Advice and Guidance on Reaching an Advanced Level with Figma
Introduction
Over the years working in UX/UI, Basic knowledge alone is not enough to design truly effective interfaces. To design a truly effective interface, using and thinking correctly about the tools you have will enable you to design better interfaces that foster more valuable customer experiences. Figma has been my tool of choice. Advanced courses equip designers to organize their knowledge and enhance their techniques. So, if you are looking to level up from beginner to advanced level, here is my advice.
Know Auto Layout and Responsive Design
Auto Layout is enabling, and at its core, essential. For example, a product card component can be designed to automatically switch between desktop, tablet, and mobile layouts. Instead of maintaining three separate files, updating the component once ensures that changes are reflected everywhere. This efficiency is only possible with a full understanding of Auto Layout.
Use Variables and Tokens
The modern design systems to advance to a higher level in Figma need variables. For example, it is possible to design a system where a single toggle switches between light and dark mode. Another variable set controls the spacing density (compact vs. comfortable). Developers see these immediately as design tokens so when handing off to the developer, it's easier for them. It's right in front of them. What used to require duplicating files, is now a single adaptable component design system.
Work with Components and Variants
As a beginner you could create dozens of separate buttons/check boxes etc. Best practice is to create all possible states of a component — for example, 10 variations of a checkbox such as Checked, Unchecked, Disabled, and Active. After learning and implementing advanced variants, the designer is able to condense all of them into a single component state. It is clean, maintainable, and easily updates anywhere in the design system.
Build Realistic Prototypes
The more your prototype feels like a true product, the better your team will understand the idea. A shopping flow can be designed with sticky “Buy Now” buttons, hover effects that highlight the product image, and an expandable search bar. The client was able to click through and truly experience the app. For them, it required no imagination, which made approval almost instantaneous.
Always Be Thinking About Accessibility
Color contrast, visual hierarchy, touch targets, etc., are the basic principles of good UX — they are not just details! A contrast audit on a landing page showed that the initial color palettes were not compliant with WCAG. Updating the design to meet accessibility standards not only enabled people with visual impairments to consume the content, but also improved readability for all users. Accessibility makes your product more usable. Full stop.
Learn Shortcuts and Optimize Your Process
Shortcuts and process optimizations can seem mundane, but they can save you hours over time. Manual grouping and alignment once consumed a large share of design time. Now, it takes a couple hotkeys and a couple seconds. That adds up to hours saved throughout the course of a project.
On AI
AI plugins can be used to generate text and images, such as placeholder product descriptions and profile avatars for prototypes. In many cases, these tools provide a useful starting point, though the results are not always relevant and may require more time to fix than to create manually. The takeaway: AI is valuable for speed and exploration, but should be applied selectively - particularly in contexts where accuracy is less critical.
Final Thoughts for New Figma Users
If you're new to Figma, don't get sidetracked with cool animation or plugins. You should focus on the key aspects - Auto Layout, components, text styles, and color styles, so you can reinforce your confidence and knowledge, and then start to add Variables, Tokens, and advanced prototyping techniques.
Prototyping
Learning Figma more deeply is not a matter of discovering hidden tricks, but of using existing features effectively. It is about creating flexible systems, developing succinct prototypes for real life, and working in ways that developers and users will appreciate.
What do designers get from these ideas?
They won't need to clone elements, and build more scalable design systems.
They will save unlimited amounts of time, once they've learned Auto Layout, Variants, shortcuts, etc.
They will create prototypes that their stakeholders and engineers will understand immediately.
They will utilize Variables and Design Tokens to easily manage themes and/or spacing.
They will be able to utilize accessibility principles automatically, so interfaces become usable by everyone.
They will understand when AI accelerated their work and when it wasted their time.
They will shift from developing "really nice looking screens" to designing solutions that are ready for production and build.
