Figsigners, a new category of designers
Design must be more than using software
It is very important to start this text with a fundamental statement of interest: Figma is an incredible tool. It has completely revolutionized the design industry and definitively transformed the way we design interfaces and build digital experiences. It is really important that before you continue reading the following paragraphs you retain this idea, because for me it is absolutely true. None of what you are going to read below is about Figma. It is, rather, about the way we designers have looked at the tool, often confusing the profession with the use of a specific software.
Throughout its history, design, especially in its graphic and digital design aspects, has almost always confused the profession with the tools used to practice it. An idea has formed in the community (and also among clients) that you are only a designer if you use this or that tool. In practice, the ones that the market dictates as fashionable at any given time. To be clear, logically you have to use the most efficient tools for each task. Designing interfaces in Photoshop, for example, doesn’t make much sense these days. Not because it’s Photoshop in particular (which is also an incredible tool), but because it’s not the most efficient tool to do it. That’s not to say it’s not possible, but it’s far from being…
