How to organize Figma files for maximum productivity
Ensuring structured organization within Figma files is imperative to maintain focus and enhance productivity. Without a clear structure, it’s easy to succumb to chaos, hindering workflow efficiency. Let’s delve into effective strategies for organizing your design files within Figma.
While the techniques I present here have proven effective for me, it’s essential to acknowledge that each team and designer may have unique preferences and workflows. Feel free to adapt these methods to suit your specific needs and working environment.
Why Organize Figma Files?
Figma files serve as collaborative workspaces, accessed by various team members, including product managers, developers, QA testers, and fellow designers. A well-organized file facilitates seamless navigation and ensures that all stakeholders can locate essential information efficiently.
Files (Product Team Environment)
In order to effectively organize features within product teams, in our company we’ve adopted a system of file versioning and relevance inspired by our international counterparts. This system utilizes badges covers with special annotations to denote the status of each file.
Structuring Pages:
My preferred approach involves segmenting pages into distinct sections:
1. Thumbnail:
Thumbnails quickly allow you to find the right project and understand the status of the layout and who is working on it. The status model and set of attributes for the cover can change depending on the needs of your product.
Essential information to include:
- Project or feature name
- Jira ticket number
- Status (e.g., Research, Design, Ready for Development, Completed)
- Lead designer’s name for easy contact
Recommended cover size: 1600 x 960px, ensuring clarity and consistency. Alternatively, customize the size to your preference, maintaining a cohesive color scheme for visual coherence.
Tips:
- Utilize pre-designed cover images available in the community.
- Ensure the cover image page occupies the top position in the file hierarchy or set it as a thumbnail for easy access.
- Incorporate the cover image into your design system as a reusable component for convenience.
- Consider making statuses a component with variants for seamless updates.
2. Design Accept (development)
With the “Dev Mode” feature in Figma, you can designate a dedicated page for developers, housing the latest up-to-date layouts. Create sections containing workflow information and explanations for seamless collaboration.
3. Iterations:
- Allocate space for documenting design iterations and feedback cycles, facilitating iterative refinement towards optimal solutions.
Tips:
- Number each iteration page for clarity, optionally including dates for reference.
- Employ visual cues such as red points to highlight areas requiring team input.
4. Research and Inspiration:
- Consolidate insights, feedback, and inspirational references within the file, fostering seamless collaboration and knowledge sharing.
5. Design Review: Catalog QA findings post-implementation to bridge gaps between design and development, ensuring alignment and quality assurance.
6. Assets: On the Assets page, you’ll primarily utilize pre-existing components and icons sourced from the design system UI kit. However, there are instances where custom components must be crafted. Within this section, you’ll compile all newly designed components for easy access and reference.
Should you opt not to integrate the new component into the design system immediately, retain it on this page. It’s important to note that Figma allows seamless copying and pasting of components between files without compromising their connection. This flexibility enables efficient collaboration and ensures consistency across projects.
7. Bin: This section serves as a space to document all agreed-upon design decisions reached by you and your team.
Additional Tips for File Organization:
- Ensure clear file naming conventions for easy searchability.
- Prioritize component naming and organization within the design system.
- Inject personality into the file using emojis for a lighthearted touch.
- Utilize empty pages as separators, enhancing readability.
- Create a template file to streamline project initiation.
- Establish consensus among team members regarding file structure and conventions.
- Familiarize product team members with the file structure to facilitate collaboration and information retrieval.
In Conclusion
Describe your approach to organizing files and workflows. Utilize my aproach and share it with other designers. Hopefully, it will prove useful and inspire you to create something innovative and valuable for the community)
