Figma – FigJam basics
Goal
In this session you organize the starting thoughts of your project on a FigJam board. FigJam is the shared visual workspace of the Figma ecosystem: it is for brainstorming, mind maps, diagrams, and shared thinking, before the interface is designed. By the end of the exercise, the board for homework 1 is ready.
What is FigJam, and when do we use it?
A FigJam board is an infinitely large, collaboratively editable canvas. It is the digital equivalent of a whiteboard and sticky notes, but it can be rearranged, linked, and seen by others in real time. What matters is not the board itself, but that it creates visible connections among scattered thoughts: you can see what belongs together, what is missing, and what is uncertain.
The basic building blocks:
- Sticky (note): one statement, one thought. Write one statement on one sticky: this makes it easier to rearrange, group, vote on, or discard later.
- Section: a frame into which related stickies go. It is worth opening separate sections for the problem, the user, the assumptions, and the open questions.
- Connector: an arrow or line between elements. The arrow gives meaning: "this causes," "this comes after," "this depends on."
- Shapes and text: simple blocks, headings, notes.
- Voting, emojis, comments: in collaborative work they help prioritization and feedback.
FigJam supports two common structures. A mind map is a branching structure starting from a central concept; it is useful when you are still searching for which topics need to be explored. A flowchart shows chronological order. In a flow, do not draw the graphic details of screens, but the decisions and the important state changes: "search for an appointment → filter → select an appointment → confirmation." We learn about the detailed task flow in chapter 5; for now it is enough to know that FigJam is suitable for this too.
Task: the board for homework 1
Follow the steps. Each step takes a few minutes.
- Create a new FigJam board in your own Figma account, and name it (for example "UX project – 1. starting point").
- Open five sections on the board: "Problem", "User and situation", "Goals and constraints", "Success criterion", "Assumptions and open questions".
- Write the problem on a single sticky, following the frame: user, situation, goal, obstacle, consequence. If it does not fit on one sticky, split it into five stickies and connect them.
- Collect the perspectives: the user goal on a sticky of one color, the organizational goal on another color, and the constraint on a third. Make a short legend for the colors.
- Write down the success criterion in one checkable sentence.
- Make an assumption map: write every important claim on a sticky, and label it (research data, brief, professional rule, assumption). Mark the riskiest one.
- Connect with arrows the problem, the user, and the success criterion, so the logical chain is visible.
- Make a short pitch section: one sentence about the problem, one sentence about what you want to find out in the next chapter.
- Share the board: set it so that the instructor can open and comment on it with the link.
Checklist
- Each sticky contains a single statement.
- Based on the names of the sections, others can understand the structure of the board.
- There is at least one arrow that shows a real connection (not decoration).
- The assumptions are marked.
- The board is open with the link.
Learning resources
Figma – FigJam basics
Goal
In this session you organize the starting thoughts of your project on a FigJam board. FigJam is the shared visual workspace of the Figma ecosystem: it is for brainstorming, mind maps, diagrams, and shared thinking, before the interface is designed. By the end of the exercise, the board for homework 1 is ready.
What is FigJam, and when do we use it?
A FigJam board is an infinitely large, collaboratively editable canvas. It is the digital equivalent of a whiteboard and sticky notes, but it can be rearranged, linked, and seen by others in real time. What matters is not the board itself, but that it creates visible connections among scattered thoughts: you can see what belongs together, what is missing, and what is uncertain.
The basic building blocks:
FigJam supports two common structures. A mind map is a branching structure starting from a central concept; it is useful when you are still searching for which topics need to be explored. A flowchart shows chronological order. In a flow, do not draw the graphic details of screens, but the decisions and the important state changes: "search for an appointment → filter → select an appointment → confirmation." We learn about the detailed task flow in chapter 5; for now it is enough to know that FigJam is suitable for this too.
Task: the board for homework 1
Follow the steps. Each step takes a few minutes.
Checklist
Learning resources