Figma announces massive redesign with AI

Figma is announcing several unreleased features at its Config conference today, including a major UI redesign, unused generic AI tools to backup populations and build projects more easily, and integrated slideshow capability.

Let’s start with the redesign, which aims to “lay the foundation for the next decade,” according to a weblog post. You’ll see things like unused toolbars, rounded corners, and 200 unused icons. As part of the design refresh, the company wanted to “focus Canvas less on our UI and more on your work” and create something that is accessible to the untapped consumer generation, yet useful to Figma experts. .

Figma says this is the company’s third “significant redesign” since Figma’s closed beta creation. The unused preview is running as part of a restricted beta, and customers can secure a waitlist if they want to try it out.

Beyond the redesign, the headline description includes unused generative AI tools, which seem like an invaluable method for getting started with a design brief. They’re primarily a Figma-centric model of the “draft an email” type of AI tool we’ve seen time and again.

At a briefing, Figma product officer Yuhaki Yamashita showed me an example of how Figma could develop an app design for an underserved restaurant. Just seconds after she typed the instructions into a textbox, Figma generated an app with menu listings, a tab bar, or even buttons for delivery partners like Uber Eats and DoorDash. It looked like a simple mobile app mock-up, but Yamashita was able to start making changes right away.

In another example, Yamashita asked Figma AI to generate a design for a recipe web page for chocolate chip cookies, and sure enough it did — including the AI-generated symbol of the cookie. Compared to the zoom, this looks like a nice looking accurate image, but I can’t believe that a plain image of a chocolate chip cookie has been dehydrated to build the AI ​​generator.

Figma could also introduce AI features that would speed up small tasks in heavy systems, such as “AI-enhanced” asset search and auto-generated text in designs instead of generic Lorem Ipsum placeholder text.

Ideally, all the unused Figma AI tools will allow people who are new to Figma to more easily study ideas, allowing those who are more adept at the app to repeat them more concisely, according to Yamashita. “We’re using AI to lower the floor and raise the ceiling,” Yamashita said in an interview. verge – CEO Dylan Ground mentioned one thing the verge Just as cleverly.

Figma AI is launching in restricted beta starting Wednesday, and customers can join the waitlist. Figma says the beta period will last until the end of the event. Age in beta, Figma’s AI tools will be isolated, though the company says it will need to enforce “usage limits.” Figma may also promise “clear guidance on pricing” when the AI ​​chooses to formally build.

In a blog post, Figma also explained its method for training its AI models. Chris Rasmussen, CTO of Figma, writes, “All of the generative features we are launching today are powered by third-party, out-of-the-box AI models and were not trained on private Figma files or customer data. ” “We’ve enhanced visualization and asset search with images of the user interface from public, free community files.”

Rasmussen says Figma trains its models to expose them to patterns and “Figma-specific concepts and tools,” but not from customers’ content. Figma may also move to allow Figma administrators to regulate whether Figma can educate on “customer content,” which includes “file content created or uploaded to Figma by a user, Such as layer names and properties, text and images, comments, and annotations,” according to Rasmussen.

Figma doesn’t launch training in this content until August 15th; On the other hand, you need to know that the Starter and Professional plans are opted in to share this information by default, with the Generation Group and Endeavor plans opted out.

The company is likely paying special attention to how it trains its AI models due to the modern wording of Adobe’s service crisis, where the company had to explain that it won’t train AI for your work.

Along with the redesign and unused AI features, Figma is also incorporating a possibly very sensible unused tool: Figma Slides, a Google Slides-like presentation built right into Figma. Yamashita says users are already hacking Figma to be able to create slides, so there’s now a legitimate way to create and share displays directly in the app.

There are some Figma-specific options that designers will probably appreciate most. You will be able to modify the designs integrated within the deck in real time using Figma’s tools. (Note that those adjustments will look best inside deck – Tweaks will not sync back to recently unedited design record data, even though Yamashita says Figma intends to make this possible in the future.)

You’ll also be providing an app prototype straight from the deck, which means you don’t have to produce a complex screen recording just to show how one piece connects to another. You’ll additionally upload interactive options for target audience participants, such as ballots or alignment scales, where the population can plot a location if they agree or negative with something.

Figma Slides will be available in direct beta starting Wednesday. In beta it will be of a different generation but when formally launched it will change to a paid version. The company can also incorporate unused features into Figma for its developer methodology, including a “Ready to Develop” activity checklist.

The configuration of this opportunity is the first since Adobe disapproved of its deliberate $20 billion acquisition of Figma following regulatory scrutiny. With the official separation of the merger, Adobe was forced to pay a breakup price of $1 billion to Figma.