Figma Basics for Design Handoff

1. Frames and Layers

In Figma, frames are the foundational elements where you organize your design components. Think of a frame as a digital canvas that holds all your design elements. Each frame can represent a different screen or section of your design.

Layers, on the other hand, are the individual elements within a frame. These can be shapes, text, images, or other components. Layers allow you to organize and manipulate elements within a frame. For example, you can group related layers together to manage them more efficiently.

Analogically, consider a frame as a page in a sketchbook, and layers as the individual drawings or text on that page. By organizing your design into frames and layers, you can easily manage and hand off your design to developers.

2. Components and Variants

Components in Figma are reusable elements that maintain consistency across your design. Once you create a component, you can duplicate it throughout your project without losing the ability to update all instances simultaneously. This is particularly useful for buttons, icons, and other frequently used elements.

Variants extend the concept of components by allowing you to create different states or variations of a component. For instance, you can create a button component with variants for different sizes, colors, or states (e.g., hover, active). This ensures that your design is both consistent and flexible.

Think of components as building blocks in a construction set, and variants as different configurations of those blocks. By using components and variants, you can streamline your design process and ensure that your handoff to developers is clear and efficient.