As Figma’s Config 2024 conference kicks off, the company just unveiled its new suite of software, with a redesign and several AI features coming to users later this year.
“In a world where more software is being created and reimagined because of AI, designing and building products is everyone’s business,” said Dylan Field, co-founder and CEO of Figma. “From AI tools that elevate professional designers to developer tools that create stronger connections between design and code, Figma wants to make it possible for teams to go from idea to product—all in one place.”
From a product design tool, Figma has expanded to serve more parts of project development, including its first-ever hardware release, a FigJam keyboard. During Config 2024, the company announced its new AI design tools to help speed up designer workflows and elevate the craft of professional designers with:
- Make designs: Create mobile and web UI mocks with different styles and layouts via a text prompt.
- Visual search: Browse your team’s work using a frame, image, or screenshot to find the exact design you are looking for or get inspiration from teammates solving similar problems.
- Name layers: Contextually rename and organize all the layers in your file in one click.
- AI-powered prototypes: Wire static mocks into a working prototype without all of the manual steps.
- Actions to automate tedious tasks: Use AI actions to add realistic text, translate, adjust the tone, make images, remove image backgrounds, and more — all within Figma
The new AI features also come with a redesigned UI, giving Figma a more approachable interface, resizable and more customizable panels for ergonomics, and a new toolbar at the bottom of the canvas with easy access to the latest features.
In addition, the recently-released Dev Mode has even more tools, such as a new “Ready for Dev” view with improved design statuses, notifications to stay informed of changes, a focus view for inspection, and the ability to surface component code from your design system or a supported UI Kit instead of auto-generated code.
The highlights of Config 2024 also include Figma Slides, a new product for both professional designers and their collaborators to create and deliver interactive presentations. This product offers:
- Design for all skill levels: The power and precision of Figma meet easy-to-use slide functionality for designers and their collaborators. Bring in Figma designs and prototypes without losing any detail, leverage all your company’s pre-designed styles with customized templates, or turn on design mode to use Figma’s design tools.
- Co-create and present together: Presentations that come together as smoothly as they look with collaboration features like comments, chat and audio, as well as an organized grid view, co-presenting controls, speaker notes, and more.
- Get assistance from AI: Adjust writing tone, rewrite or shorten text, generate and edit images — all in one place.
- Turn one-way presentations into two-way conversations: Craft conversations that keep your audience engaged and capture feedback and questions throughout so you can move work forward.
All of these features are coming in open beta today, although some might be limited to a few users.
Apple users get even more features during Figma’s Config 2024
In addition to all of these features coming to Figma customers, the company had one extra surprise for Apple users, as they can find the latest iOS UI kit directly in Figma’s assets panel.
Each UI kit includes component sets and example mockups. Users can drag in an entire example screen on their Figma canvas that is fully editable with components from the library. Plus, each of these UI kits is backed by Code Connect, a new feature in Figma’s Dev Mode that surfaces component code so developers can implement the right code with consistency and speed.
BGR will keep following Figma’s latest announcements, and we’ll let you know as they become available to everyone.
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