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Beschreibung

Figma isn’t just a design tool; it’s the modern designer’s command center
Šimon Jun, COO at Dotidot, longtime Figma lecturer, and organizer of the Czech Friends of Figma community, built this book from the trenches of real product work. After years of untangling messy files, rescuing failing handoffs, and coaching teams at scale, he distilled what actually works into a practical, recipe-driven guide.
Over time, Šimon saw the same problems show up again and again: bloated files, broken handoffs, and design systems that couldn’t scale. This book is his way of sharing the patterns, tools, and habits that helped teams move past those roadblocks and build stronger, more connected design processes in Figma.
Inside, you’ll learn how to structure files for real collaboration, use design tokens without chaos, build accessible, scalable libraries, and hand off to developers with confidence. You’ll see how to automate repetitive work with plugins and AI, run async reviews, and bake feedback loops into your process so projects keep moving, without losing polish.

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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

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Design Beyond Limits with Figma

Master Figma’s advanced collaboration, design systems, and AI tools to streamline design workflows

Šimon Jůn

Design Beyond Limits with Figma

Copyright © 2025 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing or its dealers and distributors, will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

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I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my wife for her unwavering support and encouragement throughout the writing of this book. I am especially grateful to my young children, who graciously allowed me to work through weekends and late nights to bring this project to life.

Huge thanks to my incredible beta readers for their invaluable insights and feedback. With over a hundred thoughtful comments, they helped shape this book from a minimum viable product into something truly complete. I’m deeply grateful to: Adam Sobotka, Ekaterina Pykhova, Jakub Sodomka, Jana Pavlanská, Klaudia Vavrinčík, Martin Laudát, Michaela Mojzisova, Michal Strnadel, Pavel Musinszkij, Tomáš Gluchman, Václav Kocián, Yana Abdulaeva, and Zdenek Zenger. Thank you all—this wouldn’t be nearly as awesome without you.

Finally, my sincere thanks to the entire Packt team for their support and guidance throughout the process, making this an enriching and rewarding experience.

– Šimon Jůn

Contributors

About the author

Šimon Jůn is a design-led product leader and Chief Operating Officer at Dotidot, based in Prague, Czechia. Beginning his career as a product designer, he rose to the role of Chief Product Officer and now shapes company strategy as COO—giving him a unique perspective that spans hands-on design work and executive decision-making.

As the official Czech host of Friends of Figma, Šimon organizes community events and talks that foster open knowledge sharing. Through his workshops and online training programs, he has helped hundreds of teams streamline their Figma workflows and bridge the gap between designers and developers.

About the reviewer

Elena Gonci is a product leader and builder specializing in transforming complex systems through design thinking and team leadership. She has developed foundational design systems and pioneered AI-assisted development workflows that have redefined how products are conceived, designed, and delivered.

Renowned for her ability to bridge strategic vision with effective cross-functional leadership, Elena works across diverse sectors including fintech, hospitality, and emerging technologies. Her approach blends systems thinking with hands-on management and technical implementation—accelerating delivery timelines and producing scalable, production-ready solutions within complex organizational environments.

Preface

Design collaboration has evolved from isolated creative work to dynamic, real-time teamwork spanning designers, developers, product managers, and stakeholders. In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, effective collaboration within design tools isn’t just helpful—it’s essential for shipping successful products.

Figma stands out as the most powerful collaboration platform because it was built for teams from the ground up. Beyond core design capabilities, Figma offers advanced features that transform how teams work: real-time co-editing, sophisticated permissions, robust version control, seamless developer handoffs, and integrations connecting design directly to code.

This cookbook guides you through advanced Figma techniques that go far beyond basic design skills. We’ll explore sophisticated collaboration workflows, the plugin ecosystem, AI-powered design acceleration, scalable design systems, design tokens for consistency, and accessibility integration.

The second half focuses on design-to-development handoffs and stakeholder engagement strategies that eliminate miscommunication and reduce project friction. Each chapter follows a practical recipe format, presenting real problems and step-by-step solutions you can implement immediately.

These techniques come from years of working with design teams at companies of all sizes. Every recipe addresses challenges I’ve encountered while helping teams transform their Figma workflows from basic design creation to sophisticated collaboration systems.

Who this book is for

Are you a seasoned UI/UX designer, developer, or product manager who feels like you’re only scratching the surface of what Figma can do? This book is for you. Whether you’re struggling to get your design systems to scale properly, are tired of endless back-and-forth with developers during handoffs, or you’re frustrated by stakeholder feedback loops that seem to go nowhere, we’ll show you how to transform these challenges into streamlined workflows.

You’ll get the most value from this book if you already know your way around Figma’s basic features and work regularly with design teams. We assume you understand components, auto layout, and basic prototyping. What you might not know yet is how to leverage Figma’s advanced capabilities to solve the complex collaboration challenges that emerge as teams and projects grow.

If you’re ready to move beyond the basics and turn Figma into a true collaboration powerhouse for your team, this book will take you there.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Advanced Collaborative Design with Figma, covers sophisticated collaboration techniques including real-time co-designing, advanced sharing settings, version control, and managing complex design projects to streamline team workflows and enhance productivity.

Chapter 2, Leveraging Figma’s Plugin Ecosystem, explores how to discover, evaluate, and implement plugins that extend Figma’s capabilities, automate routine tasks, and integrate with external tools to create more efficient design workflows.

Chapter 3, Harnessing AI in Figma and Beyond, shows you how to leverage Figma’s built-in AI features, integrate external AI tools for faster prototyping, automate routine design tasks, and navigate the ethical considerations of AI-driven design processes.

Chapter 4, Enhancing Designer-Developer Synergy, details strategies for structuring design files for developer accessibility, creating clear design annotations, streamlining communication channels, and aligning design goals with development objectives.

Chapter 5, Scaling Design Systems for Consistency, explains how to build advanced component libraries, implement systematic documentation, manage evolving design systems for growing teams, and maintain brand coherence across extensive projects.

Chapter 6, Utilizing Design Tokens for Consistency, covers the implementation of design tokens as a bridge between design and code, version controlling tokens with GitHub or GitLab, and creating dynamic visual languages that maintain consistency across digital products.

Chapter 7, Building Accessible Design Systems, explores best practices for creating accessible components, maintaining proper color contrast ratios, ensuring keyboard navigation and screen reader compatibility, and integrating WCAG standards into your design process.

Chapter 8, Precision Handoff Techniques, demonstrates how to configure precise export settings, create detailed design specifications and annotations, optimize handoff processes, and establish feedback systems for continuous improvement between design and development teams.

Chapter 9, Elevating Stakeholder Engagement, shows you how to conduct impactful collaborative reviews, utilize interactive prototypes for live feedback, manage iterative design changes, and navigate complex feedback cycles to strengthen stakeholder relationships.

To get the most out of this book

Before diving into the advanced techniques covered in this book, you should be comfortable with Figma’s core functionality. We assume you already know how to create and edit basic shapes, work with text layers, use components and variants, apply auto layout, and build simple prototypes. If you’re still learning these fundamentals, we recommend getting familiar with them first through Figma’s official documentation or beginner tutorials.

You should also have experience working in team-based design environments. The collaboration techniques we cover build on the assumption that you understand the challenges of working with multiple designers, developers, and stakeholders on shared projects.

Find the updated images

The updated color images for the book are placed on GitHub at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Design-Beyond-Limits-with-Figma. We also have other code bundles from our rich catalog of books and videos available at https://github.com/PacktPublishing. Check them out!

Download the color images

We also provide a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots/diagrams used in this book. You can download it here: https://packt.link/gbp/9781836207719.

Conventions used

There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.

Code In Text: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. For example: “Organize your video library systematically to prevent chaos. Use a consistent naming convention, such as YYYY - Area - Initiative Name, for all your recordings (for example, 2025 - Onboarding - Mobile App Redesign).”

A block of code is set as follows:

// Instead of this:  Figma: "Purple/500"  CSS: "primary-color"  iOS: "colorPurple"  Android: "color_purple_primary"    // Use a shared naming convention:  "color.primary.default": "#5C50E6" 

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

// Instead of this:  Figma: "Purple/500"  CSS: "primary-color"  iOS: "colorPurple"  Android: "color_purple_primary"    // Use a shared naming convention:  "color.primary.default": "#5C50E6" 

Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see on the screen. For instance, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in the text like this. For example: “Figma’s Replace content feature attempts to automate this often repetitive task, reducing the time spent manually inserting placeholder text and images.”

Warnings or important notes appear like this.

Tips and tricks appear like this.

Get in touch

Feedback from our readers is always welcome.

General feedback: If you have questions about any aspect of this book or have any general feedback, please email us at [email protected] and mention the book’s title in the subject of your message.

Errata: Although we have taken every care to ensure the accuracy of our content, mistakes do happen. If you have found a mistake in this book, we would be grateful if you reported this to us. Please visit http://www.packt.com/submit-errata, click Submit Errata, and fill in the form.

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Your review is important to us and the tech community and will help us make sure we’re delivering excellent quality content.

1

Advanced Collaborative Design with Figma

The first time I used Figma in 2017, I was blown away by how seamlessly it supported collaboration. It was the first design tool truly built with teamwork at its core. While this approach might seem standard today, it was groundbreaking at the time. It shifted the mindset from isolated design work (“I’ll work on this until the deadline and then share it”) to a dynamic process of ongoing feedback and iteration. And as we all know, consistent feedback leads to better products. Figma excels at enabling this, but it’s essential to understand the full range of collaborative features it offers.

This chapter dives into eight crucial areas of collaboration that will empower your team to create outstanding products by improving communication, streamlining workflows, and ensuring alignment between design and development. Mastering these areas will help you avoid common pitfalls, reduce inefficiencies, and deliver high-quality products faster, with fewer roadblocks along the way.

In this chapter, we will walk through the following topics:

Communication gaps between designers and developersRepetitive design meetings waste time and delay progressDesigners may not anticipate technical limitations, leading to missing details for developersConstant changes in the designStreamlining version control and iterationsUnlocking advanced sharing and permissions settingsReal-time co-designing for maximum team productivityFacilitating feedback loops in collaborative designs

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Communication gaps between designers and developers

One of the most persistent challenges in product development is the interaction between designers and developers. While both disciplines work toward the same goal—creating functional, user-friendly products—they often approach problems from entirely different perspectives, leading to friction and miscommunication.

What’s the problem?

Designers and developers are two essential forces in product development, but they often struggle to understand each other. As a designer, it’s important to remember that what you create in Figma isn’t the final product—the production code is. However, despite working toward the same goal, many teams face miscommunication that goes beyond just different terminologies and perspectives.

The challenges run much deeper than word choices. Designers and developers operate with fundamentally different mental models. Designers work with fluid, relational thinking, placing elements freely in space and considering visual hierarchy and flow—much like how Figma’s free-canvas approach works. Developers, on the other hand, operate within structured, hierarchical frameworks shaped by how code, databases, and systems are organized. They think in terms of top-to-bottom sequences, nested structures, and rigid organizational principles. This fundamental difference in spatial thinking creates natural tension when translating design to code.

Additionally, there’s often a knowledge gap around existing technical infrastructure. New designers, and even experienced ones joining a project, may lack the historical context of how current systems were built, what technical constraints exist, or what potential blockers might arise from legacy code. Understanding the production environment and existing technical architecture is crucial for creating designs that work within real-world constraints, not just in an ideal vacuum.

Here are some common terminology differences between Figma and code:

Figma

Code

Auto layout

Flexbox

Corner radius

Border-radius

Frames

Divs

Variables/design tokens

CSS variables

Prototypes

Clickable mockups (via JS/HTML)

Table 1.1 – Terminology difference between Figma and code

Understanding these differences is crucial to ensuring a smoother workflow and more effective collaboration between designers and developers.

How to fix it

To bridge this gap, designers and developers must actively work toward a common understanding:

Involve developers early: Bringing developers into the design process from the start ensures technical feasibility and helps avoid late-stage surprises. Make sure everyone understands the purpose behind design decisions through clear design annotation. I highly recommend walking through the entire design with developers, explicitly describing each screen and interaction rather than assuming anything is “obvious.” This serves two crucial purposes: developers can challenge your solutions and gain a deep understanding of user flows and interactions, while you, as a designer, can catch hidden flaws you might have missed during the design phase or that went unnoticed during design critiques.Establish a shared vocabulary: Document and define key terms that designers and developers use differently. This makes communication clearer and reduces misunderstandings. Consider using tools such as Storybook or similar documentation platforms to create a shared reference point where both teams can see how design components translate to code, helping establish common terminology and understanding.Use Figma’s Dev Mode: Leverage Figma’s developer handoff features to provide precise specifications and make it easier for developers to inspect design elements.Encourage cross-team learning: Designers should develop a basic understanding of development constraints, while developers should familiarize themselves with design principles.Create a feedback loop: Regularly review designs together to ensure alignment and address potential issues before they escalate. Remember that this loop goes both ways. Designers should also be involved in QA processes to verify that implementations match design intent, helping prevent details from getting lost in translation. Make sure everyone knows their roles and responsibilities, and establish clear points of contact so team members know who to reach out to when questions or ambiguities arise.

There are two primary ways to establish continuous feedback loops:

Scheduled weekly feedback sessions: This is the most common approach, where teams set up recurring calendar meetings for feedback. Designers present their progress, and other designers and developers discuss any necessary changes or improvements.Daily asynchronous feedback: A more fluid approach, which I personally prefer, involves integrating feedback into the team’s everyday workflow. At Dotidot, designers and developers provide feedback asynchronously at the end of each day using Loom recordings. This fosters a culture where feedback is a natural and ongoing part of collaboration, rather than being confined to structured meetings.

Even if your team lacks hybrid designer developers, following these practices will save significant time, reduce confusion, and create a more seamless workflow between both disciplines.

Repetitive design meetings waste time and delay progress

We’ve all been there. You sit in a meeting room (or on a video call) listening to someone explain what each screen does, what happens when you click this button, and why they chose that particular color. Meanwhile, you’re thinking, “I could have understood this in half the time if it were properly documented.” Design meetings are essential, but when they become repetitive explanation sessions rather than productive decision-making discussions, they drain energy and slow down progress.

What’s the problem?

Endless design meetings often consume valuable time without adding significant value. While collaboration is essential, excessive discussions over the same design elements can lead to delays, frustration, and decision fatigue. Instead of refining and progressing, teams can get stuck in cycles of unnecessary revisions and redundant conversations.

A key difference between junior and senior designers is how they approach documentation and handoff. Experienced designers go beyond aesthetics—they consider functionality and development requirements upfront, reducing the need for excessive meetings. By structuring Figma files effectively and using built-in collaboration tools, teams can minimize disruptions and maximize efficiency.

How to fix it

To break free from the cycle of excessive design meetings, we can leverage screen annotations. Effectively using screen annotations helps convey the full story behind your design. It’s important to note that these are custom-built components that we create and use in Figma, not built-in Figma features. You’ll need to design and build these annotation components yourself or as a team to use them in your design files. Here’s how to utilize them better:

Figma file structure: Before diving into specific annotations, establish a consistent Figma file structure that serves as a single source of truth for your entire project. I use a standard seven-page structure in all my projects:01 – Getting Started02 – Project Name03 – Documentation04 – Components05 – Playground and Exploration06 – Archive07 – Cover

This unchangeable structure helps me easily duplicate files and start new projects quickly, while developers know exactly where to find what they need. We’ll dive much deeper into this file organization approach in Chapter 4, where I’ll share the detailed methodology behind each page and how it enhances designer-developer collaboration.

Designer notes: Add context directly next to your design with designer notes. Avoid using comments or Figma Dev Mode annotations, as Dev annotations require all users to have paid seats. Comments can be used even from viewer seats (free), but can be easily lost, and they aren’t shown at first glance as easily as designer notes.

Instead, rely on prepared elements for clarity.

Figure 1.4 – An example designer note

This card demonstrates how to provide additional context within Figma designs. The note explains that filtering is based on the provided documentation and highlights specific parameters used in the project. Visual annotations direct attention to essential elements, ensuring clarity and fostering collaboration.

Copy note: Provide specific copywriting instructions to ensure developers understand how to implement text accurately within the design.

Figure 1.5 – An example copywriting instruction

Variant annotations: Don’t duplicate your design just to showcase small changes. Duplicating entire designs can create confusion about development complexity. At first glance, a project may seem much larger and more complex than it actually is. Additionally, excessive duplication can overwhelm developers, making it easier to miss crucial details buried within an abundance of similar-looking screens. Use variant cards to illustrate differences clearly and help developers grasp the full scope of adjustments. For example, opening a Figma file with 10 screens might appear overwhelming but could represent small changes on a few screens. Variants streamline first impressions, time estimation, and overall clarity. However, when variant logic becomes too complex to explain through annotations alone, consider using prototyping instead (if the budget and time allow), as interactive demonstrations can sometimes communicate functionality more effectively than extensive written explanations.

Figure 1.6 – Dropdown use case

Here’s an alternate version of the tab variation case:

Figure 1.7 – Tab variation case

Highlight nice-to-have features: While agile workflows prioritize speed, it’s sometimes beneficial to design beyond the Minimum Viable Product (MVP), which is the simplest version of a product that includes only the core features needed to satisfy early users and gather feedback for future improvements, to showcase the broader idea. Use visually distinct elements to denote nice-to-have parts (for example, a feature such as Search).

This approach improves communication with stakeholders, ensuring they see the complete vision and grasp your intent more effectively.

Figure 1.8 – Nice-to-have cards in a design

Ticket cards (Jira plugin for Figma): Link your Figma designs directly with project management tools such as Jira by adding ticket cards. These cards can display responsible team members and task statuses right in Figma.

Figure 1.9 – Ticket card for new design project

Flow headings: Include flow headings to outline logical sections of your design. This helps collaborators and developers understand the structure and implement the design as cohesive, story-driven blocks for quicker development.

Figure 1.10 – Flow heading for a new section in a design file

All of these annotations are crucial for every Figma handoff. Remember, a good design file isn’t just about frames with designs; it’s about effectively transferring the right information from design to development, product owners, testers, and other stakeholders involved in the implementation process.

Loom video walk-through

Record videos for everything! Loom is an incredible tool—you just click and record, and your video is automatically uploaded to the cloud. You can then paste the link directly into Figma. Everything is clearly explained, and anyone can revisit the video as needed.

I shared my workflow on LinkedIn:

Record a short Loom video explaining the feedback or a new feature idea. I include examples and walk through our app directly in the video.Loom AI automatically generates a transcript of the video.I use the transcript as input for ChatGPT, paired with a custom prompt tailored to our Jira ticket structure (description, requirements, acceptance criteria, etc.).Within seconds, I have a complete Jira ticket ready to go! I add the Loom video link to the ticket for reference, ensuring clarity for designers.

Figure 1.11 – Loom video gallery

Organize your video library systematically to prevent chaos. Use a consistent naming convention, such as YYYY - Area - Initiative Name, for all your recordings (for example, 2025 - Onboarding - Mobile App Redesign). This makes videos easily searchable both in Loom and when referenced in tickets. Create a dedicated page or section in your Figma file specifically for important videos and links. Developers and team members are often pressed for time and want everything served in one convenient location rather than hunting through multiple tools. Having a Video Library or Key Resources page in your Figma file with all relevant Loom links ensures that critical context is always accessible without requiring people to search through chat histories or project management tools.

Designers may not anticipate technical limitations, leading to missing details for developers

Picture this: you’ve just finished what you believe is your best design yet. Every pixel is perfectly placed, the user flow is seamless, and the visual hierarchy guides users effortlessly through the experience. You hand it off to the development team, expecting them to be as excited as you are. Instead, you’re met with concerns about API limitations, performance issues, or existing system constraints you never knew existed. Suddenly, your beautiful design needs significant compromises, or worse, a complete rethink. This disconnect between design vision and technical reality is one of the most common sources of friction in product teams.

What’s the problem?

Designers often lack awareness of technical limitations, which can lead to missing details for developers. While designers excel at understanding user needs and business goals, gaps in technical knowledge can create challenges. Legacy tech debt, platform constraints, and performance considerations are often overlooked. Without early collaboration, these issues surface late in development, causing costly revisions.

How to fix it

The following steps will help designers to know and understand the technical limitations early in the design process, ensuring that the collaboration will be faster and smoother for both sides:

Involve developers early: Bring developers into the design process from the start to identify technical constraints before they become blockers.Assign a developer partner: Designate a developer as a support resource for the project to provide real-time technical insights.Use Figma’s spotlight feature: Leverage quick, real-time calls to align on design feasibility without unnecessary scheduling overhead.Clarify technical needs: Ask developers for input on system limitations, reusable components, and performance considerations upfront.Document technical constraints: Keep a shared space where designers, developers, and product managers can reference key limitations and best practices to avoid repetitive issues.Leverage AI tools for technical understanding: When in doubt, leverage AI tools that are fantastic at understanding technological limitations and try to understand why something can/cannot be done. There is no need to become a code expert, but becoming a design expert requires an understanding of code limitations.

By fostering an open dialogue between design and development, teams can avoid misalignment, reduce unnecessary rework, and build products more efficiently.

Constant changes in the design

You know the feeling. You’ve just finished explaining the latest design iteration to your development team, they’ve started coding, and then it happens. A stakeholder suggests “just a small change,” or user testing reveals an insight that requires rethinking the entire flow. Meanwhile, your developers are caught in the middle, unsure whether to continue with the current version or wait for the next iteration. What should have been a straightforward development cycle turns into a confusing juggling act where everyone is working on different versions of the same product. Managing design changes effectively isn’t just about version control; it’s about maintaining team sanity and project momentum.

What’s the problem?

Frequent design changes are inevitable in many projects, but they can create confusion and inefficiencies. A major challenge arises when development teams are already working on one version while designers are iterating on a newer one. This leads to uncertainty about what should be implemented, potential rework, and a frustrating experience for both designers and developers. In one project with a large insurance company, we faced this exact issue—multiple design iterations were being worked on simultaneously while the older version was still under development. Developers struggled to build a product that kept evolving beneath them.

How to fix it

To manage continuous design changes effectively, consider these two primary approaches:

Branching for isolated iterations: This is an advanced feature that should only be used for big, complex projects where multiple people are working simultaneously on the same file. Think of branching like creating a separate workspace where you can experiment without affecting the main file that others are using, for example, if you’re working on a design system component library with multiple designers, or developing a major feature for a large enterprise company where several team members need to contribute simultaneously. When you create a branch, you’re essentially making a copy of the current file where you can make changes safely. Once your changes are finalized and approved, you can merge them back into the main file. This prevents your experimental work or iterations from disrupting the live version that developers or other team members are actively using.

It prevents unnecessary changes from affecting the live version.

Challenges: Requires Figma’s Organization or Enterprise plan; designers may be unfamiliar with branching workflows. To overcome this, consider a developer-led training session on Git-based workflows.

Versioning for clear change management:Manually create a version checkpoint before significant updates.Label versions clearly (for example, Onboarding_Flow_v1.2) to document progress and provide a stable reference.Use version descriptions to highlight key changes, reducing confusion for developers and stakeholders.

By adopting structured version control and branching techniques, you can reduce confusion, minimize rework, and create a smoother workflow between design and development teams.

Streamlining version control and iterations

How many times have you found yourself staring at a Figma file wondering, “Is this the latest version?” or “What exactly changed since yesterday?” Maybe you’ve been in a meeting where someone references “the version we discussed last week,” but nobody can figure out which one that was. The difference between teams that struggle with version confusion and those that maintain a crystal-clear project history often comes down to understanding when and how to use manual versioning strategically.

What’s the problem?

Many teams underutilize Figma’s versioning features, missing out on its full potential. The tool offers two types of versioning—automatic (autosaves) and manual—but manual versioning, when used strategically, can significantly enhance workflows. However, teams often struggle with knowing when and how to create manual versions, leading to inefficiencies in sharing and collaboration. Without clear guidelines, this powerful feature becomes underused or misapplied, limiting its impact on productivity.

How to fix it

When you decide to create a manual version, it should be at the end of a workflow cycle. This could be when you’re preparing a version to send to stakeholders or clients, or when you’re working in two-week sprints and need to hand off a stable version to development. The exact timing varies across different teams I’ve worked with, but understanding how to create effective versions is more important than the specific timing.

Here is how to create a version in Figma:

Click on the arrow next to the filename at the top left of your Figma interface.Select Show version history from the drop-down menu.

Click the + button next to Version history in the right panel. Every version can have a name and description. Let’s talk about naming first. You can use several naming structures to maintain consistency:

By Milestones: ProjectName_MilestoneName_vX

Example: Dashboard_v1 or Onboarding_Flow_v3

By Date: ProjectName_YYYY-MM-DD

Example: Onboarding_Flow_2025-01-15

By Sprint or Release Cycle: ProjectName_SprintX or ProjectName_ReleaseX

Example: Onboarding_Flow_Sprint12 or Onboarding_Flow_Release2.1

By Stakeholder Review Stage: ProjectName_StakeholderType_Stage_vX

Example: Onboarding_Flow_Review_v1 or Onboarding_Flow_Feedback_v2

Consistency is key—ensure the same structure is used across all your files to avoid confusion.

For descriptions, keep them concise but informative. Use them as a changelog to highlight differences from the previous version. Here’s a quick tip: leverage emojis for clarity:

✅ Approved changes ➕ Additions ❌ Deletions