Dear [future] Designers, regardless of how you got here, always remember to ask: Why?

As for myself, I’m here to write a few words about the state of digital design today, November 2024. Specifically, it’s about how a slick, seductive tool named Figma has swept through our domain, luring in scores of fresh-faced creatives, locking them into its ecosystem, and quietly changing the very definition of what it means to be a designer. If you read this as a rant, you’re part of the problem.

This is a love letter and a warning to the next generation of designers.
If it seems that I have a bone to pick with Figma, stay tuned for my other open letter.

For many of you, Figma is the only design tool you know - the best thing that’s ever happened to design: easy to pick up, intuitive, collaborative, and, above all, accessible. Some sceptics say it’s a double-edged sword that can trap you in complexity.

I’m taking this further: Figma isn’t a double-edged sword; it’s a sword without a handle. You’re holding it by the blade, and it’s bleeding your energy and focus. The more time you spend in Figma’s maze of options, the further you drift from what your job is about - solving problems.

When I write "Cult," I'm not just having a laugh; I know what it's like to be part of one. I'm typing this on my 26th Mac, but that's another post.

So, Figma got us hooked, plain and simple. It makes everyone feel like they can be a designer, and, worse, it convinces the outside world that design is something everyone can do with an infinite canvas and a few plugins. Sure, lowering barriers sounds great, but we’ve lost something critical along the way: the depth, the craft, and the grit of real design work.

Head over to Dribbble [or any other place designers gather to scratch each other’s backs], and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about: a flood of trendy, flashy designs, all saying the same thing in a different colour palette—nonsense design solutions.

This praised democratisation has created a flood of “designers” without the skills or experience to go beyond the surface. This is not democratisation; it’s dilution. And the worst part? It’s lowering the perceived value of what we do.
This is why we lost the proverbial seat at the table.
This is why you’ll find Senior Product Designers subjected to pointless design exercises in interviews. No sane designer should ever engage in a fictitious problem without research data, a vision, and a strategy for the product/service.

It is just a fucking waste of everyone’s time.

Some of you remember Sketch and Axure RP, tools that were everywhere in the design world not so long ago. But they never became cults; they never convinced a generation of designers that they could solve the world’s problems with a mouse click and a Udemy course. They were [some still are] functional, powerful, even niche — and that’s where they stayed. Figma, however, went for the whole ecosystem, locking people in, capturing the market, and convincing everyone that design was easy and accessible to all. But by doing that, Figma lost sight of what design was supposed to be.

If you wake up and aren’t asking, “What problem am I solving today?” you’re not a designer. Full stop. Design is about solving problems in creative, unexpected ways — not about dressing things up to look appealing. But here we are, in a world where design has been reduced to aesthetics, where everyone’s chasing “engagement” and “likes” instead of focusing on what matters.

Every single time you’re on a digital journey where you feel stuck, confused, and hopeless, you’re staring at the effects of this grand distraction.

“Everyone can be a designer” is a fallacy.
With all due respect, design isn’t a democracy. Why should the entry be a democratic process? Being a designer requires real skills, mental resources, and the will to be vulnerable, wrong, fail, and dare. It’s about saying no — a lot. No to ideas, no to uninformed feedback, and a big no to falling in love with your own creations.

Not everyone can or should be a designer, just like not everyone can or should be a neurosurgeon. You don’t get to skip the fundamentals, and you sure as hell don’t get to skip the failures.

Figma [and other tools alike] has given us this illusion that anyone can do design and that it’s all right at your fingertips. But, as I said, it’s a sword without a handle. Sure, you can get some flashy results quickly, but at what cost? Your focus, your creativity, and your energy are getting bled out on Figma’s endless complexities—on mastering the tool itself instead of tackling the real problem. And as you get more engrossed in Figma’s features, you’re missing the point entirely. You’re losing the fight with the problem you’re supposed to solve, the core of the craft, its purpose, and your purpose as a professional.

To those of you who are new to this, stay grounded. Resist the cult-like allure. Figma is a tool, not a shortcut to greatness. If you get swept up in Figma’s world without understanding design’s foundations, you’re setting yourself up to miss what matters. You’ll get good at making things look nice, but you won’t know the first thing about making things work, about solving real problems for real people.

If you want to be a designer, focus on what makes a difference. Learn what it means to be human, why emotions take over our lives, and why context matters.
Become a generalist, and learn to stay away from the bright lights. Hone your skills. Embrace the messiness of complex problems, learn to connect with other functions, and understand markets, technology and business principles. Be willing to fail and learn from it. That’s what will make you a designer—not a fancy, pixel-perfect portfolio on Dribbble.

Your duty is first to yourself — learn early if you’re made for this craft and have what it takes. As a designer, your first duty is to the craft. Be intentional, and be honest with your solutions. It’s the only way designers will ever be taken seriously by their peers or as a function in any organisation.

Here’s the bottom line: design is about solving problems creatively, about making people’s lives better in tangible ways. And it’s time we got back to that. Figma, Sketch, and Dribbble are just tools and platforms. They can help you, but they’re not your path to greatness. Design isn’t easy. It isn’t for everyone. And if we want to preserve this craft, we need to be honest about that.

So, to every aspiring designer willing to move forward, remember: your blade needs a handle, and the hire should be for your mind.

With Love,
A.