Figma: a shared workspace for website design

Figma is a design tool we have used to prepare website interfaces and discuss them before development. It provides a shared workspace for layouts, visual components and interactive prototypes.

Design in one place

A designer can combine shapes, text, colours and images into individual screens. Reusable components help keep repeated elements such as buttons and navigation consistent across a project. That makes it easier to adjust a design without independently rebuilding the same element on every page.

Collaboration and feedback

Working in a shared file lets the people involved review the same design. Comments can be attached to the relevant part of a screen, giving a discussion more context than an isolated email or screenshot.

For a client, this makes early decisions easier to follow: the layout, content hierarchy and important actions are visible before those screens become a functioning website.

From layouts to a prototype

A prototype links screens together to demonstrate a proposed journey. It helps us discuss navigation and the order of steps, although it does not replace testing the finished application.

Figma is a useful design and collaboration tool, not a substitute for good design decisions. If you would like to see how design fits into a project, read about working with devBoys.