Figma announced a suite of new tools designed to compete with WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Canva, and Adobe. Here's what's new from Figma:
- Figma Sites – an AI-powered website creation tool that can create responsive websites from Figma designs that include transitions, animations, and scroll effects.
- Figma Make – a tool geared toward ideation and prototyping that allows users to input a prompt to create a web application.
- Figma Buzz – a tool that enables marketers to use templates created by designers with brand-specific designs to make new creatives, as well as create assets in bulk using data from sources like spreadsheets.
- Figma Draw – an app for vector editing and illustration with features like text on a path, pattern fill, brushes, multi-vector edit, adding noise and texture, and a lasso selection tool.
Harry McCracken of Fast Company asked Figma CEO Dylan Field whether the company was trying to compete directly with so many well-established players across multiple categories, but Field discounted the idea, instead claiming that the new products all support its original focus on turning raw concepts into shippable software. Field said:
“The Figma journey that we’re trying to support users on is going from idea to product. Everything’s truly through that lens. We have a lot of opportunity to build tools for folks [to] be more divergent and have more craft and stand out. And we think that’s the differentiator that’ll make people win over time.”
I think the new tools are a fantastic idea!
Historically I've always felt like Figma designs were very isolated from the rest of the website development workflow. At some point, designers had to employ a developer or third-party software to deploy their designs into working websites or e-mail templates. These new tools position Figma to take over more of the design and development process, with less reliance on competing tools, as well as unlock new revenue opportunities like website hosting.
Then again, maybe the new tools are terrible. I haven't tried them yet.