Summary
Personal story of how we not only improved the way of how designers worked with the other team members and external stakeholders but also found the ways to automate the routine work. The goal of the story is to motivate other people to build custom scripts, plugins, extensions, and products. Also, we’ll cover how open source projects can help to increase brand awareness to attract the best talents in the world. Actionable insights to boost up the automation process. Farid will share some insights on how to analyze and find the weak spots in the design teams’ processes. Then he will provide an action plan on how to automate different aspects of the work as well as simplify the onboarding process for the newcomers.
Key Insights
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Design operations encompass not only designers but also their interaction with other disciplines such as frontend developers and product managers.
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Automating routine design tasks can drastically reduce time spent, as in Alina's case cutting style consistency checks from two days to 30 minutes.
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Assessing design processes through workshops and maturity metrics helps identify weak spots and communication gaps across teams.
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Scaling improvements requires detailed onboarding materials, expert tips, FAQs, and support channels to ensure adoption across large organizations.
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Figma's API and plugins enable practical automation, including component usage reports and design consistency enforcement integrated with development tools.
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Automations significantly improve ROI in large organizations by saving extensive person-hours, but are less impactful in small startups.
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Design operations maturity progresses through stages of clear processes, scalable practices, and finally automation-driven efficiencies.
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Tool dependency requires continuous market analysis to anticipate and adapt to changes in design software landscapes.
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Sharing automation tools and experiences publicly enhances brand recognition and attracts top design talent, as seen with leaders like Airbnb and Spotify.
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Automation frees designers to focus on creativity, research, and innovation instead of repetitive manual tasks.
Notable Quotes
"Design operations focus on operations inside and outside design teams to increase speed, efficiency, and quality."
"Alina used to spend two days going through layers in Figma manually; now plugins cut that to 30 minutes."
"The assess phase is about understanding current challenges by involving not only designers but also frontend developers and product managers."
"Scaling means creating onboarding materials, videos, FAQs, and support channels to spread best practices organization-wide."
"We are saving 12 hours per week per team by automating component reporting from Figma prototypes."
"It’s not about replacing designers with automation, but giving them more time for creativity and research."
"The market for design automation is not very competitive yet, so small scripts and plugins can deliver high ROI."
"Design operations maturity has three levels: clear processes, scalable practices, and automation."
"Sharing automation tools and plugins publicly helps increase brand awareness and attract the best talent."
"Speed and quality are the competitive advantages now, and design operations enable both."
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