Last week, our designers attended Figma’s Config 2024 conference in San Francisco. They spent two days attending talks, workshops, and networking with fellow designers – gaining valuable insights and practical skills.
At the conference, Figma introduced exciting new launches, products, and features.
In this blog, we will share 4 key releases that we plan to adopt and implement into our app development process because these updates are just too promising to overlook and will for sure enhance our app design and development.
1 Figma AI – Streamlined Design Workflow and Creativity
Every designer aims to speed up their process and simplify tasks. Here are our favorite AI Figma features that will maintain the flow of our designs, helping us move from the initial draft to the final app product faster by automating repetitive tasks.
→ Visual and AI-Upgraded Asset Search
With Visual Search, we can locate what we need by describing it or uploading an image. It finds exact matches or similar designs in your file – significantly reducing the time spent searching for the right design or component name.
→ Automatic layers renaming
Will enhance our file organization and prepare it for developers with just a single click.
→ Generating designs from text prompts
This feature will accelerate project kick-off by creating initial drafts based on our descriptions, including UI layouts, themes, colors, component options, etc.
→ Making instant prototypes
This will allow us to quickly create interactive prototype interactions between our designs with just a few clicks, speeding up and simplifying the process of building prototypes.
Keep in mind that this feature will be free for all users during the beta period (which runs through 2024), but usage limits may be introduced afterward. Currently, you can access these tools by joining a waiting list through Figma’s help menu. Just click on 'Join UI3 + AI Waitlist'.
2 Figma Editor UI3 – More Approachable, Adaptable, and Agile Interface
We've been using Figma for a while, and it has become more complex with additional features. The new UI redesign will simplify navigation and give us greater control over the interface, with panels that can be resized and collapsed. We were really impressed by how it reduces distractions and highlights our work while keeping essential tools easily accessible.
This update will certainly speed up our workflow in Figma with its improved functionality and navigation, allowing us more time to focus on the actual design work.
3 Updated Dev Mode – Making the Design-To-Development Process Seamless and Faster
We have been big fans of Dev Mode since its release because it provides a single working environment with a seamless transition from design to code. This has significantly reduced our project timelines, allowing us to launch apps faster.
A crucial step in app development is when designers review designs that are ready for development. The new view will allow developers to see a list of all designs in a file, including their design statuses such as 'Ready for Dev', 'Changed', and 'Completed' via notifications. And with a Focus view, developers will be able to pinpoint specific designs prepared for development and limit distractions, enabling them to inspect design layers, review version history, and utilize standard Dev Mode tools.
Plus, the Code Connect feature enables to integrate component code directly into Dev Mode. This will ensure consistent use of the correct code, whether integrating existing components or adding new ones from a UI kit.
All of this will make it easier for our designers and developers to communicate what has changed and what is ready – ensuring clarity and alignment while preventing confusion and oversight of crucial details in the development process.
4 Improved Features
Better auto layout, responsive mode for the prototype viewer, and FigJam pages – all are now more organized, responsive, and offer a better overview.
However, what excites us the most are the UI kits implemented within Figma such as iOS and iPadOS 18 by Apple, Material 3 Design Kit by Google, and Simple Design System by Figma. And each UI kit supports Code Connect.
In short, integrating UI kits into our app development will eliminate the need to search for components across different design systems. This will enhance efficiency, ensure design coherence, speed up prototyping, and simplify the whole design-to-development process.
Next-Level Design Delivery with New Figma Releases and Updates
Figma has been our go-to collaborative design tool in app development for years. And our design team is always on the lookout for updates that enhance efficiency and communication with our developers. The latest releases from Figma's Config 2024 promise to deliver just that.
After learning so much at Figma’s Config 2024, we can't wait to start using these new features to make our development process faster and better, delivering the best apps we can.
