It’s time we expand our definition of design
More people than ever are using design in their daily work. By making our tools and processes more inclusive, we can empower everyone to practice design with confidence—regardless of their title.
There are places you know you belong: your desk, your home, the team meeting where you know what small talk to expect and who will ask the most questions (in my experience, it’s usually me). Then there are the spaces where you know you don’t belong. For me, those are fine-dining restaurants, my partner’s dojo, and Eng Crits where they start talking about Codemods and JS modularization. Finally, there are the places where you hope to belong, but sometimes feel like an imposter. (This can come up for me in team meetings where I’m the only Advocate without years of design or development experience.)
While meetings and other “social spaces” are the cornerstone to developing a sense of belonging at work, we shouldn’t overlook the potential for tools to bring us together, too. Figma started as a product built intentionally for designers—and that commitment to design craft isn’t going away. (One attendee in our Release Notes livestream put it well after seeing the new text underline styles: “The attention to detail shows that Figma is a tool built by designers for designers.”) But the true magic of Figma happens when that expert circle expands, and designers start bringing their collaborators and teammates into the fold. An invite doesn’t necessarily guarantee you’ll feel like you belong when you arrive, but the first step is showing up.
