Big News: Adobe is acquiring Figma. This reminded me of the fate of Adobe XD. Judging by the update frequency and commercialisation strategy of Adobe XD, it seemed to have been abandoned, apparently in preparation for the Figma acquisition. This made me wonder: how will this acquisition impact the future of digital design tools?
Three Major Directions in Digital Design Tools
Currently, digital design tools are developing in three main directions:
- No/Low-design tools (e.g., Canva)
- Specialised professional design tools for specific scenarios (e.g., Figma)
- Transforming design tools into No/Low-code product tools (e.g., Framer)
Figma has always focused on creating professional tools for designers, which has secured its position in the industry. However, to be honest, Figma's next growth point isn't entirely clear.
Potential Drawbacks of the Acquisition
- Cost implications for small teams/individual workers:
- Costs may increase significantly due to bundling with Creative Cloud
- Many products in Creative Cloud may not be suitable for digital product design and lightweight design scenarios
- Figma's positioning may be limited:
- Personally, I believe Figma's next growth opportunity lies in becoming a more comprehensive product tool
- Forming a feedback loop with live data will be crucial
- However, after integrating with Adobe, they may focus on improving the product design experience in the short term
- Innovation drive may be affected:
- Joining a traditional large company inevitably brings other forces into play
- At least Adobe has a better reputation in this regard than Microsoft
Potential Benefits of the Acquisition
- Potential advantages for large enterprises:
- If they were already using both tools, integration might actually save money
- It may attract more businesses to purchase Creative Cloud
- Could promote upgrades from PS/AI to Figma in large enterprises (especially in the Chinese market)
- Integration with Adobe product suite:
- Transplanting Adobe XD's advantages to Figma
- Extending to material processing to the earlier stage and hi-fi prototype creation at the later stage of design
- A major advantage for design teams with higher requirements (although perhaps only 20% of users need this)
- Stronger technical support:
- Adobe showcases design tool 'magic' every year
- Figma may receive more AI resources, leading to more interesting design experiences
- For example, advanced background removal, hand-drawn wireframe conversion, AI-assisted design suggestions, etc.
Conclusion
Overall, Adobe's acquisition of Figma will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the future development of digital design tools. While there are some potential risks, it also brings quite a few exciting possibilities. As designers or product developers, we need to closely monitor the developments following this acquisition and consider how to find our place in the new ecosystem.
This post was written on September 15, 2022