Talks to Watch: Figma’s Config 2024
Each year, Figma hosts Config, a community-focused space for learning, sharing ideas, and celebrating craftsmanship. The 2024 conference, held on June 26 and 27, 2024, featured over 75 speakers and more than 50 sessions that covered a myriad of design-related topics.
Mike Mulvey, Creative Director with Grio, attended Config 2024 and is here to share his feedback on the best talks at the conference:
Talk 1: How we redesigned Figma
One of the largest talks at Config 2024 centered around the new user interface (UI) released by Figma. This talk is an in-depth look at the newly redesigned Figma. The Figma design team discussed how they approached their redesign and explained some of the decisions they made during the process. This talk also took a look at how they balanced the large number of components with the predictable minimalism that they were going for with the new design.
Watch now at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYvLEr2jml4&list=PLXDU_eVOJTx402DljIPagaDKLi bF-qfF0&index=11
Talk 2: Unlocking opportunities: building your brand with side projects
In this talk, Shift Nudge founder Matt D. Smith discussed the transformative power of passion projects and their ability to unlock career-defining opportunities and a standout personal brand. This talk was especially beneficial as Smith has real-world examples from his own personal and professional growth opportunities.
Watch now at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fquRcCZ1qk&list=PLXDU_eVOJTx402DljIPagaDKLibF-qfF0&index=24
Talk 3: The impact of Flash
In this talk, Jonathan Gay discussed the process and evolution of Flash. One of the most fascinating components of this presentation was Gay’s introspection about the fact that they had no idea they’d be creating such an influential product during the development phase.
What started as a small passion project became the foundation of many of the things we see today. When YouTube launched in 2004, it would not have been possible without the Flash plugin that allowed for video playback within the browser. The programming language in Flash, Actionscript, shares a common codebase with Javascript, and other design features we take for granted in the browser today, like custom typography, were not possible prior to Flash.
Watch now at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRziZwmQuKg&list=PLXDU_eVOJTx402DljIPagaDKLibF-qfF0&index=28
Talk 4: Why shitty robots are the antidote of perfectionism
In this talk, inventor and YouTuber Simone Giertz, known as the “Queen of Shitty Robots” on YouTube, talks about her creative endeavors and how she overcame her performance anxiety by getting slapped in the face by a robot.
This talk is chock-full of wonderful life advice and inspiration for pursuing your goals, especially the unconventional ones. From her YouTube channel to her Coat Hingers, Simone shows that anything is possible through hard work.
Watch now at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ey15uUeprE&list=PLXDU_eVOJTx402DljIPagaDKLibF-qfF0&index=83
Talk 5: Design system adoption addiction
In this session, Olena and Pim discuss how treating tooling as part of the design system can help you transition to cohesive releases spanning across all environments. Their experience of working with 150+ teams shows how that allowed them to ship system-wide features at Booking.com without asking product teams to spend time on their adoption.
Musatova and Strengers also focused on the importance of the “junkies”: the users who are most excited about your system. They showed how engaging these users can help you identify bugs and areas in need of improvements and increase your overall excited user base.
Watch now at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P1CPwJdlsQ&list=PLXDU_eVOJTx402DljIPagaDKLibF-qfF0&index=61
Talk 6: Design systems for XL displays
In this session, June and Dale delved into the creation of a design system for XL digital displays. When designing large airport screen displays, Lee and Sande look at three things: What are the crowd levels, what is the location, and what is the season? Basing their designs based on these three environmental factors has allowed them to create robust systems that are improving Alaska Airlines users’ airport experience.
Watch now at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR1f4KicAJg&list=PLXDU_eVOJTx402DljIPagaDKLibF-qfF0&index=57
Talk 7: Improve your design system with confidence through A/B testing
In this session, Steve discussed the why and how of A/B testing Design System components in a Web environment. Steve revealed how he was able to integrate Figma and Github to automatically deploy A/B tests for singular components to improve feedback. He also reflected on how A/B tests can help align Design System team roadmaps with product leadership goals.
Watch now at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HXMPLkNamg&list=PLXDU_eVOJTx402DljIPagaDKLibF-qfF0&index=65
Talk 8: In defense of old pixel
The final talk, by Marcin Wichary, was a fascinating interactive experience that embodies his passion for pixel fonts. “it’s not just for nostalgia,” he says. “Pixel fonts are a much richer, much more approachable, and an ever-relevant canvas for creativity. I want you to fall in love with pixel fonts the way I keep falling in love with them, over and over again.”
From Wichary’s energy and enthusiasm to his live data compilation and demonstrations, this talk was unequivocally the highlight of the event.
Watch now at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDI8ubVZi7w&list=PLXDU_eVOJTx402DljIPagaDKLibF-qfF0&index=72
Final Thoughts
Though Config 2024 started slowly due to some logistical obstacles, it gained traction quickly and ended up being a great conference with many fabulous speakers and presentations.
In addition to the sessions, most of the largest vendors in the industry, like LottieFiles and Atlassian, were present and excited to speak about their offerings. If you want to learn more about Figma or trends happening in software design, I highly recommend watching any or all of the Config 2024 presentations at https://config.figma.com/.
