How we improved our project and file structure in Figma
Like many design teams, Onfido made the transition from Abstract + Sketch, to Figma in the last couple of years. One of the common resistance points internally before making that switch, was Figma’s lack of Git-style branching that Abstract enabled. The design team had come to rely on branching and had built a lot of our processes around it.
During the transition we tried to structure our files, projects, and design system in a way that would help maintain some (though not all) of the benefits we got from branches.
I hope some of the ideas here spark inspiration for ways you could improve your project and file structures, however keep in mind that this system was designed for our specific needs (yours are probably different) and that these decisions should change over time in a culture of continuous improvement. I highlight some of our learnings at the end of the article. As always, your mileage may vary!
Structure
We are on a Figma Organisation plan, and structure our teams in a way that roughly maps to our cross-functional product teams.
Each team has three main types of “projects” (folders, if you prefer):
- Source files
- Work in progress (WIP)
- Archive
