Brainstorming

Illustration of Pablo Sánchez, who has curly hair and is wearing a yellow sweater, over a green background

Pablo Sánchez’s 7 rules for designing the unexpected

Pablo Sánchez

The designer of Ableton’s Note app shares unconventional principles for creating unforgettable digital experiences.

Maker Stories Design UI/UX

A collage of images, maps, text, and graphics from archival NPS brochures on a black grid

Made in Figma: The National Park Service goes from paper to pixels

Jenny Xie

How do you design an app for 431 diverse national parks and monuments? By taking a page from iconic NPS park brochures. Learn how a small team adapted Massimo Vignelli’s seminal design system for a digital interface.

Maker Stories Brainstorming Design systems

Figma’s UI3 interface showing design work in the canvas is placed over a vibrant background

Figma on Figma: Our approach to designing UI3

Jenny Xie

Overhauling Figma’s interface meant reimagining how designers work. From docked panels to a new labeling system, here’s how we shaped UI3 by balancing user feedback with our vision for the future.

Inside Figma Product updates Design

An illustrated portrait of Charmaine Lee shows a smiling woman with long hair and glasses

Charmaine Lee’s 10 rules for building developer tools that feel like magic

Charmaine Lee

As a product manager working on Snapchat’s Lens Studio for AR developers, Charmaine knows what it takes to delight creators.

Maker Stories Product management Engineering

An illustration of a ship hull being built in a warehouse with several workers building the body or examining drawings

The anatomy of a component sprint

Brian Alfaro,

Victor Alejandro Aguilar

The Washington Post’s inclusive process for creating new design system components bridges the gap between design and development to make features that help navigate the news online.

Maker Stories Design systems Brainstorming

An illustration with panels showing people in different scenarios getting a push notification on their phone, whether it be relaxing in bed or watching the Super Bowl

The anatomy of a Super Bowl ad

Jenny Xie

How learning app Duolingo’s cheeky five-second spot beat the odds in a crowded field.

Maker Stories Behind the scenes Branding

Peter Yang’s 10 rules for making products that customers love

Peter Yang

Product lead Peter Yang taps into his decade-plus career to explain why staying focused on the craft is a product manager’s superpower.

Maker Stories Product management Career & education

An illustration depicting faces leaping out of a digital screen and having conversations

Come together: A multiplayer guide to great meetings

Aaron Britt

Take meetings from “meh” to magical. Here’s how facilitators and participants can co-create a work session for the books.

Working Well Brainstorming Meetings

Give ideas more space with Jambot

Amber Bravo

Jambot brings the generative power of ChatGPT to FigJam, helping you take your ideas (and meetings) further.

Inside Figma Brainstorming Meetings

Throwing curveballs: Shopify’s secret for staying ahead of the game

Suzanne LaBarre

By shaking up business as usual, managers encourage their teams to think bigger.

Working Well Brainstorming Meetings

Paula Scher in front of a very large graphic poster

Paula Scher’s 10 rules for play

It's Nice That

There is a cohort of world-renowned graphic designers whose work people know whether they’re into design or not, and Paula Scher’s name sits squarely on that list. With this in mind, we invited the Pentagram partner to share her “10 rules for play” noted down over a formidable and long-lasting career.

Maker Stories Thought leadership Tips & inspiration