5 ms·

Every single day I’m finding myself using more and more Figma over my standard workflow tools like Photoshop and Illustrator...I just absolutely love how fast a

Every single day I’m finding myself using more and more Figma over my standard workflow tools like Photoshop and Illustrator...I just absolutely love how fast and snappy it is.

JKCalhoun 6y ago
I must be the only one that refuses to pay for a software subscription. But I'm not a pro, don't have corporate to pay for my license, may only use a drawing, design, paint program occasionally.
- jordankoschei 6y ago
  Figma is free unless you need team functionality.
  - deltron3030 6y ago
    You need the team plan if you want to share a design tokens/components across projects, for example a color palette.
- voodoomagicman 6y ago
  There is a really useful free tier - I think the paid tier mostly includes collaboration features.
  - LegitShady 6y ago
    I had a recent experience with autodesk that shows that free tiers can disappear or be neutered after you've invested significant time and energy into them. If you just owned that version of the software it would work forever instead you are at the mercy of the platform forever. Caveat emptor
    - tonyedgecombe 6y ago
      It's not just free tiers. Imagine the comments here in a decades time when Figma goes full Adobe and starts to squeeze every last drop of blood out of their customer base.
      - LegitShady 6y ago
        when the article about not being able to run adobe CS1/2 came up I nervously eyed my copy of CS6 from 2012...
    - arvinsim 6y ago
      Except some non-subscription software are still SaaS in disguise. Take a look at Sketch. You can use a file on future versions...but up to a point. If you hit that limit, you will have to buy the upgrade.
      - LegitShady 6y ago
        I don't use sketch, so I don't know anything about it. It's mac only and while i have an ipad pro and an iphone, I don't own a mac and dont want one, and thats a mac only app. I'm not sure why sketch would have the restrictions they have except that forever supporting old formats might be more expensive than they could justify.
- nbzso 6y ago
  I am pro and don't use cloud software in production, actually this is a clause in contract for my clients. They care about quality not trendiness. Downvotes on your comment are telling me that this is the new JS topic. Oh no.... :)
  - eightysixfour 6y ago
    I think there are plenty of things to knock cloud based SaaS tools for but quality is a weird one - there are plenty of high quality cloud based solutions that can deliver high quality outputs.
    - nbzso 6y ago
      Sorry, my english is not polished enough to express my point of view properly. I will try again. When I talk about quality it is in context applied to servicing my clients. In context of UX/UI and graphical design. When using a traditionally licensed software I own a tool. I can do my professional work with this tool and make a profit. New features add extra functionality and if I have a business case for this new functionality I can invest. But in most of use cases I can do my work with previous version with base functionality. Life cycle of graphic software must be long. Thats why I use Affinty software for design and avoid Adobe products. I know what my ROI is. My software is not bloated with background web services and notifications.
billylindeman 6y ago
IDK if I'm the only one but figma feels lightyears away from sketch in snapiness, but the multiplayer features of figma are what give it the edge.
- weixiyen 6y ago
  Agree, Figma is definitely slower, but Sketch has issues too when there are too many objects in the workspace. I think if Sketch made their performance 10x better, then I'd agree that native apps are better, but it's more like a 1.2x than a 10x.
piyush_soni 6y ago
Am I the only one that finds figma a little complicated to use (I mean, I didn't find it intuitive enough). But then again designing is not my job, I'm just a developer who thought of trying it after so many people praised it.

Every single day I’m finding myself using more and more Figma over my standard workflow tools like Photoshop and Illustrator...I just absolutely love how fast and snappy it is.

JKCalhoun 6y ago

I must be the only one that refuses to pay for a software subscription. But I'm not a pro, don't have corporate to pay for my license, may only use a drawing, design, paint program occasionally.

jordankoschei 6y ago
Figma is free unless you need team functionality.
- deltron3030 6y ago
  You need the team plan if you want to share a design tokens/components across projects, for example a color palette.
voodoomagicman 6y ago
There is a really useful free tier - I think the paid tier mostly includes collaboration features.
- LegitShady 6y ago
  I had a recent experience with autodesk that shows that free tiers can disappear or be neutered after you've invested significant time and energy into them. If you just owned that version of the software it would work forever instead you are at the mercy of the platform forever. Caveat emptor
  - tonyedgecombe 6y ago
    It's not just free tiers. Imagine the comments here in a decades time when Figma goes full Adobe and starts to squeeze every last drop of blood out of their customer base.
    - LegitShady 6y ago
      when the article about not being able to run adobe CS1/2 came up I nervously eyed my copy of CS6 from 2012...
  - arvinsim 6y ago
    Except some non-subscription software are still SaaS in disguise. Take a look at Sketch. You can use a file on future versions...but up to a point. If you hit that limit, you will have to buy the upgrade.
    - LegitShady 6y ago
      I don't use sketch, so I don't know anything about it. It's mac only and while i have an ipad pro and an iphone, I don't own a mac and dont want one, and thats a mac only app. I'm not sure why sketch would have the restrictions they have except that forever supporting old formats might be more expensive than they could justify.
nbzso 6y ago
I am pro and don't use cloud software in production, actually this is a clause in contract for my clients. They care about quality not trendiness. Downvotes on your comment are telling me that this is the new JS topic. Oh no.... :)
- eightysixfour 6y ago
  I think there are plenty of things to knock cloud based SaaS tools for but quality is a weird one - there are plenty of high quality cloud based solutions that can deliver high quality outputs.
  - nbzso 6y ago
    Sorry, my english is not polished enough to express my point of view properly. I will try again. When I talk about quality it is in context applied to servicing my clients. In context of UX/UI and graphical design. When using a traditionally licensed software I own a tool. I can do my professional work with this tool and make a profit. New features add extra functionality and if I have a business case for this new functionality I can invest. But in most of use cases I can do my work with previous version with base functionality. Life cycle of graphic software must be long. Thats why I use Affinty software for design and avoid Adobe products. I know what my ROI is. My software is not bloated with background web services and notifications.

billylindeman 6y ago

IDK if I'm the only one but figma feels lightyears away from sketch in snapiness, but the multiplayer features of figma are what give it the edge.

weixiyen 6y ago
Agree, Figma is definitely slower, but Sketch has issues too when there are too many objects in the workspace. I think if Sketch made their performance 10x better, then I'd agree that native apps are better, but it's more like a 1.2x than a 10x.

piyush_soni 6y ago

Am I the only one that finds figma a little complicated to use (I mean, I didn't find it intuitive enough). But then again designing is not my job, I'm just a developer who thought of trying it after so many people praised it.