The COVID-19 world has brought us many changes and complications. One of them is a lot more people being forced to work remotely.
Figma realized that those working from home needed a safe space for brainstorming and free-form interactions. Which is why the company has built a new whiteboard tool called FigJam.
Figjam: A Place to Brainstorm and Collaborate
As you might already know, Figma is an open design company known for its cloud-based vector graphics editor and prototyping design tool. It is a place where the entire design team can bring a project to life.
Figma realized that people needed an online space simply for sharing ideas and connecting with their co-workers. Which is why Figma developed FigJam, which was announced at the virtual Config 2021.
Figma CEO Dylan Field explained the thinking behind FigJam in a post on the Figma Blog, saying:
So it became clear to us early on, especially after what felt like our zillionth video call, that there’s something special about simply 'being' in Figma together—that beyond a powerful interface design tool, Figma can serve as an energizing space for people across teams and geographies to come together, iterate and explore.
FigJam is an online whiteboard tool that the company developed to fulfill this mission. The best thing about it is that it’s quite simple to use and can be considered as a lightweight version of Figma. Therefore, not only designers, but people that don’t have much knowledge in this field, can take advantage of this new tool.
Overall, FigJam is fun to use. It has sticky notes, emojis, markers, shapes, stickers, and a cursor chat. You can use all of these tools to organize your ideas, show how you feel about a certain thought, approve with stamps, and many more.
To make collaboration between teams on Figma and FigJam even more effective, the company decided to add a built-in voice chat. This audio functionality helps the teams to communicate on the necessary topics without needing to start a video call on any other software.
If you’re a designer that is currently using Figma, you’ll be able to easily move any ideas and design objects that you came up with the team on FigJam into Figma to continue working further on the new projects.
Is FigJam Free to Use?
Currently, FigJam is available in beta and is therefore free to use for everyone until 2022. After this period, there will be three FigJam subscription options: free, $8/editor/month, and $15/editor/month.
Among other announcements that Figma made at Config 2021 are a new workflow called Branching, higher user limits, and an improved mobile app. One thing is clear here... Figma is doing everything possible to secure its position as the primary design tool of the majority of people.
Image Credit: Figma