Figma and the enshittification of Product Design

How profit-focused software has delegitimized the entire design industry

Jon Upshaw
UX Planet

FIgma logo with poop emoji icon.
Behold, the new (and boring) face of design.

Figma has become the design product that is synonymous with what we call modern-day product design. But how did it happen? We know that design as a discipline began long before this software won our hearts and minds and made its way into the mainstream. Our instincts tell us that Figma is the perfectly normal choice for designing digital products because — it’s easy to use, it’s free and, hey, the features are all there!

Our world would not be the same when Figma made its debut in 2016. Since its release, it has gone on to gross billions in revenue, even almost selling out to Adobe before refusing the offer. Its grip on the design industry is only a minor testament to its incredible contribution to the accessibility of design. Just think — what other product allowed developers to collaborate with design on such an intimate level? No other product matches the usability and versatility of Figma.

So what’s the deal?

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-orange-and-white-paper-7172858/

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Responses (18)

What are your thoughts?

What is the actual gripe here? ‘Figma is popular’ does not equate to ‘Figma is a bad product’ and ‘people use Figma as drag and drop’ also doesn’t mean ‘you can’t design novel thing here’

In other words, your issue seems to be more about how…

“[…]Figma has democratized design, destroying its legitimacy in the process. The problem becomes apparent when you realize that companies are now training developers to do design in Figma. This is troubling — not just because design is not a…

You have an error here. Figma did not pull out of the Adobe deal. Adobe did. And for good reason. You also could have gone deeper into the how and why we are all on these cloud-based web apps now and why they suck. You also could have addressed the…