Figma Reviews

“about the software”

Pros

This is an excellent cloud based tool for design, prototyping and similar work. My overall experience with it has been amazing. It also lets us manage permissions during collaboration which makes it reliable from a security standpoint as well.

Cons

It does have a few issues, like occasional lag and that still needs to be improved.

“Swift workflow”

Pros

Right from the start, I was surprised by how lightweight and fast the software feels, not just on desktop but in the browser too. The new dark mode update is excellent and the plugin ecosystem adds even more ways to speed up the work. It's very user friendly, with solid design and prototyping tools and one of the most valuable parts for me is being able to inspect CSS code and export SVG and CSS from my designs. That makes handing designs over to development much more practical. The recently added auto layout is also a big plus since it saves a lot of time and I really enjoy the clean, clear interface.

Cons

The biggest challenge is organization. In the Components view, the software displays components by group or Frame and if a group is placed inside a Frame, it gets treated as a Frame. Because of that, you need to keep things very well organized for the Components view to work properly and for the workflow to stay efficient. A better structure through hierarchy and prioritization across components helps especially if you want to preserve the hierarchy inside a design system. Another inconvenience is that if you rename a component while in Components view, that change is not reflected in the Layers view in a very clear way. It's better to switch to Layers view when renaming so you can see the layer itself along with both the old and new names.

“top-notch plugins”

Pros

Best in its class for real-time remote collaboration. It's highly customizable, with a huge selection of plugins created by the the software community. On top of that, it's very cost-effective: all features are free for personal use and even the work license is still very affordable. It also performs really well both in the desktop app and in the browser.

Cons

A few features still feel missing especially video and audio integration directly within designs. The file management system could definitely be simpler and handling access across different teams and accounts can get confusing.

“reliable tool”

Pros

Working in the software feels very easy. It's a reliable vector-based design tool, they keep rolling out new features, it runs right in the web browser and the collaboration features are really impressive.

Cons

Since it runs in a web browser, it can feel a bit laggy at times.

“account recovery is a nightmare”

Pros

It likely has some useful features but I honestly haven't used it enough to give a fair opinion on them.

Cons

The software isn't a central part of my day-to-day work but clients and teammates occasionally send over designs or wireframes for me to review or comment on. At some point I created a free account for that purpose. Since I'm a freelancer and have worked with a lot of different clients over the years some of them provided business Gmail accounts while I was working with them. Because of that, I can't clearly remember exactly when the account was created, who I may have collaborated with or which teams I may have joined. As far as I know, I only made a couple of personal designs in the software over the last few months. Recently, my business setup changed and the G Suite profile with the custom domain that I originally used for the software is now just an alias under my new company's G Suite. As a result, signing in with Google no longer works. Trying to get help from support through the original email has been completely pointless. The support contact came across as if I was attempting to gain fraudulent access to something highly sensitive and I simply can't answer the questions they're asking in order to unlock the account. Some of those questions include the account creation date or estimated month and year, the approximate number of .fig files owned by the account, the exact names or URLs of 3 to 5 .fig files, the names of other collaborators on teams or files and which file or team we worked on and even the last four digits and expiration date of the payment method.

“Collaboration that just clicks”

Pros

Sharing work with teammates is really easy and collaborating with co-workers feels smooth.

Cons

I think the overall functions is better than Sketch.

“powerful design system toolkit”

Pros

A great tool to use! Even on the free plan, it comes with a wide set of features that supports different kinds of design work whether that's creating social media content making illustrations or building prototypes for websites and apps. When it comes to Design Systems, it really stands out because creating components and variants feels very accessible and the autolayout feature makes day-to-day design work much more efficient.

Cons

Something that would really improve the software is built-in version control so there would be no need to move older component versions to another page or delete them manually. It would also be very helpful to have more native accessibility features, such as contrast checking, available directly in the platform instead of relying on plugins.

“feature-packed”

Pros

What I really enjoy about this app is how many features it gives you while designing applications. It offers a lot of tools and options which makes the whole design process much more capable and enjoyable.

Cons

The part I like the least is that when you want to preview your design, it opens in another web page instead of letting you view it directly on your phone or as a website.

“great for website prototyping”

Pros

Getting started with the software felt very accessible and it was simple to figure out what I needed without much effort. When I began using it, I had almost no trouble locating tools or using the features needed for basic website prototyping.

Cons

The plugin side of the software is a bit confusing to figure out and it doesn't feel like that part is promoted very clearly. I've only used one plugin for icons and similar assets, mainly because I'm not really sure what else is available. I've had that same plugin for so long that I honestly forgot how to go about finding new ones.

“auto-layout speeds up design”

Pros

One thing I really love about the software is its auto-layout feature. It has made designing new websites much easier and faster for my work.

Cons

A few features especially auto-layout, can be a bit difficult to learn at first.

“Lovely themes”

Pros

Using it feels very accessible and the themes, plugins and templates add a lot of value to the overall experience.

Cons

It could use more drag-and-drop options to make rapid prototyping faster and more convenient.

“clean UI”

Pros

Coming from other UI design tools, the software feels pretty accessible to use. The overall feature set and user experience are quite similar to Adobe XD so it feels familiar right away. It's been a really positive experience so far.

Cons

At this point, I'm still fairly new to the platform so I haven't run into any real issues yet. Up to now, everything has been working really well for me.

“bringing prototypes to life”

Pros

Feels very design-focused and it really lets a prototype come to life in a way that's easy to visualize and present.

Cons

One downside is that it can look a little too polished. When I show clients a project in the software, they sometimes assume the work is already finished even when it's still in progress.

“Team collaboration that clicks”

Pros

Collaborating with other designers and engineers feels very easy in the software. Working inside the platform helps keep everyone on my team aligned and clear on what's needed.

Cons

One downside is that new features are often released with very little notice. I can recall a few times wanting a specific feature, only to later realize it had already been added.

“perfect for web design”

Pros

It makes life a lot easier when creating apps, websites and design assets and it feels much simpler to use than something like Adobe XD.

Cons

The interface feels a bit weak to me and somewhat too basic compared with other competing tools.

“accessible design with community support”

Pros

It feels light, easy and very accessible to use and the community also adds a lot by sharing useful resources and functionalities.

Cons

It doesn't handle image editing the way Photoshop and other dedicated image editors do.

“Feels like a real app”

Pros

It does an amazing job without needing any code at all and presenting with it feels very close to using an actual app.

Cons

It performs really well in most areas but adding sound while simulating an app is still something it lacks.

“good for use”

Pros

Getting started with the software feels very natural and the huge library of community-made plugins really changes the game.

Cons

There are still some odd bugs now and then, like selecting the wrong object or auto layout not behaving the way it should.

“Neat workflow”

Pros

Using the software feels very accessible and it's simple to get comfortable with. The project presentation looks clean and organized and the commenting feature makes collaboration really convenient.

Cons

One downside is that because it's a web-based application, you need to be online whenever you want to use it.

“easy and friendly”

Pros

The software's interface is really well put together and I've enjoyed using it for both website and app prototyping. The toolbox is simple and quick to pick up especially since it feels similar to other design tools so switching over doesn't take much effort and you can get started right away. Compared with many bigger alternatives, the software also offers a free version which is a huge help for self-learners who want to practice industry-level design work while following the guides they provide.

Cons

After exploring this tool for about two years, it still surprises me with unique features I keep discovering. That said the real-time prototype view can become very time-consuming when an app has a lot of screens and it ends up feeling too slow when trying to preview how everything works. I also think they should add more screen-size optimization options specifically for app previews.