Figma changed how design teams work less through any single standout feature and more through one structural decision: it's browser-based and built for real-time collaboration from the ground up, rather than collaboration being bolted onto a traditionally single-user desktop tool.
Multiple people can work in the same design file simultaneously, seeing each other's cursors and changes live — similar to how Google Docs changed collaborative writing. For design teams, this eliminates the version-control chaos of emailing design files back and forth or working from outdated exported copies.
UI/UX design for websites and apps is Figma's primary use case, though it's also used for broader design work — presentations, marketing assets, prototyping. The prototyping features let you link design frames together into a clickable, testable flow without needing separate prototyping software.
No installation, automatic access to the latest version for everyone on a team, and the ability to view or comment on a design from any device — including one where design software isn't installed — removes friction that desktop-only design tools inherently have for anyone outside the core design team who needs to review work.
Extremely large, complex files or workflows genuinely dependent on specific desktop-only plugins occasionally still favor a traditional desktop application. For the large majority of UI/UX and general design collaboration work, though, Figma's browser-based model has become the practical default across the industry.
Figma's free tier supports a genuinely usable number of files and collaborators for individuals or very small teams, making it realistic to fully evaluate before any paid commitment — a meaningful contrast to design tools that gate collaboration entirely behind a paid plan.
Figma is worth trying directly with a real, current project rather than a sample file — the collaboration features specifically only become apparent once more than one person is actually working in the same file together.
If your team has an established workflow in another design tool, checking Figma's import support for your existing file formats before switching avoids losing structured design assets — most modern design tools support at least basic import, but component structures and design-system organization often need manual rebuilding rather than transferring cleanly.
