Figma is a cloud-based design tool primarily used for interface design, allowing multiple users to collaborate in real time. It is a prominent tool utilized by job roles such as UX/UI Designers, Graphic Designers, and Product Designers in the tech and digital marketing industries. Due to its superior collaborative features, over 5 million people across teams of every size – from startups to Fortune 500s – use Figma to collaborate. Mastering Figma can offer prospective designers and other creative professionals a competitive edge in the job market, as its high demand reflects the industry's shift towards more collaborative and efficient design processes.
Top In-Person & Virtual Figma Classes
Figma Courses at Noble Desktop
Noble Desktop is a leading design and coding school in New York City. Founded in 1990, Noble Desktop offers hands-on classes and certificate programs in web design & development, graphic design, motion graphics, data science, UX, and digital marketing. Emphasizing a practical, hands-on learning approach, it provides students with the necessary skills to jump-start their careers in the dynamic fields of digital design, programming, data science, and online marketing, among others. Noble Desktop offers career-support services for students and all of its classes are available in person or through live online instruction.
Figma Bootcamp
- Price: $695
- Duration: 12 hours
- Locations: NYC, Live Online
As part of Noble Desktop's Figma Bootcamp, participants are given an in-depth understanding of Figma, a prominent web-based UI/UX design tool. Students will gain insights into how to design apps and websites, build interactive prototypes, and collaborate with teammates – all under the guidance of industry professionals.
UX & UI Design Certificate
- Price: $3,495
- Duration: 24 weeks
- Locations: NYC, Live Online
The UX & UI Design Certificate at Noble Desktop offers an in-depth understanding of user experience and interface design, key elements of creating meaningful digital products. Students will learn vital skills like intuitive design, user empathy, usability testing, along with real-world applications such as prototyping software, wireframing, and creating effective user interfaces with Figma.
Figma Courses at NextGen Bootcamp
NextGen Bootcamp, a highly regarded tech education school, provides a robust and practical learning experience for high school students keen on acquiring tech-based skills. With courses spanning coding, software development, data science, and more, NextGen Bootcamp crafts an engaging and comprehensive learning environment. Students hone their skills under the tutorship of seasoned professionals and gear up to thrive in today's tech-centered job market. NextGen courses are ideal places for students to spend their summer learning valuable skills that will assist them in their college computer science and design courses or in their professional lives.
UX & UI Design Summer Program
- Price: $2,495
- Duration: 45 hours
- Locations: NYC, Live Online
The UX & UI Design Summer Program at NextGen Bootcamp is an intensive course where students learn the essentials of user experience and user interface design. Emphasizing hands-on learning, the program covers topics such as prototyping, user research, interaction design, and usability testing, yielding a comprehensive understanding of the full design process.
UX & UI Design Summer Program Online
- Price: $1,999
- Duration: 45 hours
- Locations: Live Online
NextGen Bootcamp's UX & UI Design Summer Program offers students an immersive online learning experience, focusing on mastering interface design tools such as Figma. With a hands-on, project-based curriculum guided by experienced industry experts, students gain practical skills in creating wireframes, interactive prototypes, and conducting user research, preparing them for a career in UX/UI Design.
Figma Courses at the School of Visual Concepts
The School of Visual Concepts is a leading institution that offers courses and workshops in graphic design, advertising, branding, and marketing, among other areas. Students have the flexibility to submerge themselves in various innovative fields, taking advantage of the focused curriculum to develop professional skills in art direction, copywriting, information design, user experience, web development, and digital marketing.
Figma Fundamentals
- Price: $425
- Duration: 4 hours
- Locations: Several (see school website)
The Figma Fundamentals course at SVC Seattle equips students with the skills to create collaborative interface designs utilizing Figma. Students learn to craft responsive layouts, build comprehensive design systems, and produce interactive prototypes, making them well-versed in every aspect of Figma's versatile tool set.
Figma Courses at City Lit
City Lit, based in London, is an adult education institution that offers over 5,000 unique short courses throughout the year, both in-person and online. Catering to an array of interests and abilities, the establishment provides learning opportunities in a broad spectrum of disciplines, such as performing arts, languages, visual arts, music, history, digital media, and more.
UI Design for Websites Using Figma
- Price: $239
- Duration: 16 hours
- Locations: Several (see school website)
In the UI Design for Websites Using Figma course at City Lit, students will learn all the essential skills needed to design sleek and user-friendly websites. This hands-on course covers topics such as creating wireframes and prototypes, designing responsive layouts, and implementing effective navigation and interaction design.
Figma Courses at Kenzie Academy
Kenzie Academy stands as an innovative tech training school, providing comprehensive programs in software engineering and UX design. Catering to both remote and in-person learners, it equips students with top-tier, real-world skills in code writing, software development, and user experience methodologies, preparing them for competitive positions in the thriving technology industry.
UX Design Career Program Part-Time
- Price: $11,000
- Duration: 6 months
- Locations: Several (see school website)
At Kenzie Academy, the part-time UX Design Career Program provides a comprehensive introduction to crucial aspects of design thinking, user interface, and user experience, through a project-based curriculum. Students enrolled are taught to understand the user's needs, create engaging experiences, and learn to use design tools like Figma.
Key Information about Learning Figma
When learning Figma, students explore topics such as interface design fundamentals, prototyping interactive designs, collaborative design, and exporting for development. Figma is beginner-friendly with a user-friendly interface. How long it takes to master Figma varies, but most students typically take about 20 to 30 hours of focused training to become proficient, depending on an individual's previous design software aptitude and dedication toward hands-on practice.
Some basic understanding of UX/UI design concepts and principles provides a solid foundation for learning Figma, but it is not a mandatory prerequisite. Regarding technical setup, students need a computer with an up-to-date internet browser. Figma is also available as a desktop app.
Career Paths & Job Outlook for Figma
According to a recent LinkedIn trend, job postings requesting Figma skills have increased by 200% over the past year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also shows a continuing increase in the demand for professionals with these skills, as software designing roles are expected to grow by 21% from 2018 to 2028.
According to Zippia, entry-level positions that use Figma typically pay between $40,000 and $60,000 annually. More experienced roles that utilize Figma, such as Senior Product Designers, can expect to make between $104,000 and $156,000 per year according to Glassdoor.
What Can You Do With Figma?
Users can engage in a multitude of design-oriented tasks using Figma, leveraging its numerous tools, features, and libraries.
Firstly, a user can conceptualize, design, and prototype a whole mobile app interface using Figma's vector editing capabilities, prototyping functionalities, and collaborative tools. For instance, Figma’s tools allow you to transform boxes into buttons, arrange them appropriately, add functionality to components, and link different design screens together to create a functional prototype. Moreover, these tools allow you to create custom website UI/UX designs from scratch by utilizing Figma's vector networks, visual styles, and pen tool to achieve smooth and precise vector points and curves. These tools can also replicate and auto-layout repeating design elements, such as grids or lists. You can also showcase brand assets like logos, color palettes, typography, and imagery using style guides and design systems in Figma.
Figma’s plugin support lets users extend Figma's functionalities to suit their individual design needs. For instance, with the help of the 'Unsplash' plugin, users can import high-resolution photos directly into their designs. Figma's collaborative feature allows multiple users to work on a single project simultaneously, promoting effective and efficient team coordination. You can brainstorm ideas, critique designs, share work, and provide real-time feedback using Figma's in-built commenting feature, all within the same design space. Thus, using Figma's extensive features and tools, users can not only create design outputs but can also simulate, iterate, and collaboratively work on their design project, in real time and without the need for any extra tools or software.
Top Figma Tools For Beginners
- Frame Tool: Figma's Frame tool allows you to create containers called frames for your designs. Each frame functions as a mini artboard that you can add layers to and rearrange as needed.
- Shape Tools: These are tools that include rectangles, ellipses, polygons, lines, etc. They are used to draw basic shape elements for your design.
- Pen Tool: This functional and versatile tool allows you to create custom shapes, paths, points, and curves.
- Type Tool: As the name suggests, the Type Tool is used to add text to your design. It allows you to choose your preferred font style, size, and color.
- Hand Tool: The Hand Tool lets you navigate around your canvas without accidentally selecting or modifying any of your design elements.
- Move Tool: This tool is used to select and move objects in your design. With the Move Tool, you can also scale and rotate layers directly on the canvas.
- Fill and Stroke Panel: This panel lets you change the color, gradient, image, or pattern of your selected shape. You can also adjust the transparency of a layer with this panel.
- Align and Distribute: These tools are used to align and evenly distribute objects on your canvas. They are especially helpful when you need to keep a consistent spacing between elements in your design.
- Components: Figma's Components tool allows you to create reusable objects. If you make changes to a component, all instances of that component will update.
- Prototype Tool: This tool allows you to create interactive prototypes of your designs. With this tool, you can design transitions, overlays, animations, and more.
Figma Comparison to Other Tools & Fields
Figma is a design platform commonly used by UX/UI Designers. If you are interested in a design career, you may wish to learn other design platforms like Sketch, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe XD. Those interested in web design may also benefit from learning front-end web development coding languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, as these languages are fundamental for turning designs into functioning websites or apps. Understanding how to turn your design into a functioning website through WordPress is another useful skill.
Other related fields comprise project management, digital marketing, and data analysis as these professionals often work closely with designers during the development process. While these fields may differ greatly from design, understanding workflows, and terminologies can enable more efficient and effective collaboration between designers and coworkers.
Figma Advantages
Figma offers several advantages over comparable design tools thanks to its seamless cloud-based functionality. This enables real-time collaborations, making it popular for collaborative design projects. It also offers a user-friendly platform with a relatively low learning curve making it accessible for beginners. Notably, Figma is also cross-platform compatible with systems like Windows, MacOS, and Linux, and even provides a web-based interface, allowing users to work from almost any device with an internet connection.
Learn more in these courses
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Figma Bootcamp
- Not currently scheduled
- 12 hours
- Open to beginners
Get a solid understanding of Figma so you create designs for different size screens, tap into the power of reusable design components, build clickable prototypes, add animations, export graphics, and much more.
- UX Design Courses