Over the last 11 months, there’s been one particular tool that I’ve used almost every day – and that tool is Figma. I’ll also preface this blog by saying that I’m not a designer, and although Figma is technically a design tool, there’s plenty of value a rookie like me can get out of it.

You may have heard me drop the name every now and then in some of my blogs and videos, but if not, Figma at its core is a UX/UI design tool. It allows you to mock up anything from a simple outline of a website or phone app by using a mixture of lines and shapes to even putting together a fully-designed app with all the interactions and button features included. The free version (which is what I use) is extremely generous and allows for all the design features. It comes in both a desktop version and a web-based version, and all your work is stored in their cloud, so you don’t need to worry about having multiple files scattered across your computer.

Now it’s probably already sounding a little overwhelming considering what the tool is capable of achieving, however, it doesn’t mean it can’t be used for basic things either. And when I refer to ‘basic things’ I’m even referring to tasks that aren’t necessarily related to design. Although it’s a design tool, it has plenty more functions.

In this blog, I’ll explain the five uses I have for Figma. It’s an incredibly important tool, and I’d be truly lost without it, which is why I feel it deserves its own blog dedicated to it.

1. Planning and creating social posts

If you look online, there are a tonne of tools that can be used to plan and create posts for social media. The reason I’ve chosen to use Figma over other tools (such as Canva), is that I feel I have a lot more freedom and customisability with it. Canva is a fantastic tool and is super easy to use, however, it can get a little slow with the more pages you have in your file. Plus the costs can add up if you’re on the premium plan.

One thing I used to do was to mock up certain designs in Canva so I could get used to the different templates that were available. I would then try to semi-reproduce these designs within Figma. The benefit of this was that it gave me a good opportunity to really learn how to use Figma, and now that I’m more proficient with it, I don’t really need to turn to Canva.

2. Mocking up my initial app designs

As I mentioned in the blog, Going from Idea to App, I used Figma to draft my initial concept for the app. I actually ended up going beyond just the initial concept – with Figma, I was able to add certain interactions to my design. To help you visualise it, if someone was to receive my design file on their phone, they would be able to click through my design and scroll around in the app. It would function just like a real app, however, it was just the design that was being interacted with.

3. Collaborating with my UX/UI designer

Once I had mocked up the first concept for the app, I hired a UX/UI designer to take the designs to the next level. The designer, David, used what I had and recreated a beautiful version of the app, complete with the correct fonts, colours, shapes, layout, interactions etc. The important part about this step was that we wanted the app design to be as perfect as possible as this is what the app developers would later use to build out the actual app.

Even to this very day, David and I are constantly throwing around different ideas and design concepts in Figma. Due to the tool having an online collaboration feature, David and I can create a workspace where we can both see and comment on what the other person is working on in real time.

4. Doodling, planning and drafting content

As I’ve been playing with Figma for quite some time now, I find that it’s just easier for me to use it for a lot of my content-based work. This could involve tasks such as planning content for Journalfy’s website, tweaking logos, creating mood boards to help inform the feel I want for the website and illustrating any ideas that I want to show someone.

By using Figma for the majority of these tasks, it means that I don’t have different files for Word or Google Docs, or even Excel, floating around in different locations. Instead, I create new projects in Figma and just add everything in there. The handy part about it being cloud-based is that I can be doing something from my computer and if I need to later review it from my phone it’ll be there, ready to do. The same thing if I’m working on one computer and switch to another. It’s a very easy way to keep my work saved, synced and reduce any worrying that files might get lost.

5. Adjustments to the physical journal

As I’m still learning to become more proficient at design tools such as Adobe Illustrator or Adobe InDesign, I find myself using Figma for tasks such as making suggestions for one of the designers, Sunil, when it comes to adjusting the physical journal. If I get a new idea or I want to illustrate something, I can import parts of the Adobe design file into Figma and simply add my changes to it so that Sunil can later implement them on the official design file.

I have found this particularly useful when it comes to playing around with various concepts for the cover, or when thinking about how the packaging for the journal will be. What would usually take me a long time to put together in Adobe Illustrator I’m able to do in a matter of minutes in Figma. It’s not like I’m creating a final product, however, it’s more than sufficient when it comes to getting a concept out of my mind and onto the computer screen.

As might be able to tell, I’m quite a big fan when it comes to using Figma. One of my favourite things about this tool is that although it’s extremely powerful and has a tonne of features that I’ve never even heard of or used, I can still use it for a wide range of tasks and the learning curve has been quite gentle (fast but gentle). Once you know your way around Figma, it becomes very intuitive to use.

If you are serious about using Figma, I’d recommend downloading it to have a play around. There are a tonne of resources out there to help you through any issues you may have. One thing that helped me a lot was completing a Udemy course on Figma. This gave me a solid foundation and has allowed me to continue building my skills with the tool.