Learning Curve: Some of the aspects of Figma that felt intuitive to me were the simple design and creation features. For me, having worked with Photoshop and other digital creation platforms in the past, I enjoyed being able to create shapes and color objects. I also think the aspect of creating wireframes with simple shapes was relatively easy. The process of dragging and dropping shapes and elements came pretty naturally. Something that required a bit of practice was the prototype feature. I wasn’t familiar with how it functioned or that there were a number of different ways to create using it.
Design Choices: I think that although my low-fidelity wireframe was simple, I did a good job making each page diverse while sticking to the same theme. I kept the navigation consistent across all pages, along with the colors and format, and left plenty of space for visuals. In the future, I think I would just like to expand my general knowledge of creating wireframes and see if I can apply some of the principles of both low-fidelity and high-fidelity designs into my own work.
Journalistic Value: I think figma could support me as a journalist by being able to understand and potentially create my own website designs. I think it would also help me to judge how news websites should operate and how wireframing can help news platforms. Figma could help me conceptualize a multimedia news story by giving me the tools to create an interactive story that includes certain elements and designs that cater to the theme of the story itself.
Looking Ahead: I think Figma’s collaborative features could help me work with editors, designers, or fellow reporters by providing a platform where multiple teams can visualize a design and make a finished product fit everyone’s standard. Through Figma, everyone can see a design’s visual layout and interactive elements, among other features, to eventually come together and create a final product.
After learning about the creative and design possibilities of Figma, I can certainly see it benefitting my professional career in the future.