Design Thursday #14
A weekly recap of everything you need to know about tools, events, guidelines and design in general.
Framer
Where to start with framer, the past week they released quite some new updates again. First off, the May update, it includes a lot of fixes, a refreshed action menu UI and the ability to view the property panel when you have view only rights. Next up is Fit Text, as the name suggests, it allows you to scale text so it fits your design. You can now set the text size as Auto and it will automatically fill the available space. It comes with a extra options to allow you to fine-tune it to your liking. As a final update, there are some CMS changes. You can now filter a collection by date, add links to images and overall improvements to the CMS experience.
Learn more about the May update
Fluent 2
Microsoft has a new version of their Fluent Design System. It’s a cross platform system with components and guidelines for Web, iOS, Windows and Android (coming later). It’s a great example for documenting your system, so make sure to have a look to get inspired.
Photoshop AI
Adobe has previously made Firefly available in beta, their generative AI tool. Now they also brought it to Photoshop, to integrate into your actual workspace. You can use it to fill or remove objects, making it a very impressive and interesting new feature that will bring photo editing to the next level.
Campsite x Lottie
You can now add Lottie files in your campsite update to get feedback on your motion design. Just add your Lottie file as an attachment and share it with the team.
Spline Material Update
Spline’s latest update is all about materials. You can now use layer masks, pattern layers, veronoi noise, triplanar projection and there is a new material library. I admit, I don’t know all of these words, but check out the demos to see what a great update this is.
Blocs iPad app
Blocs is a no-code web builder that has been around for a few years on Mac already. But now they released their iPad app, so you can design and build your new website directly on iPad. It includes pencil support, so you can write notes on your work, to remember what you want to change. It’s a very interesting and new take on web design.
Aninix Update
Aninix, the figma animation plugin, has recently released teams and version history. This means you can now work together on animations, so they are no longer locked behind your personal account. Version history allows you to view past changes, so you can go back to a previous edit if you need it again.
Rive animate with Joysticks
Rive has a very cool update that allows you to use Joysticks. You can animate it to make characters move their head, open or close eyes or just animate any object based on a slider value or cursor position. It might be hard to explain, just check out the video and you will be hyped.
Webflow publishing
On large websites it can take a while before your Webflow project is updated. To make this a bit more transparent, Webflow now shows what is happening in real time. Making it easier to understand what is going on, so you don’t feel like it’s stuck or you have to wait forever.
New Diagram website
Need some website inspiration? Diagram has launched a brand new website for their AI and Figma tools. Showing off existing and upcoming products. It sure is a well-thought-out experience.