Radley

Figma Design Systems • Side hustle: Epilog

[Radley @radley]

It kind of makes sense that extended collections are an enterprise-only feature, since it’s so niche. My interpretation would help solve some of the library-inheritance issues caused by variables, and I hope it will eventually be available to all users.

[Radley @radley]

I finally got a chance to explore @Figma’s extended collections. I think a better term would have been subcollections.

In my mind, extended collections meant that we could extend the collection of any library with new variables that use the same base modes.

[Radley @radley]

@pwnies Uhm, Figma already knows why:

"Many teams, especially medium-large teams, often decide the best approach is to break up their components into multiple libraries. This tends to scale much better.”

https://t.co/ivcpIaJVqs

[Radley @radley]

@miggi @figma Vertical hug, for sure. That’s how most digital layouts work.

Use case? TABLES.

Admittedly, it is essentially a non-starter if the number of rows and columns remain static. Grids have the potential to be much, much more.

[Radley @radley]

@pwnies Or a Walter Bishop type…

[Radley @radley]

@briannekimmel Classic hybrid designer/developers

[Radley @radley]

@icanvardar There’s https://t.co/xi04uchlFa

[Radley @radley]

@su_dreams @rrhoover I’ve found cold, plain carbonated water to be the easiest solution. Preferably from a SodaStream, so you can adjust the amount of carbonation.

[Radley @radley]

@gleb_sexy We already do this, so I’m not sure what’s changed. I strongly recommend against an all-modes approach because it will have a similar set of issues as all-variants. A hybrid approach works best, reserving modes for patterns (as Figma recommends).

[Radley @radley]

@jeremiahjw @gleb_sexy They’re only amicable when it has a high chance of failing. It’s “app store” all over again.

[Radley @radley]

@gleb_sexy Do you need to change those values often enough that they need to persist? In my experience, they’re set & forget values 99% of the time (and I build component libraries all day).

[Radley @radley]

@gleb_sexy @figma I add any obvious global values as I go along: color variables, breakpoint variables (for page layouts & grids), and text styles. They make it easy to tweak and explore alternatives. Plus, I don’t want to spend a lot of time hunting down and connecting everything after.

[Radley @radley]

@pie6k Lock in place is great, thanks! Fwiw, I try to ensure my zoom & reposition start just as the mouse moves so it’s motivated by the action. Then they settle into place generously-before the cursor arrives at the target, for stronger “zero in” anticipation.

[AshutoshShrivastava @ai_for_success]

LMAO, Apple in the mud.

Who here actually uses Siri?
I personally don’t because it doesn’t have cutting-edge technology. ~ Garry Tan

[Radley @radley]

.@discord_support your latest app update is bricked on macOS. The window will show up, but then it's frozen.

[Radley @radley]

@VJKSKA Or just use a very high-resolution image in your comps? I’d hold off on optimizing images until export or a server image-generator.

[Radley @radley]

Probably the #1 request since auto-layout was introduced ✅

It works out of the gate for variable width + fill layouts. For everything else, you can use nested frames to apply behaviors (variable height, alignment, etc).

[Figma @figma]

Aspect Ratio: Locked.

[MachinePix @MachinePix]

SpiRobs (Octopus-Inspired Logarithmic Spiral Robot) by the University of Science and Technology of China.

[Dan Mall @danmall]

He was starting to really annoy me.

I was a new design director, running my first set of accounts and projects with my brand new team.

The seasoned executive producer at the agency I worked at was out for parental leave, and we had a contract executive producer filling in for the next few months.

I was leading a pretty big account, and this new guy started coming to my meetings all of a sudden. Any time I’d make a suggestion, he’d suggest the opposite. Any time I proposed a solution, he’d chime in that we’d solve it a different way.

After a few weeks of this, I was starting to get annoyed, but I didn’t know what to do about it.

So I asked him to have lunch with me one day.

He apathetically agreed. I suggested a lunch place a few blocks away, and he said he’d meet me there after his meeting ended.

I got a table and looked over the menu while waiting for him. A few minutes later, he walked in, and the server came over to take our order, starting with me.

“I’ll have a burger.”

”Great. And for you, sir?”

“Just fries.”

“That’s it?” I asked.

“This won’t be a long lunch,” he snubbed.

Ouch.

I took a deep breath, then got straight to the point.

“Have I done something to offend you?“ I started.

“Whaddya mean?”

“Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like everything I say to our client, you seem to second-guess or have a different opinion about.”

“I’ve worked with plenty of designers like you,” he fired back. “You promise the world to clients but then leave the developers and everyone else on the team holding the bag, and the project suffers for it. It always blows the budget and timeline for some creative whim.”

“I get that,” I stated calmly, ”but that’s not me. You haven’t worked with me before. Would you give me a chance to show you that?”

He contemplated.

We ended up spending 2 more hours at that lunch, getting to know each other and clumsily figuring out how to collaborate successfully.

He kept ordering fries, ultimately going through four plates.

Over the next few months, we became close collaborators, figuring out how to take advantage of each other’s strengths. After both eventually leaving that agency, he’s hired me twice at startups he founded and exited. Years later, in an introduction email, he called me the best designer he’s ever worked with.

Sometimes, it takes just fries.