“Boss, I think I’m done! I don’t think I can design a new website from scratch this way! I need a helping hand from the senior.”
“You know you work in a Web design company.”
“Yes, I very well know I work in a creative agency. However, I can be stuck, right? I can’t know it all!”
“We are well known in the market as one of the best branding agencies, and the employees here say this!“
“Sometimes, yes, when the client is too demanding and difficult to handle.”
“Cool, I will transfer your Figma tool credentials. Then, you will be all set!”
“Boss, I said, helping hand in the form of a Human, not a tool.”
“Figma is all you need. Don’t worry, Figma won’t create an enigma (Chuckles).”
I don’t know, Figma! I haven’t used it before. Unfortunately, I need to spend an entire week understanding this, and the deadline shall pass for the website submission.
It won’t take much time. I promise. I shall pass you a few tips that will help you understand it quickly, and you will be able to design it like a pro!
Yeah, right! Let’s see!
Here are my best eight tips for you. Record them in your mind perfectly.
Never use a manual layout.
You are new to this and need to accept it well, keeping your ego aside. You may have used other software like Adobe and Sketch, but this is different. It is easier to work with but only after you befriend it by giving it the required time and effort. Therefore, keep this tip in mind always to use only auto layouts and not go for manual ones as they are tough to set up, and you will be stuck in the middle, without realizing your half day just went in coming back to the original layout setup.
The main benefit of selecting ‘Auto-layout’ mode is that even if you select one single colour, font size, or effect, the other things will automatically adjust according to it without you trying to merge into the theme. While on the other hand, in the manual, you need to select everything by yourself and even after trying zillion times, sometimes in a hurry, you will not get the right colour combination to set with the others, and you will mess up the designs really bad. Moreover, once that is done, there is hardly any chance of returning. Most times, you will have to restart the from scratch.
Even if you are good at resizing, AVOID!
When you are working on a design project, you must change sizes multiple times. Please do not do it manually, is what I suggest. There is a tool inside named – Math, which you can use for getting your proportions right at all times and angles.
Refrain from testing, trying your imagination, and going perfect when you run out of time. You are bound to make mistakes and ruin them for your bad, only to start everything again.
Be organized and rename your files, Please!
When working on a big project, you will use multiple layers and files for the design part. It is natural to lose a few here and there if not saved correctly or in case of an unpredicted shutdown. To not pour water on your hard work, I recommend you name your files and layers in advance using the ‘Rename layers’ and sit back and relax, even if it undergoes a sudden power cut or dead battery. Keep this as a habit while using any software, also in future, to save yourself from real-time efforts and time.
Have flow diagrams to make it easy for the navigators
A user-flow diagram is a must, and you can’t deny this fact!
First, understand this one crucial thing; your website will be read by search engine bots and crawlers. Therefore, you need to keep a simple and direct flow of everything. They need help understanding complex wireframes and navigation. Later, once the user posts an inquiry via keywords and your website is ranked within the first few, and the user ends up reading your content, the actual audience comes into the picture.
Your aim should be to make a user-friendly as well as bot-friendly website or application to make it easy to rank and gain the required traffic.
The sole reason for a website and application is to have a dedicated place for the target audience. Not receiving enough attention in traffic, visitors, and leads can block the company’s sales, profits and reputation in real time.
Customize the styles and keep them saved
When you ate designing a website, the first thing you need to finalize is the brand mood board and colour palettes. Next, you can select colours, fonts, strokes, styles, shades, and anything related to visuals representing your brand. It will help you stay focused on a particular theme and maintain the brand identity factor.
You can organize this by simply using slash options like
- Brand colours/ Primary
- Brand colours/ Secondary
- Brand colours/ Tertiary
Templates can be your best friend.
Imagine creating multiple designs every time you have to create a new one! Do you have time? In your case, no, I’m sure! And even if you have time, you should invest in better things rather than this one.
Make one primary component template and use the same across projects and platforms. Also, this will help you with uniformity all over the website and look appealing to the eyes of the user.
Wait for the right time to edit the spacing!
White space is good, but not everywhere. In some places, it gives wrong signals and makes the design look plain and shabby too! To avoid that, editing and eliminating the extra space available on the left, right, centre or corners is vital. The trick here is to do it all at the end and together instead of having a clean audit now and then while designing.
It is simple and easy with Figma’s ‘Smart decision’ and ‘Tidy’ features. You are blessed, you know, right?
Do not go old school but in actual school!
Go back to your first computer class in school and remember what your Miss taught you! It was shortcut keys, for sure!
Shortcut keys are a blessing in disguise if you know it correctly. It not only saves time but makes your work super easy and sassy!
I know you will always be in a hurry while designing a website or application, and during that time, having hands-on Figma’s special shortcut keys will help you in real time. Investing a little time here won’t hurt.
It’s the era of clever work and not hard work; get that straight in mind if you wish to succeed!
So,
All done from my end!
I hope you have noted it all well.
Now, you can buck up a little, get fresh and start working on the UI with a clear and amazing mind!
Glad for the tips. I’m sure it will be helpful, and I will be able to make the best one in no time post this.
You are the best Boss.
Chill. Just remember. Everything is fabulous with Figma!
I’m sure. Ahahahahah! You rock!
Author Bio:
Brijesh Jakharia co-founded SPINX Digital in 2005 and takes great pride in crafting web and mobile marketing solutions for mid-market businesses to enterprises. Marketing is his passion, and the thrill to build a brand from the ground up has helped him craft successful brand stories for world-class clients. While not at work, he loves to spend his time on research and reading digital content stories.
