AI tools called Auto Layout and Design Systems have been introduced.
Figma aims to focus less on platform interface and more on user experience.
Figma announced major updates to its UI with the rollout of Figma UI3.
New toolbar includes rounded corners and 200 new icons.
Figma, a popular design platform, recently announced major updates to its UI and introduced new AI-powered features at its Config conference. The company is rolling out Figma UI3, which includes a new toolbar with rounded corners and 200 new icons. Figma's third significant redesign aims to focus the canvas less on the platform's interface and more on users' work.
Additionally, Figma has introduced AI tools called
Figma’s new tool Make Designs lets users quickly mock up apps using generative AI.
Make Designs tool made near-replicas of Apple’s weather app.
Figma CEO Dylan Field blamed himself for pushing team to meet a deadline.
Accuracy
Figma's new tool Make Designs lets users quickly mock up apps using generative AI.
Figma plans to teach its own models how to design in the context of Figma, but will take steps to ensure they only learn general design patterns and specific Figma design concepts.
Deception
(50%)
The article contains examples of both selective reporting and editorializing. The author highlights the controversy around Figma's AI tool while omitting details about how the tool was designed to generate designs based on off-the-shelf models and a bespoke design system commissioned by Figma, rather than training it on existing apps. This creates an impression that the tool directly copied Apple's weather app design. Additionally, the author quotes Andy Allen's posts that showcase the similarities between Figma's tool and Apple's weather app but does not disclose that Allen is a CEO of a competitor software company. This could be seen as an attempt to sensationalize the story.
Figma’s new tool Make Designs lets users quickly mock up apps using generative AI. Now, it’s been pulled after the tool drafted designs that looked strikingly similar to Apple’s iOS weather app.
In a Tuesday interview with Figma CTO Kris Rasmussen, I asked him point blank if Make Designs was trained on Apple’s app designs. His response? He couldn’t say for sure.
In posts on X, Andy Allen, CEO of Not Boring Software, showed just how closely Figma’s Make Designs tool made near-replicas of Apple’s weather app. [...] Just a heads up to any designers using the new Make Designs feature that you may want to thoroughly check existing apps or modify the results heavily so that you don’t unknowingly land yourself in legal trouble.
Fallacies
(75%)
The article contains a few informal fallacies. The author quotes Andy Allen's comparison of Figma's Make Designs output to Apple's weather app without providing context or analysis, which could mislead readers (Amplification). Additionally, the author states that Figma didn't train its AI tools but uses off-the-shelf models and a bespoke design system (Begging the Question), implying that this approach is inherently better than training their own models. The article also presents Figma's side of the story without providing counterarguments or evidence from other parties, which could give readers an incomplete understanding of the issue (One-sided evidence).
]In posts on X, Andy Allen, CEO of Not Boring Software, showed just how closely Figma’s Make Designs tool made near-replicas of Apple’s weather app.
Figma explained that Make Design generates UI layouts and components from text prompts for quick exploration in design process.
Figma identified the issue within hours of Allen’s tweet and will disable the feature until a full QA pass is completed.
Accuracy
Make Design generates UI layouts and components from text prompts for quick exploration in design process.
Deception
(100%)
None Found At Time Of
Publication
Fallacies
(85%)
The article contains a few informal fallacies and an example of inflammatory rhetoric. It also uses a dichotomous depiction by presenting the potential consequences of AI design tools as either eliminating repetitive work to allow for more interesting ideas or wiping out jobs by bringing digital design to the mass market.
The article accuses Figma of heavily training its AI tool on existing apps, an accusation that the author, Sarah Perez, denies: 'But in its haste to launch new AI features to remain competitive, the quality assurance work that should accompany new additions seems to have been overlooked.'
The article presents two opposing viewpoints on Figma's Make Design feature: some designers argue it will wipe out jobs by bringing digital design to the mass market, while others counter that AI will eliminate repetitive work in design and allow more interesting ideas to emerge. This creates a false dichotomy.
An inflammatory rhetorical example can be found in this statement: 'Just a heads up to any designers using the new Make Designs feature that you may want to thoroughly check existing apps or modify the results heavily so that you don't unknowingly land yourself in legal trouble.' This statement implies that Figma's AI tool is actively causing designers to infringe on copyright laws.
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