ZaneRay attended Config 2025, hosted by Figma, participating in the Leadership Collective track to connect with industry peers and explore the evolving role of digital experience design. While the new product announcements drew a lot of attention, real momentum came from conversations about the future of design, the influence of AI, and the growing convergence of design and development.
What are Figma's new product launches?
Figma introduced five new tools to expand its product offerings. Many of these tools enhance the design experience in Figma or compete directly with existing services in the field.
- Grid -This feature was really the missing link in Figma layout. Figma does a great job executing layouts that resemble front-end development but was always lacking CSS grid. Now it’s built into figma as a layout option that predictably outputs valid CSS Grid markup in dev mode.
- Draw - An upgrade to Figma’s vector editing tools, Draw should reduce the need to bounce between Illustrator and Figma by supporting more advanced illustration work natively.
- Buzz - A lightweight marketing tool that lets designers share polished, editable templates with marketers, all within the familiar Figma environment.
- Sites - A no-code solution to design, build, and publish web pages directly from Figma. Other solutions like Builder.io also stood out in this space.
- Make - A tool that allows designers to use AI prompts to transform concepts into functional interactive prototypes.
Generative AI & Vibe-Coding
The term vibe-coding was definitely a recurring theme. Generally it is leveraging AI prompts to build and refine web applications. While current tools are most useful for prototyping and early-stage development, I’m particularly curious about how they might evolve to support design systems and live codebases.
Figma Sites is offering this in Beta right now and there are a number of other services including Bolt.new, Locofy, Lovable or directly from AI tools like Copilot or Claude.
Design to Code: Beyond Mockups
Design-to-Code and no code solutions have historically targeted small-scale consumer sites. However, with the integration of AI and a deeper awareness of design systems and code bases, these tools appear to be more capable. We are curious about how these tools can be scaled to support complex enterprise applications. While these tools help us create a finished product, integrating with CMS platforms, APIs, and other systems still requires front-end engineering. Nevertheless, the gap between design and development is shrinking.
AI in Practice
AI has quickly become part of everyday life, from drafting messages, sparking travel ideas, to generating your own personal action figure. Beyond the novelty, however, one key takeaway from Config 2025 is clear: these emerging tools and services already have a real-world impact on how designers and developers work.
As part of the Leadership Collective, Zaneray attended sessions such as "The New Rituals & Skills Needed in the Age of AI" and "Building Products in the AI Era," which examined practical applications of AI in the creative process. It's not just about adopting new tools; it's about rethinking our approach to our craft.
Is AI coming for our jobs?
Not exactly. However, it is changing the roles we will play. As basic tasks become increasingly automated, we need to operate more like creators and strategists, with AI as our execution partner.
Rather than replacing us, these tools allow us to focus on our craft. Instead of presenting flat concepts, we can deliver robust, workable prototypes that bring us closer to reaching a consensus on the final product. There will be more time for research, testing, and validation. With AI, we can explore multiple concepts simultaneously and select from those options, even when budget or time constraints were previously limiting. Figma introduced five new tools that expand its product offerings. Many of these tools compete directly with existing services in the field.
Final Thoughts
This new wave of tools and workflows has energized our team. We’re enthusiastically exploring new tools in Figma and beyond. I have personally built out some working prototypes from AI prompts in minutes. AI code editors are streamlining programming in surprising new ways.
The future feels closer than ever and we’re excited to keep adapting, learning, and building better experiences.
Author: Jeremiah Martin, VP of Design
