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Figma
Figma
Apr 7, 2025

Release Notes 2025: April Edition | Figma

Figma - Release Notes 2025: April Edition | Figma

The live stream from Figma's Release Notes series highlighted several new features and updates aimed at improving user experience and collaboration in Figma Design, Fig Jam, and Figma Slides. Key updates include the introduction of Fig Pals, which are customizable creatures that can accompany users during their work. Accessibility improvements were made with new color contrast information in the color picker, enhancing design inclusivity. The annotation feature now allows designers to add annotations in design mode, not just in dev mode, and introduces annotation categories for better organization. In Figma Design, new features like collapse layers and inline corner radius controls were introduced to streamline workflows. Autoflyouts for fills, effects, and layout grids reduce clicks, enhancing efficiency. The ability to reorder modes and collections without breaking dependencies was also added, providing more flexibility in managing design systems. Figma Slides saw significant updates, including the ability to import/export PPTX files, play videos in the editor, and create components for consistent content across slides. Additionally, new cloud architecture icons were added to Fig Jam, and Figma's UI is now available in Spanish, expanding accessibility.

Key Points:

  • Fig Pals introduced for a fun, customizable work experience.
  • Improved accessibility with new color contrast information in Figma Design.
  • Annotations can now be added in design mode with new categorization features.
  • Figma Slides updates include PPTX import/export and video playback in the editor.
  • Figma's UI is now available in Spanish, broadening accessibility.

Details:

1. 🎙️ Welcome to Release Notes Live from London

  • This is the fourth episode of the Release Notes live stream, now broadcasting from London, designed to provide updates from Figma.
  • The event features a record number of new features being released live today.
  • Hosts Louis Orash and Alexi Denton, design advocates based in London and Paris, lead the session.
  • Oscar Nielson, a product designer, supports the event remotely with live demos, ensuring a comprehensive showcase of new developments.

2. 🎉 Introducing Fig Pals for April Fun

  • April marks the start of Figma's annual tradition of launching an April fun project, engaging the community with creative and playful initiatives.
  • The Fig Pals project is set to go live at the beginning of April, offering a unique experience throughout the month.
  • This initiative is part of Figma's strategy to foster community engagement and brand loyalty through interactive and entertaining projects.

3. 🔍 Figma's Accessibility Boosts and Design Enhancements

  • Figma introduced 'Fig Pal', a feature allowing users to customize virtual creatures attached to their cursor or toolbar, enhancing user engagement.
  • Customization options for 'Fig Pal' include changing the creature type and appearance, making the tool more enjoyable and personalized.
  • These virtual companions aim to increase user interaction and satisfaction, potentially leading to longer usage times and improved productivity.
  • While 'Fig Pal' is designed to make the workday more enjoyable, user feedback and engagement statistics would provide further insights into its effectiveness.

4. 🎨 New Features for Improved Design and Collaboration

  • Figma has introduced new accessibility features to enhance collaboration between designers and developers.
  • The color picker now includes a contrast checker with an icon that can be toggled to display color ratio and hex codes.
  • Real-time updates show if designs meet AAA or AA accessibility standards, with options for large text, normal text, or graphics.
  • Users can adjust colors with live feedback on contrast ratios and reset to accessible colors easily.
  • These updates ensure better accessibility, addressing a major concern among designers and developers.

5. 🛠️ Developer Mode: Enhanced Tools for Precision

  • The developer mode now includes an eyedropper tool that allows developers to sample colors directly from the canvas, simplifying the process of obtaining color values for design.
  • The eyedropper tool provides color values in HSB format, which can be directly copied to the clipboard, facilitating quick integration into development work.
  • Feedback toast notifications confirm successful color sampling and copying, enhancing user experience by providing immediate feedback.
  • A code syntax feature enhances efficiency by allowing developers to copy variable values with ease, reducing time spent on manual coding tasks.

6. 📝 Annotations and Measurements: Now in Design Mode

  • Annotations are now available in design mode, allowing designers to annotate directly while designing, enhancing the workflow efficiency.
  • The annotation tool and a measurement tool are located next to the comment tool, providing easy access to these features during design.
  • Annotations can highlight specific design elements, such as variables attached to parts of the design, making communication clearer for developers.
  • The measurement tool allows for pixel-perfect design transfer to developers, and measurements can be customized to display relative sizes like percentages.
  • Annotations and measurements can be toggled on and off, providing flexibility to focus on design without distractions.
  • A keyboard shortcut for toggling annotations will be available soon, enhancing usability.
  • Annotations are visible to design editors and developers, facilitating collaboration across teams.
  • The introduction of annotation categories allows for better organization, with colored labels for interactions, typography, and responsive design.
  • Custom categories can be created, offering tailored organization to fit specific design specifications.
  • Developers can filter annotations by categories in dev mode, allowing focus on specific design details like typography or interactions.
  • Improvements in scaling and zooming behavior make annotations resize smoothly with the design, offering a more pleasant user experience.

7. 🔄 Streamlining Layer Management

  • The 'Collapse Layers' function can be accessed via a keyboard shortcut (Option L) or directly from the layer panel for increased convenience.
  • This function helps in organizing layers by collapsing all layers except those nested in the selected section, enhancing clarity and reducing clutter.
  • Providing immediate visibility and organization, it allows users to focus better by minimizing distractions from numerous layers.
  • The feature also allows collapsing all layers to the topmost layer frames or layers without any selection, simplifying the workspace substantially.

8. 📐 Reducing Design Paper Cuts: Inline and Auto Flyouts

  • The introduction of the 'inline corner radius' feature eliminates the need for multiple clicks to modify mixed corner radius in Figma, enhancing user efficiency.
  • Previously, users had to repeatedly open a flyout to see and adjust individual corner values, which was time-consuming.
  • The new design allows users to edit corner radii directly in-line, and the system remembers the inline view preference, reducing repetitive actions.
  • This update significantly simplifies the interaction, saving time and effort in the design process.

9. 🔧 Reordering Variables: Flexibility in Design Systems

  • Figma introduced the 'autoflyyous' feature that automatically opens configuration settings for fills, effects, or layout grids, saving users from additional clicks and improving workflow efficiency.
  • Adding a fill is the most used action in Figma, and automating this step significantly enhances user experience, especially in design-heavy workflows.
  • The feature eliminates the need for users to manually open settings, allowing immediate editing of values such as x-axis, y-axis, and blur for effects, reducing friction in the design process.
  • This update is particularly beneficial for designers working on complex projects, where quick access to configuration settings can streamline operations.
  • User feedback has highlighted the increased speed and efficiency in project workflows as a major advantage of this feature.
  • While the feature addresses many workflow inefficiencies, ongoing user feedback will continue to shape its evolution, addressing any limitations.

10. 🌐 Expanding Figma Slides with New Functionalities

  • Users can now reorder modes and collections without deleting or breaking dependencies, enhancing flexibility in design systems.
  • Previously, changing the default brand in a collection required creating a new collection or deleting and recreating elements, which often broke system dependencies.
  • The new drag-and-drop feature allows designers to reorder elements in their design systems easily, reflecting changes live and improving workflow efficiency.
  • Reordering collections improves the consumption experience by making frequently used collections more accessible, reducing the time needed to find specific variables.
  • These updates allow design systems to remain structured, flexible, and adaptable to brand and product evolution.
  • The feature is rolling out gradually and will be available to all users by tomorrow.

11. 📊 Code Blocks and PPTX Integration in Slides

  • Figma Slides has been released out of beta and is now available for all users, enhancing accessibility across the platform.
  • New updates have been added, including the ability to integrate code blocks directly within slides, making it easier for developers and designers to present technical information seamlessly.
  • The integration of PPTX files allows users to import and edit PowerPoint presentations directly within Figma Slides, streamlining workflows for teams that rely on multiple presentation tools.
  • These updates are aimed at improving collaboration and productivity by providing more versatile tools within a single platform.

12. 🎥 Enhanced Video Playback and Animations in Slides

  • The integration of code blocks directly into slides has been implemented to streamline formatting processes. This allows users to paste code directly into slides, where it is automatically formatted and highlighted according to syntax rules, enhancing clarity and professionalism in presentations.
  • Users have the option to select a programming language from the sidebar, which customizes the syntax highlighting to match the specific language's conventions. This feature is particularly beneficial for presentations that require detailed code analysis or demonstration, making the content more accessible and understandable for audiences.

13. 🧩 Consistent Content with Components in Slides

  • Figma now supports importing and exporting PPTX files, addressing one of the most requested updates.
  • Videos in Figma Slides can now play directly in the editor mode, not just in present mode, enhancing editing flexibility.
  • Video playback controls such as scrubbing have been added to Figma Slides, allowing for more precise video management.

14. 🔢 Adding Slide Numbers for Better Navigation

  • Create components in Figma slides to ensure content consistency across multiple slide decks. This allows for easy updates and uniformity in design, saving time and effort.
  • Animate specific objects on slides using slide or fade animations to capture audience attention. You can adjust the animation speed to suit the presentation style, making your slides more dynamic and engaging.
  • Adding slide numbers can significantly improve navigation within presentations, helping both presenters and audiences to track progress and locate specific sections easily.

15. ⚡ Final Live Drop: Cloud Architecture Icons

  • Slide numbers can now be added to presentations, significantly enhancing navigation and allowing presenters to keep track of their progress effectively.
  • The updates are part of the general availability launch of Figma slides, enabling immediate and widespread adoption by users.
  • The introduction of slide numbers helps in maintaining audience engagement by providing clear reference points throughout the presentation.
  • General availability of Figma slides means users can now access all features without restrictions, facilitating seamless integration into their workflow.

16. 🎨 Refreshed File Browser and Visual Updates

  • A new pack of cloud architecture icons has been added to Figjam.
  • The icon sets include AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Azure, and Kubernetes.
  • These updates allow cloud architects and platform engineers to find exact icons needed for visualizing infrastructure.

17. ✨ Recognizing AI-Generated Connections with Shimmer

  • The Figma file browser has been enhanced with refreshed file cards and updated designs, improving the cohesiveness and making file types instantly recognizable for faster navigation.
  • A new shimmer effect for AI-generated nodes is introduced, allowing users to easily distinguish AI-created connections from those added manually through a subtle animation in the add interactions command.
  • These updates are significant as they streamline the design process, making it more efficient for users by reducing the time spent identifying file types and distinguishing between manually and AI-generated content.
  • For example, in collaborative projects where multiple team members contribute, the shimmer effect helps maintain clarity on which interactions were AI-generated, enhancing communication and reducing errors.

18. 🔠 Smart Symbols and Transition to UI3

  • Figma has introduced a feature that automatically converts specific character combinations into smart symbols, which increases design efficiency by reducing manual symbol insertion.
  • This feature allows designers to work directly within Figma without needing to copy and paste symbols such as copyright from external sources, enhancing workflow speed.
  • To utilize this feature, users must enable 'use smart quotes and symbol' in preferences, making it available across Figma design, Fig Jam, and Figma slides.
  • Smart Symbols are particularly useful in maintaining consistency and reducing errors in design documents, making them a valuable addition to the designer's toolkit.

19. 🔔 Last Reminder for UI Transition and New UI3 Features

  • The final date to transition from Figma's old UI (UI2) to the new UI3 is April 30th.
  • UI3, which was released last year, has been updated based on user feedback.
  • New updates to UI3 will be available on April 30th, and additional features will launch at the Config event in May.
  • Users are encouraged to switch to UI3 to access upcoming updates and features.
  • The UI3 design system file is available in the Figma community for download, allowing users to explore its components and variables.

20. 🌍 Launching Figma in Spanish

  • Figma's UI is now available completely in Spanish, making it accessible to a broader audience.
  • Users can change the language to Spanish by navigating to the help and resources menu in the bottom right-hand corner.
  • This launch is part of Figma's strategy to expand its products to more people globally.

21. 📋 Comprehensive Recap of New Features

  • Launched Fig Pals in April Funday update, available in Figma Fig Jam and Figma slides.
  • Updated accessibility contrast information and annotation categories in Figma design, enhancing usability for diverse user needs.
  • Added the eyedropper tool to the toolbar in dev mode, improving color selection efficiency.
  • Introduced collapse layers, inline corner radius controls, and automatic flyouts for effects, fill, and layout grids, facilitating streamlined design processes.
  • Enhanced organization with reorder modes and collections for variables, optimizing workflow management.
  • Released Figma slides with code blocks, PPTX import/export, video improvements, components, object level animations, and slide numbers, boosting presentation capabilities.
  • Introduced third-party shapes in Figjam and visual updates in the file browser, enriching user interface experience.
  • Arrival of smart symbols across all fonts and upcoming transition from UI 2 to UI 3, advancing design flexibility.
  • Launched Figma in Spanish, expanding accessibility for Spanish-speaking users.

22. 🙏 Closing and Gratitude

  • Expressed gratitude towards Figma team for continuous platform improvement.
  • Acknowledged contributions of co-host Alexia and guests Oscar and Hugo.
  • Encouraged audience feedback through surveys to improve future live streams.
  • Announced upcoming live feature drop at Config event.
  • Invited audience to learn more about products through available resources.
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