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Figma & UX

Figma is still going strong and has become even more of a standard in collaborative design. It's an all-in-one platform where product designers, developers, PMs, marketers, and researchers all meet up to bring products to life. 

It's cloud-based, real-time, and keeps improving on cross-functional workflows.

Figma is more than just a design tool — it bridges findings and design execution, making it easier to make user insights actionable and visual.

How Figma Is Used

UI/UX Design

Still the bread and butter. Designers build wireframes, mockups, and high-fidelity prototypes.

Design Systems

Centralized libraries let teams manage reusable components at scale.

Prototyping

Clickable prototypes are used to simulate interactions without writing code.

Developer Handoff

Devs use Figma’s inspect mode to grab specs, CSS, tokens, and assets.

FigJam

Used for brainstorming, journey mapping, sticky-note sessions, and now even stakeholder workshops.

Plugins and AI tools

Figma now has smart plugins (including AI-assisted design helpers) that speed up repetitive tasks or auto-generate content.

Benefits & Advantages

Real-time Collaboration

Think Google Docs for design. Multiple people can jump in, leave comments, or make edits live.

Cloud-based

No local installs or versioning headaches.

Cross-functional workflows

Everyone from research to engineering can stay in the loop in one shared space.

Extensibility

With community-made plugins and widgets, it’s highly customizable.

Speed

Iteration cycles are much faster with live feedback and component reuse.

How Figma Is Used in UXR (User Experience Research)

Design Critiques & Annotation

Researchers can drop comments directly on designs with user quotes or findings from usability tests.

Journey Mapping & Personas (via FigJam)

FigJam boards are used for mapping user journeys, empathy maps, and personas. Easy to co-create with stakeholders.

Prototype Testing

Researchers use Figma prototypes in usability studies (remote or moderated) to test flows before dev work begins.

Visualizing Research Insights

FigJam is great for clustering insights, affinity mapping, and showing patterns from user interviews.

Cross-functional Workshops

Researchers run collaborative sessions with PMs, designers, and engineers — FigJam lets everyone sketch ideas, vote on features, and reflect on findings together.

Repository Integration

Some teams integrate Figma with research repositories (like Dovetail or Notion) to link findings to specific screens or flows.