Figma, I miss you

My work as a UX and product designer requires heavy collaboration between other designers, product managers, and developers. I recently changed job and therefore moved from Figma (back) to Sketch. I already miss it.

Simultaneous collaboration in one file

Sketch is still file-based — even in Cloud-mode. When viewing a file on Cloud, you first have to download it (or open it in Sketch via file browser). But there is no logical link between the two platforms. Figma empowers a business to collaborate on designs without the need of checking in/out. Multiple people can work on the same page at the same time.

Working fully in the cloud

Sketch Cloud is just a file browser and viewer, but I can’t open a file directly from Sketch Cloud to start working on it. Downloading and syncing takes much longer in Sketch. In Figma, you can either work in a browser or with the app — everything just works.

Auto-Save

Figma saves all the time, so hitting Cmd-S doesn’t even do anything. Sketch has to be prompted every time. If you want to close a Sketch Cloud document, one first has to confirm the “wanna save” dialogue and then wait for the sync to finish.

Linking directly to a page and/or artboard

In Sketch, I can only send a link to a specific Sketch file. In Figma, I can share a link to a specific page or a specific Artboard.

Everything can be a component

While you can also achieve that in Sketch, it’s much more elegant in Figma. This saves so much copy&paste and updating work.

Commenting anywhere on the screen

Sketch Cloud only allows for an overarching comment per artboard, there is no way of referencing an object/module that you’re commenting. In Figma, you simply click anywhere on the screen and start commenting in the right context. This is also handy in virtual 30/60/90 reviews.

Previews on mobiles

Figma mirror is great. Unfortunately, there is no official Sketch mirror app on Android.

Annotations and context

In Figma, I can place annotations, explanations or other useful info right next to the artboard. If anyone views the canvas, all of these infos are still visible — Sketch Cloud just shows the artboard without any context.

Auto layout (out of the box)

When you add Auto Layout to a frame, the items inside are stacked next to each other (either vertically or horizontally). The frame’s size is then determined by the total size of the items within it. This saves so much time!

If you know a way around the limitations mentioned above, please comment below. I might also have missed things and am unaware of workarounds.