Why We Transitioned to Figma for Digital Design

At Karsh Hagan we’re always looking for better, faster, and more efficient ways to execute digital design work for our clients. With the rise of work from home, collaboration is more important than ever.

To stay on the cutting edge of digital design, we’ve transitioned from Invision and Sketch to Figma– an integrated design tool that allows multiple users to update work in real time.

Figma is a web-based software that’s the best-of-breed for designing websites, apps and overall interfaces. Figma has many benefits, but we made the decision to use it for these key features:

1. IT’S CLOUD BASED, SO IT WORKS ANYWHERE

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Figma is cloud based, meaning it works on every operating system. No matter where you are or what computer you have, you can access any file as long as you’re connected to the internet.

Your files will always be up to date with autosave. Figma even stores version histories, so nothing is ever lost. There’s no file swapping, and everyone has easy access to the latest information. If you don’t have internet, don’t worry. You can edit offline, and the changes will be reflected once you’re connected to the internet.

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2. IT’S COLLABORATIVE

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Collaboration is hard. But with Figma, you and your team can edit the same file just as you would in Google Docs. You can see other users’ cursors as well as click on their icon and follow their view of the project. This means that there is more transparency and less deviating from an initial design concept. Your team can jump into the most up-to-date file at any time to make sure it’s headed in the right direction.

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3. IT ALLOWS FOR SIMPLE INTEGRATION INTO YOUR WORKFLOW

Not only does Figma allow you to comment directly on the file or prototype, but it also directly links to Slack. You’ll never miss a comment again! Plus, you can add editors and viewers to any file. Anyone you send the link to will have access to edit, view, or leave comments. This helps project managers see what stage a project is in rather than having to check-in over Slack. This is also helpful for developer hand-off.

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4. IT AUTOSAVES ALL VERSION HISTORIES

Figma automatically saves your progress as well as version histories, so no data is lost, and you can go back at any time. Sometimes the first decision is the best decision!

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5. IT STREAMLINES THE DESIGN PROCESS

If we’re designing something on a website where we repeatedly use an element, such as a button, we can make what’s called a Component. The benefit of a Component is that wherever we use that button - say we get all the way to the final round of a website and need to change its color - we can go to the Master Component, change the color, and it will automatically update across the entire site.

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6. DESIGNS CAN BE PROTOTYPED RIGHT IN FIGMA

There’s no longer a need for Invision or a third-party system to set up a Figma prototype. In Figma, prototyping is straightforward, and the prototypes can be distributed like any Figma file; anyone with the link can view and comment on the prototype.

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7. YOU CAN COLLABORATE WITH WHITEBOARDS

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Within Figma, you can make a design file or create a FigJam file. FigJam is a digital whiteboarding collaboration tool that’s great for both creatives and non-creatives. FigJam makes it easy to brainstorm, create diagrams and mind maps, collect ideas, and host other types of interactive sessions. The singular canvas guarantees that everyone’s looking at the same work. Tools like sticky notes, shapes, text, and emojis make collaborating within the whiteboard simple. Whiteboards also come in handy when brainstorming with clients for things like mind mapping.

IN SUMMARY

We made the switch to Figma to increase our efficiency, improve the quality of our work, and reduce the overhead of multiple design software packages. And using the seven features highlighted in this article, we recently completed our very first project almost entirely on Figma! It worked great, and we’re currently working on documenting the entire process and improving our workflow to deliver.

We hope this helped explain our shift to Figma, and we encourage others to make the change as well. And if you’re looking for digital design help, we’re ready to collaborate on any design project you might have in the future!

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