How to Learn Figma from Scratch
May 19, 2025
·
6 min read
If you want to learn Figma from scratch, we've got you covered. Figma is one of the most popular design tools today, known for its simplicity, powerful features, and real-time collaboration. But starting out can be overwhelming with so much to explore.
In this guide, we'll walk you through everything—from setting up your account and understanding the interface to mastering tools, prototyping, and developer handoff. Follow along, and you'll be ready to design confidently in Figma.
Getting started with Figma
Figma is a browser-based or desktop app you can use to design all sorts of digital products. With Figma, you can create, brainstorm, prototype, and gather feedback from your team members, and it is pretty straightforward to use. Many designers claim Figma is "probably the best app for team-based collaborative design projects."
Create a Figma account
The first step you need to take to learn Figma from scratch is to, of course, create your Figma account. A few pricing plans are available, but the free version should be enough for beginners.
Free Figma plan gives you access to its basic features, such as Figma editor, three collaborative design files, unlimited personal drafts, and basic file inspection.
There are many benefits in paid versions, such as unlimited Figma files, team libraries, and advanced prototyping, so it's up to you to decide which pricing plan and its features work best for you.
Explore the main interface
After creating your Figma account, you can either download the app or use it in your browser. While the interface looks similar, there are slight differences between the two.
In the top left, you'll find your name, where you can change themes and access settings. Below that is a search bar to quickly find files or team members, with filters for resource type and more.
The sidebar allows access to your drafts, projects, and trash with the free plan. Paid users have additional admin settings. You can organize projects within teams and have the option to create new ones. You can also favorite projects for quick access.
The "explore community" option at the bottom left of the sidebar lets you find community resources like libraries and plugins.
In the main area, you can create or import design files, including dragging in files from other tools like Sketch. You can invite team members and manage their permissions depending on your team ownership status.
Understanding Frames, Layers, Groups, Sections, and Pages in Figma
To learn Figma from scratch, you need to understand how to structure your designs. Here’s a simple breakdown:
Frames: Act as containers that organize other layers like shapes, text, and images into cohesive designs. You can apply scaling rules to them, making them incredibly efficient for UX and UI design needs.
Layers: These are the basic elements of your design—shapes, text, images, etc.—that can be stacked, reordered, and edited independently. Anything on the left side panel is considered a layer.
Groups: They allow you to combine multiple layers into a single, top-level layer. Unlike frames, they only group elements together, so you can’t apply specific scaling or cropping rules to them.
Sections: They can contain all layer types, including other sections, but cannot be contained within frames or groups. They are used to organize the file for easier scanning and navigation.
Pages: Offer an extra layer of organization within a Figma file.
Getting started with Figma
Figma is a browser-based or desktop app you can use to design all sorts of digital products. With Figma, you can create, brainstorm, prototype, and gather feedback from your team members, and it is pretty straightforward to use. Many designers claim Figma is "probably the best app for team-based collaborative design projects."
Create a Figma account
The first step you need to take to learn Figma from scratch is to, of course, create your Figma account. A few pricing plans are available, but the free version should be enough for beginners.
Free Figma plan gives you access to its basic features, such as Figma editor, three collaborative design files, unlimited personal drafts, and basic file inspection.
There are many benefits in paid versions, such as unlimited Figma files, team libraries, and advanced prototyping, so it's up to you to decide which pricing plan and its features work best for you.
Explore the main interface
After creating your Figma account, you can either download the app or use it in your browser. While the interface looks similar, there are slight differences between the two.
In the top left, you'll find your name, where you can change themes and access settings. Below that is a search bar to quickly find files or team members, with filters for resource type and more.
The sidebar allows access to your drafts, projects, and trash with the free plan. Paid users have additional admin settings. You can organize projects within teams and have the option to create new ones. You can also favorite projects for quick access.
The "explore community" option at the bottom left of the sidebar lets you find community resources like libraries and plugins.
In the main area, you can create or import design files, including dragging in files from other tools like Sketch. You can invite team members and manage their permissions depending on your team ownership status.
Understanding Frames, Layers, Groups, Sections, and Pages in Figma
To learn Figma from scratch, you need to understand how to structure your designs. Here’s a simple breakdown:
Frames: Act as containers that organize other layers like shapes, text, and images into cohesive designs. You can apply scaling rules to them, making them incredibly efficient for UX and UI design needs.
Layers: These are the basic elements of your design—shapes, text, images, etc.—that can be stacked, reordered, and edited independently. Anything on the left side panel is considered a layer.
Groups: They allow you to combine multiple layers into a single, top-level layer. Unlike frames, they only group elements together, so you can’t apply specific scaling or cropping rules to them.
Sections: They can contain all layer types, including other sections, but cannot be contained within frames or groups. They are used to organize the file for easier scanning and navigation.
Pages: Offer an extra layer of organization within a Figma file.
Mastering the tools and features
To learn Figma from scratch, you must master its tools and features.
Let's break all of them down:
Shape tools
Shapes in Figma make up most of your layers in any design. Shape tools you can use in Figma are:
Rectangle
Line
Arrow
Ellipse
Polygon
Star
Text
To create a text layer in Figma, select the text tool from the toolbar or use a shortcut (click "T" on your keyboard). With text in Figma, you can edit or multi-edit the text content, select fonts, and edit the text properties.
Colors and Fill
You can add fills to text layers, frames, and any vector objects, as well as add more than one fill to a single layer. That allows you to layer gradients over images or apply blend modes to create unique effects.
Effects option
With the effects options in Figma, you can add inner and drop shadows to your designs and even layer blur and background blur.
Grids and layouts
If you're a designer, you will often work with grids and layouts in Figma to ensure your designs look good. Grids are an essential part of a design learning journey, including your journey to learn Figma from scratch.
To access the layout grid options, you first have to create a frame (and it has to be a frame, so keep that in mind). There, you can choose between the grids, columns, or rows.
If grids and layouts in UI design sometimes grind your gears, check out this blog and explore the fundamental concepts of grids and their significance in UI design.
Auto Layout
Auto layout is one of the more advanced options you'll come across while trying to learn Figma from scratch. It allows you to work efficiently and scale your UI elements based on the content inside or the frame they're in.
Components and Variants
Components are elements you can reuse across your designs. They help to create and manage consistent designs across projects.
Variants allow you to group and organize similar components into a single container, which simplifies your component library and makes it easier for everyone to find what they need.
Styles
You can use styles in Figma to define the color, text, and any effects applied to objects or to define the structure and appearance of layout grids. When you make a change to a style's properties, Figma will apply those changes to any objects using that style.
Prototyping and interactions in Figma
Prototypes can be used for testing your designs with users or showing the developers how you envision some interactions.
Smart animate
Smart animate in Figma allows you to quickly create advanced animations. You can use it to replicate all kinds of different gestures, loading sequences, expanding content, touch gestures, etc.
Testing and refining your prototype
There are two types of prototypes you can create in Figma, and both of them play key roles in product development:
Low-fidelity prototypes capture design ideas in rough whiteboard sketches or simple wireframes.
High-fidelity prototypes have the look and feel of a finished product, with interaction designs that are practically pixel-perfect—they may include animations and clickable screens.
You can test your prototypes with platforms like UserTesting. They allow you to collect feedback on your Figma prototypes and generate actionable insight from your target audience.
Mirroring
Another great thing about Figma is its option to mirror your designs on a particular device. You can use it on your tablet or mobile devices. It allows you to play a prototype or review a specific screen you're designing on the device you will be looking at.
Exporting and Dev handoff
Exporting is another crucial part of Figma mastery, and you need to familiarize yourself with it to learn Figma from scratch. You can export anything in Figma, and it will take that element's dimensions. The export option also has a preview available, so you can always preview what you're exporting. You can even switch export options from PNG to JPEG, SVG, or PDF.
Dev mode
Dev Mode makes it easy for developers to find the details they need to start building. And with no design knowledge necessary. It's a mode that allows developers to go between design and development spaces without switching tools or files entirely.
Collaboration and comments
You can use comments in Figma to respond to feedback, tweak your designs, and iterate faster—all from the original design file or prototype. You can mention your collaborators and add emojis to your messages.
Figma learning resources and best practices
Going through its official tutorials and documents is a good way to learn Figma from scratch.
But going through multiple Figma courses out there can be time-consuming, tiring, full of uncertainty, or worse—it can lead to instilling wrong practices that are hard to correct later on.
Instead, investing in a practical, easy-to-follow, and engaging video course is much easier, more strategic, and wiser, sparing yourself the headaches and time-wasting.
Beginner Figma Video Course
You can achieve impressive Figma efficiency, higher productivity, and work quality with our Beginner Figma Video Course.
Build your Figma knowledge from the ground up, feature by feature, step by step, through a structured and engaging video course made by an industry expert with 10+ years of design experience.
Advanced Figma Video Course
If you want to equip yourself with in-demand skills that lead to better job opportunities, higher earnings, and higher-quality work, check out our Advanced Figma Video Course. It is the most thorough online course teaching you all the advanced aspects of Figma.
This course was made with you in mind. It targets all your biggest struggles, concerns, and pitfalls and transforms you into a Figma ace! Let the Advanced Figma Video Course exceed your expectations of online design education.
All video lessons and resources from these courses are also available in our All-access Pro membership. With Supercharge Design All-access, you'll learn the ins and outs of UI/UX design. It's a practical, 5-star-rated solution and your chance to master UI/UX design!
Checklist
Familiarize yourself with the Figma interface and navigation
Master Figma tools and features
Experiment with prototyping and interactions in Figma
Practice real-time collaboration
Explore dev handoff
Keep learning by following courses, tutorials, and design communities
Conclusion
That's it—you now have the steps to learn Figma from scratch. From understanding the interface and essential tools to building prototypes and collaborating with teams, you have the foundation to start designing.
And remember, you should always keep learning. So, open Figma and start creating. 🥳
We’re thrilled to invite you to join our incredible community of product designers (and enthusiasts) by following us on Instagram. We’re here to support you on your journey to falling in love with product design and advancing your career!
Keep on designing and stay hungry, stay foolish! 🥳
andrija & supercharge design team
We’re thrilled to invite you to join our incredible community of product designers (and enthusiasts) by following us on Instagram. We’re here to support you on your journey to falling in love with product design and advancing your career!
Keep on designing and stay hungry, stay foolish! 🥳
andrija & supercharge design team
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