Figma - Deep Dive: Inside the Figma File with Tammy T (Product Designer, Figma)
The speaker emphasizes the significance of organizing Figma files to streamline design processes and improve communication with developers. By structuring files with clear sections for different stages of the project, such as explorations, reviews, and context, designers can ensure that all team members, including developers, have a comprehensive understanding of the project. This organization reduces the need for frequent meetings and clarifications, as everything is documented and easily accessible. The speaker also highlights the use of detailed documentation to explain design decisions, interactions, and specific requirements, which helps in maintaining consistency and accuracy in the final product. Additionally, the use of a 'silent crit' allows for inclusive feedback from all team members, ensuring that all voices are heard without the dominance of more extroverted individuals.
Key Points:
- Organize Figma files with clear sections for different project stages to improve clarity.
- Document design decisions and interactions in detail to reduce misunderstandings.
- Use 'silent crit' sessions to gather inclusive feedback from all team members.
- Maintain a context page to explain the purpose and goals of the project.
- Create a to-do page for seamless project handoff to other designers.
Details:
1. 🧠 The Art of Organized Figma Files
- Organizing Figma files is crucial for clear communication and understanding within a team.
- Every page in a Figma file should be well-thought-out to address specific problems and goals.
- Designers should make an effort to clearly outline what is being done, the reasons, and the objectives, which helps onboard team members effectively.
- Explicitly defining different states, variations, and interactions (such as click and hover) enhances clarity and usability of design files.
2. 📂 Structuring Figma Files: A Deep Dive
- Organize Figma files from top to bottom with the most important sections visible first to assist new viewers in quickly understanding the project.
- Create initial sections labeled for critiques or check-ins and explorations, and progressively add new pages as the project evolves.
- Maintain a dedicated 'cover' page at the end for miscellaneous items not currently needed, ensuring they don't clutter active sections.
- Have a section labeled 'Explorations' to systematically organize different rounds of work into separate pages, making it easier to track progress and iterations.
- Include a section for reviews (crits, check-ins, product alignment) ordered by date and type to streamline feedback processes.
- Top sections should contain essential context, to-dos, or timelines, ensuring critical information is highlighted for team members.
- Upon project completion, the top section should display the final specifications and comprehensive documentation of the work done, facilitating future reference and handovers.
3. 📝 Mastering Detailed Design Documentation
- Providing an overview and detailed design specifications for both web and mobile versions helps developers understand the project context better.
- Creating a comprehensive documentation including a table of contents, updates, and main components ensures engineers can access all necessary information without additional context.
- Being explicit about why a feature is being built and detailing transitions between screens can prevent miscommunication.
- Highlighting unique spacing requirements and interactions like 'on click' or 'on hover' ensures precise implementation.
- Detailing edge cases, such as empty states or error states, and handling localization issues are essential parts of the documentation process.
- Keeping documentation updated with new versions and including changes with dates ensures that teams are always working with the most current information.
- The thorough documentation approach reduces the need for constant communication, thus saving time and minimizing the number of meetings.
- The detailed documentation and regular updates provide clarity, enabling engineers to work more efficiently and accurately.
- Regular communication and feedback loops with developers during the documentation process help in refining the approach and ensuring all necessary details are captured.
4. 🔍 Contextual Clarity in Design Projects
- A context page is created to explain the purpose of a project, including a deck outlining the problem and solution, which aids new team members in understanding the project's background without extensive meetings.
- An audit of notifications was conducted due to the lack of a centralized design file, involving examining files in Figma, accessing internal GitHub, and reviewing the code base to identify notification styles and types.
- The context page helps in minimizing meetings by providing stakeholders with clear information about the project's business value and objectives.
- Information from internal reviews is used to create presentations for leaders, explaining what is being built, why, and the expected outcomes, which is then shared on the context page for broader access.
5. 📊 Effective Check-ins and Critiques
- Check-ins involve presenting what has been worked on in the last week, identifying areas of uncertainty, and sharing a 'brain dump' of current thoughts and challenges.
- These sessions are held with the core project team, including PMs, engineers, and designers, to discuss uncertainties and collaborate on solutions.
- Critique sessions (Crit) are primarily for designers, focusing less on context as all team members are familiar with the project, allowing for more informal and direct feedback.
- Check-ins are structured around recent progress, key challenges, and collaborative problem-solving, while critiques are centered on design-specific feedback and improvement.
- In check-ins, PMs lead discussions to align on project goals, engineers provide technical updates, and designers offer insights on user experience.
- Critiques allow designers to receive targeted feedback from peers, fostering an environment of continuous design improvement.
6. 🗂️ Storytelling and Design Explorations
- Explicit communication of project details and feedback expectations can prevent misalignment during design critiques, ensuring all team members understand the project goals.
- Highlighting pros and cons helps designers understand the thought process and reuse existing feedback, reducing redundancy and enhancing creativity.
- Providing a framework for design evaluation ensures alignment with project goals, such as maintaining a simple, clean layout, thus fostering a focused critique session.
- Silent critiques encourage contributions from introverted team members and prevent dominant voices from overshadowing others, promoting inclusivity.
- Documenting comments during critiques allows for easier follow-up and identification of valuable feedback, ensuring actionable insights are captured.
- Structured storytelling in presentations can guide feedback to be more focused and relevant, improving the overall critique process.
- Explorations allow for creative freedom and iterative design without constraints, facilitating innovation and the development of unique solutions.
7. 📅 Visualizing Project Timelines in Figma
- The timeline component helps visualize projects spatially, aiding in prioritization and structuring tasks.
- Using a visual timeline in Figma allows for better planning, such as scheduling project reviews or engineering milestones by specific dates.
- Visual timelines facilitate working backwards from deadlines, providing a clear view of the time available for different project phases.
8. 🔄 Seamless Handoff and To-Do Lists
- Creating a comprehensive to-do page for project handoff enhances continuity by brain dumping the current state, thoughts, and remaining tasks, ensuring the next person has full context.
- A detailed to-do list allows for smooth transitions, especially useful when a designer goes on vacation, enabling others to quickly get up to speed with project status and future plans.
- To-do lists serve as a single reference point, consolidating verbal explanations and providing clarity on next steps, even when initial documentation is sparse or incomplete.