Figma announces major AI overhaul

Figma is announcing a number of new features at its Config conference today, including a major user interface overhaul, new generative AI tools to help people create projects more easily, and built-in slideshow functionality.

Let’s start with the redesign, which aims to “lay the foundations for the next decade”, according to a blog post. You’ll see things like a new toolbar, rounded corners, and 200 new icons. As part of the design refresh, the company wants to “focus the screen less on our UI and more on its work” and make something that is accessible to new users while also being useful to Figma experts.

Figma says this is the company’s third “significant redesign” since the launch of Figma’s closed beta. The new look is being rolled out as part of a limited beta, and users can join a waitlist if they want to try it out.

In addition to the redesign, the main feature addition is the new generative AI tools, which seem like a useful way to quickly get started with a design. They’re basically a Figma-focused version of the “draft an email” AI tools we’ve seen many times.

In a briefing, Figma Chief Product Officer Yuhki Yamashita showed me an example of how Figma could create an app design for a new restaurant. Within seconds of typing the prompt into a text box, Figma created an app with menu lists, a tab bar, and even buttons for delivery partners like Uber Eats and DoorDash. It looked like a generic mobile app template, but Yamashita was able to start tweaking it right away.

In another example, Yamashita asked Figma AI to create a design for a chocolate chip cookie recipe page, and sure enough, it did – including an AI-generated image of a cookie. Zoomed in, it looked like a pretty accurate image, but I can’t imagine that a basic image of a chocolate chip cookie would be difficult for an AI generator to create.

Figma is also introducing AI features that can help speed up small tasks in big ways, like “AI-enhanced” asset search and automatically generated text in designs rather than generic Lorem ipsum placeholder text.

Ideally, all of the new Figma AI tools will allow people who are newer to Figma to test ideas more easily, while also allowing those who are more well-versed in the app to iterate more quickly, according to Yamashita. “We are using AI to lower the floor and raise the ceiling,” Yamashita said in an interview with On the edge – something CEO Dylan Field told On the edge also.

Figma AI will launch in a limited beta starting Wednesday, and interested users can join the waitlist. Figma says the beta period runs until the end of the year. While in beta, Figma’s AI tools will be free, but the company says it may need to introduce “usage limits.” Figma also promises “clear pricing guidance” when the AI ​​features officially launch.

In a blog post, Figma also explained its approach to training its AI models. “All of the generative features we are launching today are powered by third-party, out-of-the-box AI models and have not been trained on private Figma files or customer data,” writes Kris Rasmussen, CTO at Figma. “We’ve fine-tuned visual and asset search with user interface images from free and public community archives.”

Rasmussen adds that Figma trains its models to learn patterns and “Figma-specific concepts and tools,” but not from user content. Figma will also allow Figma administrators to control whether Figma can train on “client content,” which includes “file content created or uploaded to Figma by a user, such as layer names and properties, text and images, comments, and notes,” according to Rasmussen.

Figma will only start training this content on August 15th; however, you should know that the Starter and Professional plans are, by default, enabled to share this data, while the Organization and Enterprise plans are disabled.

The company is likely being specific about how it trains its AI models because of Adobe’s recent terms of service debacle, where the company had to clarify that it would not train AI on its work.

In addition to the redesign and new AI features, Figma is adding a potentially very practical new tool: Figma Slides, a Google Slides-like feature built into Figma. Yamashita says users have already hacked Figma to find a way to make slides, so now there’s an official method for creating and sharing presentations within the app.

There are some Figma-specific features that designers will likely appreciate. You’ll be able to adjust the designs included in the deck in real time using Figma’s tools. (Note that these changes will only appear on deck – adjustments will not sync with the original design files, although Yamashita says Figma wants to make this possible eventually.)

You can also present an app prototype directly from the presentation, which means you don’t have to do a complicated screen recording just to demonstrate how one piece connects to another. You can also add interactive features for your audience, like a poll or an alignment scale, where people can plot a range on whether they agree or disagree with something.

Figma Slides will be available in open beta starting Wednesday. It will be free during the beta, but will become a paid feature when it officially launches. The company is also adding new features to its developer mode in Figmaincluding a list of “development ready” tasks.

This year’s Config is the first since Adobe abandoned its planned $20 billion acquisition of Figma following regulatory scrutiny. With the dissolution of the merger, Adobe was forced to pay Figma a $1 billion termination fee.