Figma Showcase
Showcasing the changes that matter
Role
Design Strategist
Timeline
2024 (Mar - May)
Skills
Strategy Design
Product Design
Introduction
The current product isn't optimized for that.
Collaboration is Figma’s selling point, but it only supports the end-to-end process from the designer’s POV
When design processes are deeply integrated into the entire product cycle and a designer’s workflow intertwined with stakeholder feedback, the responsibility of design falls on everyone’s shoulders.
A simpler experience, optimized for communicating details that matter
Reimagining the Figma experience for a new audience opens new channels for growth through underserved jobs and markets. What would an experience that onboards non-design parties without the fuss look like?
Introducing
A sharing mode that lets designers hand-off the review-ready designs to third-party members without the mess.
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Align the entire team with fewer distractions and more discussions.
See the design changes
that are actually relevant
Stakeholders want to feel included in the process without being overwhelmed by the foreign interface. By allowing designers to choose the designs ready for review, Figma Showcase helps teams cut through the noise and spearhead productive conversations.
“Many of my co-workers quit the tool because they don’t know how to navigate themselves in a design file.”
- Ya Ching, “Figma Training for non-designers”
Navigate intuitively with
pinned sections and annotations
Inconveniences from navigation manifest in different scales, but are experienced by nearly every user no matter their expertise level. Annotations and pins introduce another level of clarity to the handoff process by allowing file recipients to be able to navigate and understand the design changes by themselves.
Meet designers where they are:
Create tickets to prioritize tasks
Effective communication is a two-way street. Designers often lack a centralized feedback space, with comments scattered across different pages and tools like Notion, GitHub, or Asana. Tickets improve the current commenting system by helping stakeholders leave addressable feedback and tasks in the design space.
How can I help Figma grow their revenue by 50%?
Showcase is a the result of a business strategy that takes full advantage of the recent merger fall-through (Figma x Adobe), forecasting a big opportunity for the company’s continued growth.
To understand the full picture,
let’s backtrack to the beginning.
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- Figma Founded
The company that defined collaborative design
Figma, a design tool built for collaboration, has a mission: driving design toward a future where it’s accessible to everyone. Figma’s two flagship products, Figma Design and FigJam, empower users to create digital experiences and collaborate seamlessly on brainstorming sessions.
A look at recent events
From my perspective, the talk of Adobe’s acquisition of Figma came as suddenly as the deal’s termination in December 2023. The UK's Competition and Market Authority halted the merger due to potential negative impacts on market competition.
A merger with Adobe could have helped Figma scale its operations to a new height, but this setback can also open doors to growth in other innovative directions.
Research
Investigating the unmet needs of Figma users
I relied on user research, interviewing + observing users across disciplines, and engaging with the Figma community in design forums to identify trends (well, more like lurking).
While I won't delve into every detail here, I have documented my findings and analysis elsewhere. Feel free to reach out if you're interested in discussing my process further!
1) Showing work in Figma is a rather manual process
Figma’s collaborative features are beloved, but moments of friction exist between the software and its users.
Product Designer (BT) marks her updated designs and page with [hand off]. She uses a lot of annotations when working with new engineers to make sure changes are specified in detail. Each page was filled with drafts, and she scrolled around the file to show me the examples.
2) There's a lack of empathy for file recipients
Many non-design users are overwhelmed by the unfamiliar features on the interface. Internal workshops to onboard stakeholders on how to navigate file pages and software features are quite common...but it doesn’t need to be.
With the tightly intertwined relationship between collaboration and design today, a UI that’s intuitive, but only to designers, is no longer enough.
3) Presentations alone aren't enough
Slides are a straightforward way to communicate changes but are static and time-consuming to create. Instead, real-time design collaboration is what fosters excitement and engagement, inviting quicker and more rapid changes.
To summarize, Figma’s collaboration capabilities are excellent but could be expanded to support stakeholders better.
How might we...
- Reduce software complexity?
- Onboard third-party users without overwhelming them?
- Make design file organization intuitive for first-time users?
Key insights
Business Goals
Creating value for multiple ends
Showcase aims to accelerate
the way everyone works
For Stakeholders
Cut through the noise and understand the design changes that are actually relevant.
For Designers
Communicate the changes in design to stakeholders and implement feedback efficiently.
The long-term vision
Transforming Figma into an ecosystem
Figma has a significant growth opportunity by addressing the needs of roles surrounding the designer.
Showcase is a first step concept towards creating a frictionless collaboration system by onboarding their partners onto the same space and page (literally).
Conclusion
Notes on moving forward
Risk and critiques
While the need for simplified handoff and communication is evident, Showcase is just one concept among many possible solutions.
Transition friction
Introducing new features comes with a learning curve and may disrupt established workflows. Larger teams are likely to have difficulty transitioning away from the software stack and workflow already set in place.
Designer adoption
New features also mean new responsibilities – designers will need to learn a set of new best practices for marking and annotating showcase-ready designs.
Thank you :)
Feel free to flip through my slides too!
Psst, you've reached the end...how about another story?
