Several plans coexist. There is a free plan, limited in the number of files and collaborators, enough to discover the tool or for occasional use. Beyond that, paid plans unlock more features and collaboration at the scale of a team or an organisation. Since the terms and the prices change regularly, it is better to check the current offer on Figma's website.

Figma

Q: What is the difference between Figma and FigJam?

Figma Design is used to design components, interfaces and prototypes. FigJam is a collaborative online whiteboard, designed for workshops, brainstorming and idea mapping. One produces the mock-up, the other helps you think it through beforehand, as a team.

Q: How does Figma make handoff between designers and developers easier?

Figma links the mock-up to what the developer needs to integrate it. Thanks to Dev Mode, the space dedicated to developers, every element of a mock-up exposes its specifications: dimensions, colours, typography, values that can be used directly in CSS. The developer retrieves the useful information without the designer having to document it by hand.

Q: Can Figma be used to manage a design system?

Yes, it is even one of its major uses. Figma makes it possible to build, document and distribute libraries of reusable components, shared across several files and several teams, with update tracking.

Q: Does Figma pose a data sovereignty problem?

It is a point to watch for organisations subject to sovereignty requirements, particularly in the public sector. Figma offers file hosting in Europe, in Frankfurt with backups in Dublin, but this option is reserved for its highest-tier plans and does not cover all data. Above all, as an American company, Figma remains subject to the CLOUD Act. There is no European alternative on a comparable scale yet, even if open source solutions are making progress.

Concept

The collaborative tool for design teams

Figma is the leading collaborative design tool for UX/UI teams. It's an ecosystem of SaaS software built for collaborative work, where several members of the same team can work simultaneously on the same Figma file. Designers can mock up, prototype and document. Project managers can comment. And developers can retrieve the elements and the measurements of the design. In short, Figma lets you share interfaces in an online environment accessible to everyone.

Figma's strength also lies in its prototyping feature, which lets you create interactions and run user tests as close as possible to the final development.

What is Figma for?

Designing pixel-perfect interfaces and prototyping them to run realistic user tests
Maintaining and sharing a design system with reusable components
Easing the handoff between designers and developers thanks to the variables, similar to Design Tokens, introduced in 2023.
Collaborating in real time with all the stakeholders of a project

Why work in Figma?

Centralising the whole design process in a single tool (wireframe, high-fidelity UI mockup, prototype, comments…)
Versioning and documenting the changes to a design system
Letting non-design teams (product, dev) access the mockups without a paid licence

Figma is a powerful tool, central to the industry. Its lead in the field is considerable and makes it an essential tool in our line of work. We are aware of the risk that this dependence on a proprietary tool imposes. Figma offers file hosting in Europe, in Frankfurt with backups in Dublin, but this option is reserved for its highest-tier plans and does not cover all data. As an American company, Figma remains subject to the CLOUD Act, which can require it to disclose data regardless of where it is stored. We haven’t yet found a European alternative comparable to Figma, but we keep digging into the question.

In recent years, Figma has evolved beyond being a simple design tool. New applications have appeared alongside Figma Design to cover different parts of the Design Thinking method:

FigJam: a whiteboard for running remote collaborative workshops, such as journey-mapping workshops.
Figma Slides: a presentation tool, similar to PowerPoint and Google Slides, for preparing presentations. Its advantage is that it makes it easy to embed Figma Design prototypes in a presentation.
Figma Buzz: for creating quickly replicable communication templates, such as social media posts.
Figma Make: for building a functional prototype more quickly from our designs, with the help of AI
Figma Draw: AI-generated vector illustrations to illustrate our mock-ups or serve as inspiration for moodboards.
Figma Weave: an AI-assisted workflow for graphic creation, offering more adaptability through a “node” link system
Figma Motion: for creating micro-animation and more advanced interaction design directly within the Figma Design interface

Is Figma free?

What is the difference between Figma and FigJam?

How does Figma make handoff between designers and developers easier?

Can Figma be used to manage a design system?

Does Figma pose a data sovereignty problem?

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Related methods

Prototype

More or less advanced animation of the screens to present a dynamic journey to users and gather feedback.

Wireframe

A mockup with no graphic elements, describing the zones and essential components an interface should contain.

Design system

A design system is a component library and the governance that comes with it. What sets it apart from a design kit, and when it becomes necessary.

Design Kit

The design kit, or UI kit, brings together a product's components in a design file: buttons, forms, cards, navigation, icons.

Interaction design

Interaction design defines what a user can do and how a product responds to actions: flows, states, transitions, feedback.

Interface design

UI design shapes the visual layer of a product: layout, colours, typography, components. It turns the experience into tangible elements.

High-fidelity mockups

High-fidelity mockups give the future screens their final form, to hand over to the project teams for integration.

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