How to Create a Design using Figma?

Figma is among the most cutting-edge software for editing images that is taking the world of design. What makes it appealing is that it’s totally free to download and use.

If you’re not yet familiar with this app on the web or are looking for advice on getting the most out of this application, you’re in the right spot.

This guide for beginners, designing mobile interfaces for apps, designing prototypes, and creating social media posts, will outline some of the tutorials and videos in one location. They can be used to master everything you have to learn about Figma without the need to spend long hours on Google and then become frustrated.

Let’s get started

What is Figma?

Figma is an online graphic editing and design software for users. It can be used to complete all sorts of graphic design work, including wireframing websites, designing mobile interfaces for apps, designing prototypes, creating social media posts, and much more.

Figma is distinct from other editing tools for graphics. The reason is that it operates directly with your web browser. This allows you to start designing on any device or platform, without the need to purchase multiple licenses or download software.

Another reason why designers are enthralled by this application is it’s because Figma has a great free plan that lets you make and save three active projects at a time. It’s enough to let you learn about, play around with and develop small-scale projects.

How to Utilize Figma?

As we said earlier, Figma is a web-based application. The only thing you need to get started using the application is a computer on your desktop or laptop computer with an internet browser that is reliable and has an internet connection. You can then visit the Figma website to sign up for a free account. You can begin designing your ideas from the moment you sign up.

Figma offers a beginner-friendly editor that lets you design your own designs by using templates that have been created. There are a lot of sources to learn how to make use of Figma. 

Steps to Create a design using Figma

Process of designing a system for creation

According to those who participated in the most recent survey on the condition of Design Systems in 2020 Building a design system could land you in debt due to two reasons:

Insufficient plan

Inability to comprehend the scope of the design system

The most important aspect to be aware of is that designing a system isn’t an application that you can complete one time and think it’s perfect for the rest of your life. The creation of a long-lasting, effective design system requires an amount of planning and effort.

First, you must define the people who will be in control of designing the process and determine the method they’ll be carrying out. This can be done in a variety of ways, including single or centralized teams. Additionally, you will need to identify the company’s goals and determine how you’ll gauge the success of the design process. This will include the costs and time required, as well as the priority areas, and they plan to carry out the goals.

In our instance, since there are only two designers in the design team, it was decided to have just one designer will take over the design system and will devote a particular period of time per week to the ongoing maintenance of the system. In addition, when we define an OKR for every quarter we consider that there should be some task that is related to our design process whether to improve, update or remove specific elements. So we make sure that an amount of time is devoted to maintaining our design system in good order.

Tool definition

Before you begin to create any item, it is essential to determine where you’ll be doing the designs as well as where you record the designs. It is crucial to record the best practices for elements, views, components and patterns. Documentation should also include guidelines and code snippets, as well as the reasons behind design choices Dos and Don’ts, and so on.

You can decide to work everything within Figma (i.e. you can create modules, components, etc. as well as the documentation of the entire designing system) or you can do it independently using the UI Kit for an application for design, such as Figma, Sketch and Adobe XD while you work on the documentation of the design system on a different platform.

Many platforms are capable of handling documentation. Many of them are completely free. There are four major kinds of tools for documentation:

• • Design tools  Use design tools to design any digital screen and organize all of your assets digital. Additionally, you can utilize them for sharing designs (e.g. exporting images, accessing online, as well as a shared library). These tools, such as Sketch, Figma, Adobe XD as well as Framer X, aren’t designed to provide general documentation. It’s interesting to note that Framer X integrates design and development by including codes.
  • Documentation tools provide publicly accessible websites that have the ability to control versions that anyone can access to find information. The majority of software is designed for developers and offers options for hosting and showing codes. Since there’s no interface with the design tool, artists must to create (and change) images of their designs and manually (re)place them on websites. The most common examples are GitBook, VuePress, Fractal and Confluence.
  • Design documentation tools like Frontify, zero height, Nuclino, Lucid, and Bynder are just a few of the examples of design tools. The layouts they use are superior for displaying branding and design. Certain of these tools integrate with your design software to keep your design software up-to-date with the latest changes is simple. In our situation, we utilize zero height in order to explain usage instances, combinations, values as well as others. Then, we can use the UI toolkit in Figma.

• Custom platforms You also have the option of designing an entirely unique platform. This will give you more flexibility in what you can accomplish. However, it requires higher effort, as well as more technical expertise and is not able to synchronize with your design tools (unless you’re a highly proficient programmer who is willing to design your own plugin). The Material platform from Google is an illustration of a custom-built platform.

It is evident that every tool comes with its own unique list of strengths, features and weaknesses. Hence choosing the best tool is dependent on your needs. So, what else are you able to ask yourself? Do you utilize Sketch, Adobe XD, or Figma for your design creation? Are you working in close collaboration with the developers? Are you looking to integrate marketing into your plan? Or would you prefer to utilize either a dynamic or static design method?

Conduct a design audit

Explore through all the designs that have been created to date and snap screenshots. Classify them into various categories like navigation and drop-downs as well as headers etc. Separate them into subcategories like buttons states. Then, look over the data you have already gathered and look for patterns and inconsistent items. 

• Make screenshots of the various components that make up your product. Check out the various properties of your product, such as the help page as well as internal tools, various applications, etc.
• Utilize Figma as well as Google Slides to organize your images or print out each one and put them on foam-core boards.
• Check each category and note gaps and areas to improve.

Define basic design elements

It is essential to begin your design process with the fundamentals, which are the basic elements for your design system. The design elements form the fundamental elements of a user interface. The first step to create an effective design system is to establish the elements that make up its foundation. Make sure you are at the lowest point of your hierarchy of components. In the future, you’ll use these elements to build your components.

Create a list of the basic components you believe your design system must-have. There are many checklists on the web. Don’t be worried if you spot things you don’t know how to define or you didn’t think about defining.

Each design is unique. You don’t need to adhere to all the components you’ve read about on the lists. Use them as a source of sources of inspiration for your design process.

In our instance, we’ve used the checklist that you can download from this webpage The checklist is still employing all the components on the checklist.

Based on the information you find from your research, decide on what you want to do next. If you aren’t sure about structures, colours, patterns icons and so on. It is possible to define the elements that are essential to achieve greater uniformity. 

Here are a few examples:

Grid

It is important to determine the layouts you are most comfortable with and then modify the layouts you have. For instance, if your firm is not familiar with using grids, the components might have been created with dimensions that don’t appear exactly the same when developed because you chose the wrong grid.

You’ll need to find the viewports that your customers prefer and build your designs around this information. In the next step, you’ll need to decide on the type of grid you will use based on the type of viewport. You will need to determine by working with the developers. There isn’t a single right solution.

Colors

A third and essential element: is the colors used by the brand. It may sound silly however, many businesses have different variations of the same color simply by setting it but never sharing the color with other members of the staff. Therefore, it is essential to determine the colors of the brand including the primary, secondary, and neutral tones, as well as the other colors used for illustration, etc.

Spaces

Another essential element to be defined is the space. If we don’t define the spaces we’re planning to utilize, our design will comprise an innumerable number of different spaces, with no logic among them. Therefore, if we can define the spaces in advance, our designs will be more uniform.

 

Establishing Design Principles

I was thinking it might be beneficial to establish principles for a design that would help me make my design decisions (this could form part of a style guideline in the form of a Design System).

Simple

Awareness of what is required. Give sufficient information to be able to understand the situation.

Meaningful

Careful consideration of animals, humans and the natural world when making content. Utility and purpose will be more crucial than the latest trends.

Flexible

Flexibility to learn new methods of doing things and to change with time.

Figma is designed to enhance Teamwork in Design

The use of Figma for any period of time will reveal the advantages of this collaborative tool live. It helps teams stay on track and encourages transparency crucial when developing the design system to support various disciplines. Figma is simple for everyone to utilize on any platform, and lets teams share work with Brisk Logic and libraries in a short time.