Here’s a mistake I made early on as a designer: I jumped straight into Figma.
It felt productive. The clean interface, the endless tools, the satisfaction of crafting high-fidelity screens—it gave me the illusion of progress. But looking back, I realize it was a trap. I was moving pixels without fully understanding the problem. My work looked good but didn’t always solve what it was supposed to solve.
I was designing for the sake of designing. Not solving.
It took me a year or two to realize that the best design work happens long before you touch a tool. The moment I shifted my process, I saw a difference. It wasn’t easy at first—it took more time upfront to research, write, sketch, and align with the team before opening Figma. But over time, I became faster, more sure of my outcomes, and more confident that my work would hold up.
Design starts outside of Figma
Most of the work that makes a design successful happens before you open Figma. It starts with asking the right questions, exploring ideas, and challenging assumptions.
- What problem are we solving?
- What do users need?
- What does the business need?
If you skip this step, you’ll end up making beautiful screens that don’t solve anything. You might impress someone with how polished it looks, but when users interact with it, the cracks will show.
I used to fall into that trap. I thought, “the faster I produce high-fidelity mocks, the better.” But that’s wrong. Fast doesn’t mean good. I wasn’t creating impact. I was just making polished screens with no clear purpose.
Most design happens in your head
The hard part of design isn’t the UI work. It’s the thinking.
Design is problem-solving at its core. It’s about connecting dots that others might miss, spotting patterns, and making decisions that balance user needs with business goals.
And here’s the truth: The better you get at thinking, the less time you’ll need in Figma.
Let me give you an example. I worked on a complex AI product where users needed to navigate huge datasets. Early on, I jumped into Figma and started designing dashboards and interfaces. But no matter how many screens I designed, something felt off.
Turns out, I wasn’t solving the right problem. Users didn’t need more dashboards. They needed clarity. They needed a way to surface the right insights at the right time. Once I stepped back and rethought the problem, everything clicked. The final solution was far simpler than what I’d designed initially.
The process that works for me
I’ve tried and tested different approaches over the years. Here’s the process that works best for me:
- Start with a design doc. Before I touch Figma, I write a short document to align with my team. It answers three key questions: What problem are we solving? What does success look like for the user? What does success look like for the business?
- Sketch first. Next, I sketch rough ideas on paper. No polished visuals. The goal isn’t to impress—it’s to think clearly and work through ideas without distractions.
- Build quick prototypes. I create low-fidelity prototypes to test ideas early. These aren’t pixel-perfect, but they’re functional enough to gather feedback and uncover what’s missing.
- Refine in Figma. Once the direction feels solid, I open Figma. At that point, it’s about refinement, not guesswork. I know what I’m building, and Figma helps me bring it to life.
What happens when you stop jumping into Figma?
Changing your process isn’t easy. At first, it feels like you’re slowing down. I remember spending long hours on paper sketches and rough ideas. But the more I followed this approach, the faster I got over time. And more importantly, the better my outcomes became.
Here’s the surprising part: When you stop jumping into Figma, you get better at using Figma. It’s no longer a tool you rely on to think—it’s a tool to execute. And that shift makes all the difference.
I’ve seen this same shift in others I worked with. When my peers and reports followed this process, they told me they felt more in control of their work. They were more confident, more thoughtful. They weren’t just pushing pixels—they were solving problems that actually mattered.
Figma is neither the problem nor the solution
Let me be clear: Figma is a brilliant tool. I use it every day, and it’s essential for my work. But it’s not where design starts. It’s where design finishes.
If you treat Figma as a thinking tool, you’ll get stuck. You’ll be rearranging pixels without a clear sense of why. Figma isn’t a thinking tool—it’s a prototyping tool. Use it to bring your thinking to life. But do the thinking first.
Visual design still matters
There’s a narrative going around that visual design doesn’t matter anymore. That as long as a product works, it doesn’t need to look good.
I don’t buy that.
Visual design matters. It’s what makes a product feel polished, trustworthy, and worth someone’s time. But here’s the thing: You won’t get there by spending endless hours tweaking visuals in Figma. You get there by solving the core problem first, and then refining the visuals.
The best designers I know don’t spend days perfecting pixels. They solve the problem, then make it beautiful.
Closing thought
It’s not about doing less work in Figma. It’s about doing better thinking outside of it.
When you get that balance right, your designs will have clarity and purpose. You’ll solve the right problems, and your work will stand out. Use Figma as a tool, not as the entire process.
Solve first. Design second. That’s the shift that makes all the difference.