Figma breaks one design rule
One of the design rules for winning products is to use a single primitive. For Slack, it’s the message. For Figma, it’s the design file.
Not long ago, Figma introduced a second primitive. When you create a new file, it asks you whether you want a “design file” or a FigJam.
This breaks the rule.
As a designer, this second entry point can be frustrating at times. Imagine Google asked you every time when you went to search, whether you wanted to see a map, image, or just web links. For a split second, you’d have to stop and think. This unconscious friction can contribute to the reason you might “just like” some products.
A single primitive removes cognitive friction. I don’t decide whether I’m designing a PDF or an iOS app each time I go to create a new file. Removing primitives is like The Paradox of Choice for product design.
Having a single primitive makes Figma best-in-class for product designers, the best solution so far.
So, why break the rule?
The reason FigJam is a separate file type (a separate product) is because it isn’t for designers. The FigJam product does not have the same audience that the classic Figma product has. The FigJam product is for a product manager looking to do a collaboration exercise. Or a researcher doing some card sorting.
FigJam is competing with Mural, Miro, and other collaboration products. It’s a broad audience, which makes it challenging to be best-in-class. Products work best when they can target a very specific audience. They can grow their audience and use cases over time, but they have to be careful not to disturb the initial, vocal audience that got them there.
The need for FigJam to be for a different type of person is why it’s a separate product.
Figma is the airplane cockpit of design controls. It’s for the professional designer. FigJam removes a lot of unnecessary features (the pro stuff), and adds bespoke interactions like stickers. This makes it more likely to be the best-in-class product for other technology folks who may want to work with designers.
FigJam isn’t a winning product yet. And it can, at times, take away from the winning product that is Figma’s flagship, “main” (what should I call it?) product. But we’re still in the early innings. Figma might have an opportunity to leverage its network effects to kick down that door and make FigJam a winning product.