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Once upon a time right now

Once upon a time, Adobe Photoshop was one of the best design tools available, favored by many. It would take care of everything needful with unmatched levels of comfort. Today, when we’re lucky to have Figma, it’s a totally different story.

Some other great design tools have been competing with the giant company Adobe is, and while they all have their own pros and cons, some are the reason Figma was created. But let’s not go down that rabbit hole.

Everyone knows who and what Figma is – the cloud-based design tool, with an insane amount of game-changing features and functionalities. Above all, it’s available for everyone, regardless of their device or platform. Sick right?

Go big or go home

The recent acquisition of Figma by Adobe has generated a lot of buzz about the future of the design app so many of us love to use. Let's skip the financial part of that acquisition, it’s complicated, and I didn’t even know a number could have that many zeroes. Adobe is known for having some of the most expensive ⬇ , amazing ⬆ , unstable ⬇, game-changing ⬆, complicated ⬇, and creative ⬆ tools on the market. Can you sense my emotional rollercoaster?

As mentioned, it wasn’t easy to get through a day of content creation without using an Adobe tool. Some of them are still industry leaders, and as time progresses, the features are getting bigger and better.

The reactions to Figma's announcement of the acquisition were hilarious. Twitter was on fire 🔥 , creatives all over the world had an opinion to share. It wasn't great, especially for those who are used to working with Adobe products.

But, let’s take a break and have a look at the situation from a different angle.

It’s never too late! Or is it?

After seeing Figma’s success, Adobe wanted to make their own WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) alternative that could best meet designers' needs. The free Adobe product, Adobe XD, is an impressive design prototyping tool. It serves as a great alternative to Figma, but lacks a few features and functionalities. (Btw, can we have a minute of silence for those working on Adobe XD right now?)

Adobe had quite a difficult time against their rival, Figma. However, this changed when they made an irresistible offer that just couldn’t be refused. The unhappiness of many is understandable because the list of companies that can challenge Adobe's empire just got way shorter. Yet again, we don't use Figma because it’s a competitor in any way, we use it because it's the best tool created in the creative industry, well, most probably in decades.

As long as they don’t mess with the prices and accessibility, Figma will be where it is right now – in a good place. Just a kind reminder that Adobe acquired Behance 10 years ago, and it’s now the world's largest creative network for showcasing and discovering creative work. 🤯

What we should hope for

So, let's go through the features I hope and wish Figma could get from Adobe over time. Should we already call it Adobe Figma, or is it too soon?

1. ADOBE BRIDGE IMPLEMENTATION

Adobe Bridge is a powerful creative asset manager that lets you preview, organize, edit, and publish multiple creative assets – quickly and easily. You can also create Asset libraries for teams in order to make it even easier to export, handle, and update data over time.

2. ADOBE FONTS LIBRARY

Thousands of beautiful fonts, free of charge and cleared for personal and commercial use. I know that Figma already comes with a ton of fonts… but is it ever enough?!

3. LOTTIEFILES WITH AFTER EFFECTS

This would be the dream of my dreams. An integration to migrate Lottie Files directly from After Effects into a Figma project, and to make it animated inside the prototyping environment.

4. PHOTOSHOP AND ILLUSTRATOR INTEGRATION

Some of the perks that Adobe EcoSystem has is its integration between apps. You can link your files instead of manually exporting and importing them, which eases your workflow and helps team members stay organized. I can already see a graphic designer checking out his illustrations live on a prototype, only by saving his file. That sounds pretty neat when you think about it.

Conclusion

We don't know what the future will bring. This acquisition could be the start of something amazing or the end of a great era. Still, let's not be pessimistic; there are already a few FOSS tools trying to imitate Figma as is, and their future possibly looks much brighter now than ever before.

Ignoring the fact that working in Adobe's environment sometimes feels like a nightmare, this giant brought us a lot of unimaginable features that changed the way some of us work. The fusion of those two giants could, and I hope will, be a new era for designers around the globe. Fingers crossed!

TL;DR

No changes, Adobe no touchy touchy please, hoping for the best.

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What are your thoughts about the acquisition? What dream feature could be a game changer for you?