Content Output: Figma Workflow Shift (v2)
Blog Post (andresmax.com) — ~800 words
Title: I Stopped Designing in Figma
I used to spend days in Figma before writing a single line of code. Full prototypes, every screen, every state, every micro-interaction mapped out. That was the process. Design it, get it approved, then build it.
I don’t do that anymore.
Now I open Figma for maybe 30 minutes. I pull together a moodboard, pick a color palette, define some basic typography and spacing. Maybe sketch one or two key screens loosely, just to get the direction right. Not a prototype. More like a vibe check.
Then I close Figma and open Claude Code.
I use the Figma MCP to pull my styles directly into the codebase. Colors, fonts, spacing, all of it comes over programmatically. No copy-pasting hex codes, no redlining, no “is that 16px or 14px?” conversations with yourself. The design tokens live in the code from minute one.
From there I just start building. Real screens, real components, real interactions. But instead of building from a spec, I’m iterating the design in the browser. Something feels off, I fix it right there. I try a different layout, adjust the hierarchy, tweak the spacing until it feels right. The code is the design tool.
While I’m doing this, I have Claude generating a style guide and design system alongside the product. Every component I build gets documented as I create it. Every pattern gets codified. By the time I’ve built the first few screens, I have a living design system that’s actually real, not a Figma file that’s already out of date the moment a developer touches it.
I only go back to Figma when I need something specific. A custom illustration, an icon set, a complex graphic that’s genuinely easier to draw than to code. Figma becomes a graphics tool, not a product design tool.
The speed difference is hard to overstate. What used to take me two weeks of design, a week of back-and-forth with developers, and then more weeks of actual development now takes days. I’m talking 20x to 50x faster, and that’s not hype. And honestly the end result looks better because I’m designing in the actual medium. There’s no translation layer, no “the developer built it differently than the design.” The design IS the product from the first hour.
I think a lot of designers will push back on this. “You’re skipping the thinking phase.” “You need to explore options before you commit.” I get it, I spent 18 years in that world. But the thinking isn’t gone, it’s just happening faster and in a different place. I’m still obsessing over spacing and typography and visual hierarchy. I’m still making real design decisions. I’m just doing it in the browser instead of in a canvas that was always going to get thrown away anyway.
The old workflow was design, hand off, build, realize it doesn’t match, redesign, rebuild. The new workflow is set the vibe, build, iterate, ship.
Figma isn’t dead. I just don’t live there anymore. And if you’re still spending weeks in prototypes before your first line of code, the world changed while you were in Figma.
→ andresmax.com/newsletter
LinkedIn Post — ~500 words
I used to spend days in Figma before writing a single line of code. Full prototypes, every screen, every state mapped out. That was the process for 18 years.
I don’t do that anymore.
Now I spend about 30 minutes in Figma. Moodboard, color palette, basic typography and spacing. Just enough to set the direction. Then I close Figma and start building immediately with Claude Code.
The shift that made this possible is the Figma MCP. My design tokens pull directly into the codebase, programmatically. Colors, fonts, spacing, all of it. From there I iterate the design in the browser itself. Something feels off, I fix it in code. I try a different layout, I adjust it right there. The code is the design tool now.
While I build, Claude generates a living style guide and design system alongside the product. Every component gets documented as I create it. By the time I’ve built the first few screens, I have a real design system, not a Figma file that’s already out of date the moment someone starts coding.
I only go back to Figma when I need a specific graphic or illustration. It’s become a graphics tool, not a product design tool.
The speed difference is wild. What used to take weeks of design, handoff, and development now takes days. Somewhere between 20x and 50x faster. And the result actually looks better because there’s no translation layer between what I designed and what got built. The design is the product from hour one.
Old workflow: design, hand off, build, realize it doesn’t match, redesign, rebuild.
New workflow: set the vibe, build, iterate, ship.
If you’re building a product and still spending weeks in Figma before anyone writes code, the game changed and it’s worth paying attention to what’s now possible.
X Post (Thread — 3 tweets)
Tweet 1: I stopped spending days in Figma. New workflow: 30 min moodboard and palette, then Figma MCP pulls the tokens straight into code. I iterate the design in the browser now, not in a prototype that was always going to get thrown away.
Tweet 2: While I build, Claude generates a style guide and design system alongside the actual product. By the time I have a few screens, I have a living design system that’s real, not a Figma file that’s already outdated.
Tweet 3: Old: design → hand off → build → doesn’t match → redesign → rebuild. New: set the vibe → build → iterate → ship.
Figma isn’t dead, I just don’t live there anymore. Somewhere between 20x and 50x faster, and the result looks better.
Promotional Posts (for blog article)
LinkedIn promo: I used to spend two weeks in Figma before writing any code. Now I spend 30 minutes, and the product still looks great. Actually it looks better, because there’s no translation layer between the design and the build. Wrote about what changed → [link]
X promo 1: Every founder I talk to is stuck in the old design workflow. Weeks in Figma before anyone writes code. I found a way to skip most of that and the result is actually better. Wrote about it → [link]
X promo 2: Figma is my moodboard tool now, not my product design tool. The real design happens in the browser. The speed difference is something like 20-50x and I’m not being dramatic → [link]