Table of Contents
Do not index
Do not index
Read time: under 5 minutes
How Figma just fired a shot at Adobe, Canva and Webflow
In 2021, Figma was a one-product company. A beautifully simple collaborative design tool. Then came FigJam. Then Dev Mode. Then Slides.
At Config 2025 in San Francisco, Figma announced four new tools, bringing the total product count from 4 to 8. It’s a massive shift, not just for the company, but for the entire design industry.
The message is clear: Figma no longer wants to be just a design tool. It wants to be your entire workflow.
Some see this as a natural evolution. Others see it as a dangerous detour.
The response on LinkedIn? Mixed. Some folks are hyped. Some are rolling their eyes. A few are worried about quality slipping while Figma tries to be everything to everyone.
One thing is certain: this isn’t a “new feature” moment. It’s a strategic land grab. Figma is no longer just competing with Sketch or XD. It’s now coming for Illustrator, Canva, Framer, and even Vibe Coding.
So what’s actually new? What’s at stake for designers? And what might this mean for the tools we rely on every day?
Let’s unpack the announcements and the implications.
What happened at Config 2025?
Figma’s four new products expand its territory across illustration, web building, marketing content, and AI-assisted workflows:
- Figma Sites: A website builder that turns your designs into live, shippable websites.
- Figma Draw: A vector illustration tool that borrows heavily from Illustrator.
- Figma Buzz: A marketing content tool aiming squarely at Canva’s territory.
- Figma Make: An AI-powered assistant that helps generate, iterate, and evolve designs.
These join the existing set: Figma Design, FigJam, Dev Mode, and Slides; forming a full-stack design platform that covers nearly everything from brainstorming to publishing.
Let me break them down...
Figma Sites
This tool lets you design and ship basic websites, all within Figma. Think preset layouts, animations, AI-generated code, and direct publishing. It’s built to compete with tools like Framer and Webflow (and other website builders) but with tighter integration into your design process.
The promise: no more plugins, no more reformatting, no more handoffs, no more waiting weeks for developers to build static mockups. You design it, and it lives.
Figma Draw
Draw adds custom brushes, painting tools, text on curves, and SVG output. It’s the most direct challenge Figma has launched against Adobe Illustrator.
You can now create polished illustrations without ever leaving the platform. Designers who've long relied on separate tools for illustration now have one less reason to leave Figma.
Figma Buzz
With templates for social media, presentations, and brand assets, Buzz brings marketing workflows into the same universe. It’s less about creating something from scratch, and more about keeping everything on-brand and in one place.
Design and marketing can finally work side by side.
Figma Make
This is the AI play.
Figma Make can suggest variations, generate flows, and even spin up new components based on text prompts. It doesn’t replace designers (yet), but it could reshape how we approach iteration, ideation, and versioning.
Some see this as smart assistive tooling. Others see it as a slippery slope toward generic design.
Join 10,253+ Designers for FREE weekly UX Insights
Every Wednesday, I send out 1 actionable framework to grow your UX career 🌱 — No fluff. Always 2 minutes or less.
The reactions: Excitement meets skepticism
The design community had opinions. LinkedIn was full of hot takes.
Most were positive and excited about the rollout:
Others raised red flags:
There’s also concern about feature bloat. Can Figma realistically build great versions of every tool? Or will it become the design equivalent of a Swiss Army knife—versatile but not best-in-class?
A few wanted Figma too focus elsewhere:
The bigger picture
This product expansion comes just 18 months after Adobe’s $20B acquisition of Figma was blocked. Now that Figma is staying independent, it seems less interested in playing nice.
It’s going head-to-head with Adobe.
It’s entering Canva’s turf.
It’s stepping into Framer’s lane.
Hot take: Figma's pushing all these new tools to juice up their IPO numbers.
They want that sweet "AI company" valuation premium, and they've got the perfect users for it—designers who are actually shipping products with AI tools. Smart play to pump those numbers before going public.
Figma is betting big: Designers want fewer tools, not more.
If they’re right, they’ll become the go-to platform for the entire product lifecycle. If they’re wrong, they risk losing the elegance and focus that made them popular in the first place.
What it means for designers?
For everyday designers, this shift presents both opportunity and overwhelm.
On one hand, the ability to wireframe, design, illustrate, publish, and market all in one tool, could streamline entire workflows. Teams might collaborate faster. Startups might ship quicker. Solo designers might build more with less.
On the other hand, these new tools come with a learning curve. You’ll need to explore unfamiliar territory. And you might find yourself asking: Am I a generalist now? Should I still learn Illustrator? Do I need to master AI prompts?
It raises a bigger question: Should designers do more, or just do better?
Specialists won’t disappear. In fact, in a world of AI-enhanced generalists, niche expertise might become more valuable. But so will adaptability.
This isn’t just a product launch. It’s a statement about what designers do.
- We’re not just making static mockups anymore.
- We’re not just handing things off.
- We’re building live things.
- We’re crossing over into development, content, and marketing.
- We’re owning more of the experience—and more of the outcome.
Figma’s expansion reflects that shift. Whether we like it or not, the definition of design is changing. And the tools are changing with it.
What to watch next?
As the dust settles, a few key questions will shape the next chapter:
- How will pricing work?
- Will Figma maintain quality across all these tools?
- Will this kill the indie tools or give them new reasons to differentiate?
- Will designers stick with the all-in-one model or stick to what they know?
We don’t have answers yet. But one thing is certain: the design stack is no longer stable. It’s evolving. Fast.
This moment could define the next decade of design tools. It’s bold, risky, and maybe even overdue.
But as designers, our job isn’t just to react. It’s to experiment, adapt, and decide what genuinely helps us do better work. Not flashier work. Not faster work. Better work.
Stay curious, but stay critical. Don’t just follow the hype. Watch how it actually feels to design inside this new system.
Because in the end, great tools don’t make great design.
You do.
Let me summed it up perfectly:
The #1 skill now? Evolve faster than the tools. Stay sharp. Stay dangerous.
Whenever you're ready, there are 4 ways I can help you:
1. Junior Designer Bundle: Transition into UX and craft an unforgettable portfolio & get hired.
2. Senior Designer Bundle: Become a design leader with systems to build healthier, happier teams.
3. UX Portfolio Critique: In less than 48 hours, get your 30-minute personalised video of brutally honest feedback.
4. Job Sprint Course: Stand out in an unpredictable job market by building a memorable personal brand and a killer job search strategy.
