skills

Figma

The tool I've used for the longest, enjoy using the most, and don't see being phased out anytime soon. While where it sits in my process is different today than it was a few years ago, it's still an essential tool that I continue to develop my skills with.

The tool that continues to be crucial

I've been using Figma since the very start of my career, while early on it was just for basic wireframes while I focused on user research. In the last 2 years I've been developing my end-to-end skills as a product designer, and now it's laughable that I thought I knew how to use the tool before then! I went from not knowing what auto-layout was, to building design systems and handing off hi-spec designs to developers.

It's mostly been the centre of my workflow, and I genuinely love using it. New tools are progressing alongside it now, and the way I use Figma is changing. It's doing less of my work overall, but the work it's doing, in my opinion, is still the most crucial.

From the holy grail, to the bridge

Figma used to span the whole process. Now Claude speeds up the start and the end, and Figma is my preferred tool for the middle. After concept exploration in Claude, I take my ideas into Figma and mock up a few hi-spec screens. From there, Claude Code fleshes out the rest of the pages and the interactions, giving me a workable prototype in a tenth of the time it used to take. Once testing is done, I go back into Figma for the final designs.

Skills I bring to the table
  • Building and maintaining design systems
  • Component libraries and variants
  • Auto-layout and responsive frames
  • Full-spec, dev-ready design files
  • Design token setup and structure
  • Prototyping interactions and flows
  • Object-oriented UX (OOUX) mapping
  • Working with developers via Dev Mode