Patrick Morgan Profile picture
Apr 26, 2022 10 tweets 4 min read Read on X
For those interested in my @figma project cover organization and workflow, here’s a quick intro to the library I maintain for my team to make designing in Figma even easier.🧵
The Project Thumbnail - I use it across my files for organization. I have a primary light variant for most projects and a secondary dark variant for libraries. I nest a Status component in each alongside the @jupiterone logo which comes from our logo library.
The Doc Page - I use this as a backdrop behind individual components in our UI libraries. I prefer a page separated component library, so this helps me avoid unwanted nesting in the Assets panel when looking for components.
The Color Swatch - I use it to organize our color palette. Note that the actual pound symbol is separate from the hex value so that the team can copy/paste the values into the Figma style panel seamlessly.
The status component - I use it to roughly keep track of what state a project or component is in. It’s not perfect, but works okay for me.
Cursors - All thanks to the team at @github & @githubdesign for this 🙏🏻 Super helpful for being more clear in showing certain interaction states in static screens.
Notes - Wouldn’t be a designer if I didn’t bring some sticky notes, right?! And they’re ROYGBIV because why not. It’s just satisfying. 🎨
Slides - A small set of slide backgrounds in our JupiterOne brand colors. For presentations.
Hope that's a useful intro to making a library with the explicit intent of supporting your own design workflow. Will go into more detail on applications of each in the future.
@figma For those asking about how I work inside my files, here's an intro to how I think about my file types.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Patrick Morgan

Patrick Morgan Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @itspatmorgan

Feb 25, 2023
Feeling like your @figma account could use some tidying? I know, I've been there.

Here are the 8 steps I follow to build a file thumbnail component that's minimal, consistent, and scales:
1. Make a Frame that's the right size (1600x960 suggested)

Name it 'File Thumbnail'
2. Match the Frame background color to the theme you prefer

(use color #FFFFFF for light, #2C2C2C for dark)
Read 12 tweets
Aug 17, 2022
I bet you recognize this emoji: 🎸

But have you ever wondered why the @Fender #Stratocaster became so iconic?

Here are three reasons it's a timeless design:

itspatmorgan.substack.com/p/design-grati…
@Fender Rams Principle #1: It’s innovative

The #Strat has many little innovations, but a big one is the tremolo.

#Fender’s unique design opened up a new level of expression for the instrument.

That expressiveness became an iconic, sonic building block for Clapton, Hendrix and more!
@Fender Rams Principle #2: It makes a product useful

Its form is lovely, but its function is superb. As Eric Clapton once said:

“...With the #Strat its functionality really steers it. That’s what makes the design so beautiful. It’s superbly thought out.”
Read 4 tweets
Aug 15, 2022
I asked designers for their favorite @figma keyboard shortcuts.

220+ responses and hours of synthesis later...

Here are the top 10 keyboard shortcuts to supercharge your workflow:
@figma #10: Copy properties → ⌥ ⌘ C

Easily transfer styles from one shape to the next. Amazing!

via @ImAndrewPons copy properties
@figma @ImAndrewPons #9. Pick color → ⌃ C or I

Just tap `⌃ C` or `I` and be amazed as a color picker appears out of thin air.

And here I was using the Apple digital color meter like a chump…

via @TeeAnn__ pick color
Read 18 tweets
Aug 8, 2022
Once you craft a presentation in @figma, traditional slide tools just feel... insufficient.

But to unlock that power, I needed to set guardrails to give structure to the blank canvas.

7 small enhancements made all the difference:
@figma 1. Keep it to one presentation per file

I set that limit because I found it became hard to find old presentations if I tucked them away in multiple pages of one file.

File level separation resolves that issue. One presentation per file
@figma 2. Use a basic, but clear page structure

Main: The presentation itself, so that it loads by default when the file opens.
Extra: Fully fledged ideas that just didn’t make the final cut.
Archive: Ideas you probably won’t come back to, but... just in case... 😎 File page structure
Read 10 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(