The End of Figma? Claude Design Signals a ‘Return to Code’ and a Shift in Design Tools!
📰 News Overview
- The Growth of Figma’s System: As product teams expand, Figma has transformed into a ‘management monster’ with 946 color variables and complex properties.
- Falling Behind in LLM Learning: Due to its proprietary format, Figma has become a cumbersome tool for current AI agents trained on code.
- The Rise of Claude Design: A new trend emerges, pulling the design truth (Source of Truth) back from Figma to ‘code,’ aiming for designs that are true to the material.
💡 Key Points
- Limitations of ‘Prop Props’: Figma’s unique component variables (Props) do not align perfectly with code, creating a disconnect with engineering.
- Truth to Materials: Just like a potter should work with clay, creating ‘code approximations’ in Figma is becoming an unnecessary cost.
- Tool Selection in the Agent Era: In an age where AI comprehends and continuously improves code, directly executable code holds greater value than design files shackled by proprietary rules.
🦈 Shark’s Eye (Curator’s Perspective)
Isn’t it ironic that Figma’s once-powerful ‘systemization’ weapon that toppled Sketch has now become its own chain? With Figma housing 946 variables in its design system file, even debugging can feel like a full-time job! AI models have been nourished on ‘code’ from around the globe, leaving Figma’s unique primitives in the dust. So, in 2026, where AI agents are thriving, it’s only natural that Claude Design, which directly manipulates code, is making smarter moves! The era of painting ‘watercolors’ in design is over; now we’re molding ‘clay’ called code directly!
🚀 What’s Next?
Design tools are heading toward a bifurcation: one side will focus on ‘Figma Make’ to preserve the existing Figma system, while the other will embrace ‘Claude Design’ that treats code as the authoritative source. Designers will likely revert from being ‘guardians of the Figma layers’ to ‘creative artisans’ building code directly alongside AI!
💬 A Word from HaruSAME
If you’re getting lost in nested variable panels, writing a line of code is way quicker! I prefer swimming in the deep blue sea of code over a complex maze any day! 🦈🔥
📚 Glossary
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Truth to Materials: An artistic principle that advocates for not hiding the inherent qualities of materials and shaping them based on their characteristics.
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Figma Variables: A system for naming and managing design colors and values. While convenient within Figma, these variables often don’t correspond one-to-one with code variables.
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Source of Truth: The reliable single source of information. In design, there’s often debate over whether the ‘design file’ or ‘implementation code’ should be considered the correct reference.