An expansive and expressive brand refresh marks a more “flexible” Figma

At first glance, one of the biggest changes is the incorporation of a broad range of illustrated graphics. While Figma’s previous look focused more on “basic geometry” – static, with black fine lines and block colour – this new look leans into a more diverse range of visuals. To create the various shapes, forms and icons that bounce around the grid – sparks, interlocking grids, smiley faces, letters and dots, to name a few – numerous rendering techniques were used, leading with an abstracted approach the visuals are meant to imply, rather than explicitly tell. Moreover, the range of styles is also a clever nod to the broader usership of Figma and the many hands that make up a project. If you were at Config, or have seen anything from the event, you might note some similarities between the brand refresh, and the playful abstract patterns that made up the conference’s type and visuals.

While leaning into this more free-flowing, abstract image-making, it still took a very “principled approach” to realise the illustrations, says Damien. A big focus was how each individual visual could play a role in storytelling; how can it represent (even if abstractly) what Figma does best? This means that each is brought to life via motion design, translating an activity, or behaviour that exists within Figma. Icons stretch, rotate and change shape, all reflecting the many stages and iterations an idea goes through in creative process, from the spark of ideation, the orderliness of the design process, and the schematic of the final build. “This kind of interactive dynamism is something we didn’t have in our previous visual language,” says Damien. Now, this motion allows to more accurately translate the vast potentials Figma offers.

One thing you may notice you’re seeing a lot less of in this brand refresh is cursors – and it’s a very deliberate move. They’ll still feature when they’re explaining or launching a new feature, but in day-to-day visuals, they’re out. It’s an interesting choice, as being the inventors of FigJam and pioneering online collaboration, Figma kind of started the whole including cursors in your look. But the move has two clear reasons. Firstly, it was an exercise in constraint – “designers love constraints, right?”, says Damien. Like the more abstract graphics, he and the team wanted to see if they could tell the story of collaboration without the signifying iconography. What’s more, this helps the brand to lean into more of that behavioural element “like how one might manipulate something, or how someone might transform something, instead of just paying attention to the stimulated UI”, says Damien. Secondly, it’s a point of differentiation. In recent years, the team had seen more and more cursors floating about on many other websites. “While Figma pioneered multiplayer, and we do think it’s a really important part of our history, we don’t want to be stuck in the cursor zone,” says Damien.

Type has also seen a big upheaval, seeing the brand go from an “off-the-shelf” type to a custom, Figma Sans. The team clearly have a lot of love for Dinamo’s Whyte, which has “served them well” since 2019, but in the refresh they sought something that could really “rationalise” their typographic palette as well as tightening it up, says Damien. Figma Sans has been designed by Swiss American foundry Grilli Type; the type is easy to use and apply, while still having that expressive edge, and it is also variable, flipping into a mono space which further adds to the ‘in-build’ feel of the whole identity. This legibility and simplicity was important, especially when it comes to the wordmark, to ensure it wasn’t “competing” with the bold and colourful graphic world it would eventually sit alongside, and was also incorporating well into newer aspects of the Figma offering, like its editorial website. To account for this new injection of colour, the wordmark’s palette has become more understated and harmonious or, in Damien’s words “buttoned up”.

If Damien were to summarise the thinking behind the whole refresh in one word, it would be “flexibility”. He continues: “We tried to create something highly flexible that allowed us to not only live in it today, but in five years not to be like ‘ok, we need to refresh the brand’.” The whole system – and its focal point of visual variation combined with typographic applicability – was created to allow for change, and hopefully, in another five years, to not feel out of date or not relevant enough. This idea of relevancy was also a major driver; despite the growth of Figma in recent years, resting on their laurels would be a dangerous game. “Relevancy is never a fixed thing, and it’s something that we need to keep working out,” says Damien.

The new rebrand launches today with a massive campaign that runs from highway 101 to New York’s Times Square.