focuses on results rather than monitoring hours or physical location. - A flexible management philosophy can give employees autonomy while maintaining accountability for the quality of their work. ## Effective Collaboration and Communication - Among highly satisfied designers, 69% rate collaboration with developers as effective or very effective. - Developers with higher job satisfaction also collaborate with designers more frequently. - 84% of designers work with developers at least weekly. - Whiteboarding and collaborative design tools support the real-time, iterative nature of modern product development. - Despite frequent collaboration, 91% of developers and 92% of designers believe their processes could improve. - Misalignment remains a significant issue, including gaps in designers’ understanding of engineering constraints. Organizations can improve satisfaction by positioning design strategically, creating practical work policies, empowering managers and employees, and investing in better designer-developer collaboration.

multiplayer-collaborationfigmacollaborative-designwhiteboarding+1

figmaJan 22, 2024

Improving Performance with Incremental Frame Loading | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

Figma redesigned its prototype player because loading entire documents caused slow startup times, high memory use, and frequent mobile crashes. Its incremental frame loading strategy loads only the currently visible frame and nearby reachable frames, then fetches more as users navigate. This improves time to interactive while reducing the amount of prototype data held in memory. ## Problems with Full-Document Loading - The original system loaded the entire prototype document into memory before displaying the starting screen. - As Figma files grew to include more pages, design systems, and component variants, prototypes became substantially larger. - Mobile devices, particularly iPhones, often exceeded their memory limits, causing the operating system to terminate Figma. - Large prototypes could take minutes to load, creating both performance and stability problems. ## Loading Frames Incrementally - Figma defined “incremental frame loading” as loading only the prototype content needed at a given moment. - The initial load includes: - The first frame. - Frames immediately reachable through prototype interactions. - When a user navigates to another frame, Figma loads that frame’s adjacent destinations. - Previously loaded frames remain available so users can navigate backward without reloading them. - This approach reduces both startup time and peak memory consumption. ## Adapting Multiplayer Document Sync - Implementing partial loading required extending Figma’s real-time multiplayer system to synchronize only selected portions of a document. - The system had to support querying specific subtrees instead of always synchronizing the complete file. - A client sends a `query` identifying a document node. - The server returns a `reply` containing the requested subtree, including its ancestors and descendants. - Later modifications to the subscribed content are delivered through `changes` messages. ## Handling Dynamic Document Changes - The protocol continues to work while designers edit the source file in real time. - Changes to subscribed nodes are sent directly to clients. - If a node is moved under a subscribed node, the client is informed about the newly available node. - If a subscribed node is moved outside the client’s subscribed descendants, the client receives a removal update. - This keeps the partially loaded prototype consistent with the live document while avoiding unnecessary data transfer. Figma’s solution combines navigation-aware preloading with fine-grained real-time synchronization. Loading only the frames users need provides a practical way to make large prototypes faster and more reliable, especially on memory-constrained mobile devices.

multiplayer-collaborationmemory-optimizationincremental-loadingreal-time-sync+2

figmaDec 6, 2023

Figma’s 2023 Handoff | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

2023’s tensions—especially between rapid AI adoption and renewed human connection—reinforced Figma’s belief that collaboration is essential. The company frames its year-end “Handoff” as a reflection on how teams can work together more continuously, rather than treating work as a series of disconnected transfers. Its major launches, including Dev Mode and FigJam AI, are presented as tools for reducing barriers and making collaboration more inclusive and iterative. ## A Year Defined by AI and Human Connection - 2023 was characterized both by AI’s rapid expansion and by people reconnecting after the pandemic. - Figma argues that these developments are not necessarily contradictory: technology can support more meaningful human collaboration. - The company emphasizes that people need one another to interpret challenges and understand the world around them. ## Reimagining the Handoff - In American football, a handoff is a coordinated pass between teammates; in product development, it has often meant throwing work “over the wall.” - Designers and developers traditionally work from different perspectives, despite being deeply dependent on each other. - Figma advocates for “multiplayer” work: shared spaces where people can solve problems together and understand one another’s needs. - A successful handoff should be an ongoing conversation, enabling faster iteration and better products. ## Dev Mode and Developer Collaboration - Figma launched **Dev Mode** to provide developers with a developer-focused view of design files. - The feature is intended to give developers the information and tools they need at the appropriate stage of the workflow. - Figma describes Dev Mode as a way to eliminate the traditional handoff barrier and make design-development collaboration more continuous. ## AI as a Collaborator - Figma’s new AI features in **FigJam** are designed to accelerate ideation. - The goal is not to replace human interaction, but to make meetings and collaborative moments more productive and meaningful. - Figma connects this approach to “lowering the floor and raising the ceiling”: making products more accessible while expanding what experienced users can accomplish. ## The 2023 Handoff Collection The article introduces several additional reflections and features from Figma’s year, including: - The year’s top ten product launches - How product managers brought AI features to market - Questions for rediscovering enthusiasm for technology - Guidance for more effective meetings - New workplace vocabulary - Professional career pivots - The enjoyment and culture surrounding mechanical keyboards Figma’s practical conclusion is that strong collaboration requires more than efficient workflows. Teams need shared spaces, continuous dialogue, inclusive tools, and enough practice and collective experience to play to one another’s strengths.

multiplayer-collaborationfigmaaifigjam+2

figmaSep 19, 2023

Work Has Changed. Here's What We Might Do About It | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

Distributed work has permanently changed how teams collaborate, but many organizations have not yet adapted their processes. Figma’s research finds that product development is strained by three forces: more participants, greater geographic distance, and more simultaneous work. The strongest teams counter this complexity through transparency, shared understanding, and intentional connection. ## Distributed Work Is Now Permanent - In a Figma survey, 75% of designers in Europe and Asia said they work from home more often than before the pandemic. - U.S. work-from-home days are now five times higher than in 2019. - Teams meet in person less frequently, making remote collaboration a lasting feature of modern work rather than a temporary adjustment. ## Product Development Faces Widespread Barriers - Forrester Consulting found that 9 in 10 respondents experienced barriers during product development. - Six in ten reported at least one of the three most significant obstacles: - Lack of alignment across teams - Difficulty making decisions - Lengthy development cycles - These problems existed before the pandemic but have been intensified by distributed work and faster product-release expectations. ## Three Forces Increasing Workplace Complexity ### More People Involved - Product development now includes designers, engineers, data specialists, security, content, marketing, product management, and executives. - Broader participation brings more expertise and enables global collaboration. - It also increases the number of perspectives, dependencies, and decisions that teams must coordinate. ### More Distributed Work - Physical distance can create emotional distance and make it harder to build trust. - Teams lose some of the informal coordination that came from working together in the same office. - Digital tools provide real-time editing, shared files, and multiplayer collaboration, but can also produce notification overload, fragmented discussions, and confusing comment threads. ### More Work in Progress - Companies are expected to release new versions of websites, applications, and digital products more frequently. - The growing volume and speed of work can allow high-performing teams to achieve more, while leaving others overwhelmed and frustrated. ## What Separates Effective Teams - Successful collaboration requires more than simply placing everyone in the same digital file. - High-performing teams distinguish themselves through: - Greater transparency - A shared understanding of goals and work - Intentional efforts to maintain connection and trust - These behaviors help turn distributed collaboration from a “cooperative mess” into productive teamwork. Teams should treat distributed work as a permanent operating model and deliberately invest in visibility, alignment, decision-making, and human connection rather than relying on digital tools alone.

multiplayer-collaborationfigmaproduct-designcollaboration+1

figmaJun 19, 2023

Introducing Shortcut letter from the editor | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

Shortcut is Figma’s redesigned blog, created to tell richer stories about the people, processes, and ideas behind new products. Its central philosophy mirrors Figma itself: collaboration, experimentation, and the way user input transforms tools over time. The new experience aims to make content more immersive, discoverable, and inspiring rather than static or one-directional. ## A Blog Built Around Collaboration and Play - Figma compares product development to games, where people create “house rules” and shortcuts to improve shared experiences. - This idea reflects Figma’s history as a web-based, multiplayer design tool. - Although collaborative editing initially seemed risky, user behavior and community feedback helped shape Figma’s evolution. - Shortcut will showcase how teams and users bring collaborative design to life through stories about process, craft, and problem-solving. ## A More Immersive Content Experience - The blog redesign replaces a static reading experience with a more dynamic and visually engaging one. - New articles cover: - Design systems - Engineering - Product design and development - Company culture - Behind-the-scenes work - Technical explorations - Examples include stories about Linear responding to a DDoS attack, font failures, and how Figma’s engineers draw inspiration from gaming. ## Improved Navigation and Visual Identity - Readers can sort content by topic and browse curated special collections. - Shortcut features new illustrations and motion work from a range of independent artists. - The redesign treats editorial design, animation, and artwork as essential parts of the storytelling experience. - Figma also invites writers, designers, and other creatives to collaborate with its editorial team. ## Inspiration Through Shared Ideas - Shortcut is built around “input for output”: one idea should lead to another, with inspiration moving in both directions. - The blog aims to encourage readers—and Figma’s own teams—to experiment, share ideas, and have more fun. - Stories range from curated series such as the Future of Design Systems to opinion essays, technical deep dives, and unexpected examples like a band using a Figma slide deck to relaunch its career. Shortcut positions Figma’s blog as an extension of its collaborative product philosophy: a place where stories, disciplines, and perspectives connect to inspire new possibilities.

multiplayer-collaborationfigmadesign-systemsproduct-design+2