This is what really empowers content to be considered earlier on in the process, rather than an afterthought to be added into the design later on. This allows you to quickly express how you’d like a design to be altered, or try your hand at creating a wireframe from scratch. If you learn how to make shapes and manipulate text in Figma, you’re already speaking a visual language. This speeds up onboarding and lessens the learning curve because so much day-to-day work happens inside Figma files. If an entire team or organization is using a certain software, hiring managers will love to hear you’re versed in it, too. With one click, you can follow your teammate around the file, which makes for quick navigation and seamless review.īeyond the benefits that come from the inner workings of the tool, learning Figma can lead to some incredible benefits for the UX writer role in particular. Figma takes this a step farther by giving you the ability to “observe” another user. Similar to some online collaboration tools, like Miro, you can see everyone else’s cursor moving across a page, so you can watch design happening in real time. You can also read all comments via the right-hand panel clicking on one opens it in situ so you know exactly what everyone’s talking about. If you tag a teammate, they’ll be notified in the file, or via email or Slack depending on notification preferences. It allows any stakeholder-especially those unfamiliar with Figma-to leave comments on the area they’d like to refer specifically to. This can be your best friend if you’re working in a file and find you’ve horrifically messed up something that a designer was working on. You can see who else has been working in the file, what they changed, and you can even revert back to previous versions if you need. These features will bring you closer to both the work in progress and the designers. My favorite facet is its instant collaboration tools. That’s the game-changer, but Figma makes your work life easier day-to-day. This avoids the frustrating scenario UX writers too often still find themselves in: trying to replace filler copy or lorem ipsum text with UX copy and struggling to write within the confines of a design created without a writer’s input.īy being in the same place at the same time as the designer-across the entirety of the design cycle-we can plan for copy needs ahead of time and get closer to the UX decisions that require input from both writer and designer. When we add it to our UX writing toolbox, there’s no need to wait for designers to send over a file. This not only gives UX writers a seat at the table, but the instruments to make choices and provide direct feedback and input. And it helps take UX writers a step further: we have a better ability and more tactical approach to getting involved in the design process early on.įigma places us in the same (visual and remote) room as the designer.

Image courtesy of the Figma Blog Why learn Figma?įigma has been revolutionary for design collaboration.

Many folks working in content have become self-taught Figma aficionados because taking the time to master the essentials has made their work easier-and their role on the team more effective-in the long run. However, there are numerous benefits to learning the basics. It’s powerful, but can be daunting to grasp on first (and even fifth and sixth) use.īecause many of us have little to no background in visual arts or graphic design, Figma is not usually prioritized as a skill for writers, and we’re not usually asked if we’re proficient. It’s a fairly all-encompassing design tool-there’s a lot to learn. If you haven’t had much experience with it yet, Figma is a web-based software that combines comprehensive design manipulation tools with expansive collaboration features, and even some basic prototyping functionality. No doubt you’ve heard your design counterparts talking about it, and maybe you’ve viewed wireframes or dabbled a bit on the page yourself. Figma has taken the UX design community by storm over the past couple of years.

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