Reading Shamsi Brinn's article Why I moved on from Figma made me nod many times. Shamsi is doing functional prototypes for web applications with HTML and Bootstrap instead of creating Figma-based upfront designs. She articulates so many insightful points in a way I couldn't. Check out her nohandoff.org website, it's great. My summary (the entire article is well worth reading):
Figma drawbacks
- Project handoff is baked into Figma, because it is used to create an intermediate product.
- Figma doesn't directly contribute to rapidly iterating, testing, and improving. It is more aligned with waterfall.
- Engineers are left holding the accessibility hot potato because of handoff.
- The visual design that comes out of Figma encourages polished work, that might gain buy-in too quickly and kills discovery.
Functional prototype benefits
- A functional prototype speaks everyone's language. We all understand web functions presented in a browser.
- Working on a functional prototype mitigates handoff because the prototype makes the transition to the product much easier.
- No design can think of everything upfront. Edge cases, responsiveness and accessibility can be tested in their native habitat.
- Design and technical goals can be measured at the same cadence, building team cohesion.
- The one constant we can rely on is that projects change and morph, which is what agile strives to embody for engineers. Functional prototyping embraces that reality for designers, too.
P.S. A day later I found DHH singing the same song: Design for the web without Figma