SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Figma, the world’s first professional-grade, online tool created specifically for interface design officially launched today, introducing a new way for creative teams to collaborate on web and app interface design projects entirely in the browser. Any team interested in experiencing the future of real-time, collaborative design without sacrificing processing power or creative control, can request immediate access at figma.com.
“For years software has been moving away from the operating system and into the cloud, where everything from simple word processing to advanced project management has become accessible online, and collaborative in real-time. But design software hasn’t caught up -- it is offline and isolated,” said Dylan Field, co-founder and CEO of Figma. “Designers want to work differently; forced to email around files, wondering if they are looking at the most recent versions, but the underlying technology required to create a professional design tool online didn’t exist -- until now.”
Figma is professional-grade software built specifically to create interface design projects directly in a web browser. It offers the speed and stability of powerful legacy design programs like Adobe, but with the versatility and collaborative flexibility of online apps like Google Docs. With Figma, design becomes shareable across teams no matter where the members are located.
Move completely online. Built using WebGL, Figma helps designers work more seamlessly by moving the entire process onto the web. Designs remain secure but become inherently shareable, as simple as sharing a link to the project. Based on owner authorization, team members can review or edit shared designs on any operating system. No more time is wasted exporting, uploading, emailing, and downloading stale files. And version control is no longer an issue, as designs are constantly saved and updates readily available to review or modify.
Powerful collaboration tools. Figma is making the future of design more collaborative and efficient, allowing teams to work together no matter where each member is physically located. Collaborative tools including real-time comments and notifications, as well as colors and asset libraries are built directly into each project on Figma. Soon the platform will expand to enable simultaneous editing, where multiple collaborators can edit the same design at the same time.
Built for interface design. Interfaces are living, fluid and dynamic; Figma was built to tackle the specific challenges inherent to this medium. By moving the process into the browser, Figma allows teams to review projects in real world circumstances, using real use case data on different devices. Figma integrates powerful interface design tools including flexible grid and constraint systems, easy data integrations, and live device preview as easy as one click.
Figma was founded in 2012 by Brown classmates Dylan Field and Evan Wallace, when Field was named to Peter Thiel’s “Thiel Fellowship” program for young entrepreneurs. To date, the company has raised $18 million, including its latest $14 million Series A round led by Greylock Partners. The company raised a seed round in 2013 of $4 million led by Danny Rimer at Index Ventures, who also participated in the Series A. Additional investors include OATV, ICONIQ, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, White House Chief Data Scientist DJ Patil, Wealthfront CEO Adam Nash and Former Head of Design at Dropbox Soleio Cuervo. Greylock’s John Lilly has joined Danny Rimer on Figma’s Board of Directors.
“Design has become a core function across industries, and yet years later, there is still a massive gap between where design tools are and where they should be. Today, we work together in real-time, and we collaborate using web-based tools,” said John Lilly. “Figma brings design online; it’s hard to overstate how much this will fundamentally change the way teams design together. ”
“Designers should have more time to create beautiful interfaces and waste less time dealing with annoyances like updating teams, transferring files, and cleaning up countless versions of the same project. And we also believe that powerful design tools should be made accessible to any budget,” said Field. “Right now we’re inviting design teams to test us out for free during our Preview Release, and provide feedback so that we can continue to refine Figma into the default tool for interface design. We want to learn how teams use the tool so we can introduce appropriate and accessible pricing that is the best value in the market.”
ABOUT FIGMA
Figma has developed the world’s first professional-grade, online tool specifically for interface design. It brings the power and stability of professional design software directly into the web browser so that design teams can create collaboratively, in real-time. The company was founded in 2012 by Dylan Field and Evan Wallace, and launched its flagship design program in late 2015.
