Figma is our go-to software when it comes to all things design and performance creative, it’s perfect for working collaboratively in our team. Another element of Figma that we simply love is the community-driven aspect behind it. There are so many great plugins created by the community that deserve to be shouted about! Today we’ll dive into a few of our favourite Figma plugins.
Neumorphism
By Fabian B – 43.5k users
Firstly, what on earth is Neumorphism? This creative style uses light and dark shadows to create a minimal aesthetic that adds realistic depth to your design. Neumorphism started to gain popularity when it became a UI trend back in 2020 and has even started to branch out into being utilised as a branding style, while mainly staying within its UI origins.
Using Neumorphism in your designs/brand can actually take up quite a bit of time, creating all of the perfect drop shadows to simulate light and perspective. But with this simple plugin, all you need to do is select your element/shape and click ‘Neumorph it’ to achieve the Neumorphism look that you’re after. The effect is customisable so you can go back in to adjust the light source or even change the elevation or intensity of your Neumorphism element.
UI Faces
By Aleksandar – 161k users
Need a happy face or a more neutral expression for your creative work/mockups? Look no further than this simply simple plugin. UI Faces pulls in thousands of photography options from various sources such as; Unsplash, Pexels, and even donated self-portraits from the community too! You can filter the plugin to search for specifics too, for example, choosing different ages or hair colour. Save yourself time browsing those stock image websites and give this plugin a go!
Mockup
By Rodion and ls.graphics – 436k users
Wouldn’t it be so convenient to be able to search for mockups within Figma and even insert your designs straight into them too? The Mockup Plugin has the answer! Its library of assets is ever-growing with all sorts of mockups to use; phones, banners, tablets, and lots more. If you’re going for a realistic device, using the latest releases of big-brand devices in your designs can be great practice. Luckily for us, this Mockup plugin will feature them at a fast pace upon their release for you to use!
There’s a fantastic addition that many other mockup plugins are lacking too. Mockup has a built-in distort tool, so if your design doesn’t fit into the frame of the mockup, it’s easy to manipulate to get the result you’re after.
Iconify
By Iconify and Vjacheslav – 1.5m users
Who doesn’t love endlessly scrolling through web pages looking at icon set thumbnails searching for the perfect one? Well now you can do exactly that but in Figma! Win-win! Iconify has more than 100 icon sets containing over 100,000 icons. Sourced from Material Design Icons, FontAwesome, Jam Icons, EmojiOne, and more, there’s a variety of styles and weights to suit your design. Don’t worry developers, Iconify has you covered too with easy-to-use icon components for React, Vue and Svelte.
EightShapes
By EightShapes and Nathan – 16k users
EightShapes automates the creation of design specifications, breaking down the anatomy of your designs, marking relevant layers, and checking if everything is grouped/framed correctly in your Figma. It also annotates each element with descriptions displayed in a clear and organised layout for you.
This plugin is great for handing over design work to developers, the specification is there to aid their understanding of the creative. You can actually use it to audit an in-progress Figma design system to ensure there aren’t any areas lacking or incomplete in your components, which can lead to some valuable critique and insights into you and your team.
Conclusion
Plugins aim to improve your design quality of life, by providing simple and time-saving paths and optimising the way we work. Hopefully, these plugins will be useful to you and help to improve your everyday Figma experience, they have certainly aided us more than once and will continue to do so! We’re excited to explore more plugins as the Figma community grows, do you have a favourite? Teach us! If you want to reach out to our team and talk design, feel free to pop us a message!
