We are in the situation of the industry that no one knows what they want! I think it is too soon to talk about fall of Figma. However, we are all agree that we soon face some changes in UX. but my personal opinion is we need UX and product more than anytime. after the current AI hype by mid 2025 all companies face this reality.
This was an interesting read. I've never used Figma but am aware of it from continual mentions on social media. (It wasn't around when I was in school and I had transitioned out of digital design by the time it was on the scene.)
I'm surprised to hear there's already other tools that are looking to replace it! It seems like things move so quickly and so much is proprietary, I am a little concerned about our future as designers when tools continually change leaving files inaccessible. What will design history and research look like in the future when tools come and go, cloud access is lost, or previous app versions are no longer available?
And, a small personal side note: my letterpress work was surprisingly invited onto the Figma stage this year through a typography presentation by Elliot Jay Stocks. Quite an honor for me to even be asked, but very cool for this antique typography practice from rural Indiana to make it into such a contemporary design space. What a crazy world.
Great job! And you didn't even talk about the price of Figma, which makes big corporations look at it as a monopoly. When Penpot will be an equivalent solution, prices might go down for Figma, or corporations will switch tools. Don’t you think ?
For those of us who have been around for a while, this is no different from every previous generation of design tools, and really of most software in general. A million years ago, we had things like Director, Flash, Dreamweaver, or Axure. They all seemed briefly like The One Tool, then got bloated with too many features, they needed to serve "the enterprise" in order to grow, or they'd make some faddish technology choice that turned out to be the wrong guess in the market. All these products just get composted under the next ones that are a little better and a little worse, that's the entire point of the software industry. Over and over and over. (Except for Excel, which is eternal, sadly.)
I think seeing Figma as somehow attached to your identity as a designer, or seeing it as complicit somehow in the horrible job market is really just confirming a story that the software industry desperately needs you to confirm: your tools are what make you worthy and capable. Just take what you can from them while you can, and be willing to dump them quickly when you can.
Great piece.
We are in the situation of the industry that no one knows what they want! I think it is too soon to talk about fall of Figma. However, we are all agree that we soon face some changes in UX. but my personal opinion is we need UX and product more than anytime. after the current AI hype by mid 2025 all companies face this reality.
Have you seen paper.design?
This was an interesting read. I've never used Figma but am aware of it from continual mentions on social media. (It wasn't around when I was in school and I had transitioned out of digital design by the time it was on the scene.)
I'm surprised to hear there's already other tools that are looking to replace it! It seems like things move so quickly and so much is proprietary, I am a little concerned about our future as designers when tools continually change leaving files inaccessible. What will design history and research look like in the future when tools come and go, cloud access is lost, or previous app versions are no longer available?
And, a small personal side note: my letterpress work was surprisingly invited onto the Figma stage this year through a typography presentation by Elliot Jay Stocks. Quite an honor for me to even be asked, but very cool for this antique typography practice from rural Indiana to make it into such a contemporary design space. What a crazy world.
Great job! And you didn't even talk about the price of Figma, which makes big corporations look at it as a monopoly. When Penpot will be an equivalent solution, prices might go down for Figma, or corporations will switch tools. Don’t you think ?
For those of us who have been around for a while, this is no different from every previous generation of design tools, and really of most software in general. A million years ago, we had things like Director, Flash, Dreamweaver, or Axure. They all seemed briefly like The One Tool, then got bloated with too many features, they needed to serve "the enterprise" in order to grow, or they'd make some faddish technology choice that turned out to be the wrong guess in the market. All these products just get composted under the next ones that are a little better and a little worse, that's the entire point of the software industry. Over and over and over. (Except for Excel, which is eternal, sadly.)
I think seeing Figma as somehow attached to your identity as a designer, or seeing it as complicit somehow in the horrible job market is really just confirming a story that the software industry desperately needs you to confirm: your tools are what make you worthy and capable. Just take what you can from them while you can, and be willing to dump them quickly when you can.
Ha ha Axure! I have always and still use Sketch and Balsamiq. Haven't missed a step.
I missed this comment and just saw this after reading your comment on the Design Misfits-article, and this fits so well together!