[Figma’s Latest Release] Competing Head-to-Head with Canva, Adobe, and No-Code Platforms: In-Depth Analysis of 4 Key Updates

Introduction

At Config 2025, held in San Francisco from May 6 to 8, 2025, the design tool Figma announced four new products. This update is impactful enough to compete with Adobe, which has a good reputation in the design industry, Canva, which is known for its ease of use, and no-code tools, which have been attracting attention in recent years.

“Figma Draw” is a new tool with vector editing functions similar to Illustrator, allowing you to create designs with a handwritten feel. “Grid Layout” is a new function that streamlines layout in design production. “Figma Buzz” is a function made for marketers that makes it easier to create large amounts of content. And “Figma Sites,” which is particularly noteworthy, is a powerful tool that allows you to create and publish websites directly with no coding.

The arrival of these new products has the potential to significantly change the trends and workflows of the web design and marketing industry in the future. This is something that companies should not miss, especially those looking to efficiently manage content in-house, unify designs, and reduce costs!

Figma’s latest update details

■Figma Draw | No need for Illustrator? Efficient hand-drawn design

[Differences from Illustrator] Advantages and disadvantages of Figma Draw

The new “Figma Draw” is a revolutionary tool that allows you to achieve vector editing functions like Illustrator within Figma. While Illustrator is complicated for beginners due to its many functions, Figma Draw has carefully selected functions, is intuitive, and is easy to use even for beginners. It is more than enough for creating simple shapes, logo designs, and hand-drawn illustrations.

On the other hand, Illustrator is still easier to use for professional purposes such as complex brush expressions and detailed illustrations. At the current stage, Figma Draw seems to be positioned as a tool aimed at making simple design production more efficient.

[Attention iPad users] Would it be even more convenient if you could use Figma Draw on your iPad?

There is no official release information at this time, but if Figma Draw becomes available for iPad, we can expect the convenience of hand-drawn design to be greatly improved. Until now, the iPad version of Figjam had the issue that hand-drawn drawing was somewhat unnatural and difficult to use. If Figma Draw is compatible with iPad, it will be possible to draw smoothly in vector format, which will be very attractive as it will allow you to intuitively and quickly create and share design proposals on the go or at a meeting. We look forward to an official announcement from Figma in the future.

■Grid Layout | Make web design more intuitive

[From Flexbox to Grid] The new standard for creating layouts

Until now, Figma layout creation has mainly relied on the Flexbox format of “Auto Layout,” but the introduction of the new product “Grid Layout” has made design creation more intuitive and efficient. Since Flexbox could only position elements in one direction, it was necessary to combine multiple Auto Layouts to create complex grid layouts. However, Grid Layout now allows you to manage the horizontal and vertical axes simultaneously, making it easy to create complex web designs.

This makes it intuitive for even beginners to use, and allows you to quickly create beautiful, well-organized designs without specialized knowledge. In web production, it also makes it simple to design with coding in mind, which leads to stronger collaboration between designers and engineers and improved work efficiency.

[Responsive] Efficient and beautiful design possible

Another benefit of the Grid Layout feature is the increased efficiency of responsive design. When creating designs for multiple devices, including smartphones and tablets as well as PCs, the grid function makes it easy to adjust the layout at each breakpoint. Figma’s image management function has also been strengthened recently, so by combining it with the grid, you can beautifully layout a variety of content, including images.

For corporate marketers and public relations staff, this will make it easier to update content efficiently and unify designs, which will enable smoother communication both internally and externally.

■Figma Buzz | A must-have time-saving tool for marketers

[Brand unification] A system that anyone can easily edit and update

The new update, “Figma Buzz,” is a feature that marketing and PR professionals will want to pay special attention to. With Buzz, you can turn designs created in Figma into templates and limit the areas that can be edited. This makes it easy for non-designers to update and create content while strictly adhering to brand guidelines.

In addition, by using the wide range of pre-prepared Buzz templates, even beginners can quickly create beautiful, consistent content, allowing teams to maintain a consistent level of design quality. Because it is easy to use with a no-code feel, it significantly increases the speed at which content can be updated within the company, contributing to improved work efficiency.

[AI and spreadsheet integration] Mass production is easy!

Another revolutionary feature of Figma Buzz is its use of AI and its ability to link with spreadsheets. Information entered in advance in a spreadsheet can be automatically fed into a Figma Buzz template, making it possible to create a large number of social media posts, advertising banners, and more, all at once.

Furthermore, by using the AI ​​function, it can even suggest catchy slogans and wording, significantly reducing the workload of marketing staff. I think it will be a very reliable tool for web marketing campaigns, SNS promotions, and other situations that require the creation of large amounts of content quickly.

■Figma Sites | The big winner for no-code web development?

[Significantly reduce the production process] Publish directly to the web using Figma!

The most eye-catching announcement was “Figma Sites,” a groundbreaking new tool that allows you to build and publish websites directly without coding. Previously, you had to create a design in Figma, then import it into another platform or code using developer mode, but this process has been greatly shortened. Now you can complete the entire process from design to publishing your site on Figma.

Furthermore, breakpoints for various devices such as PCs, tablets, and mobile devices can be easily set and animations can be applied with just a few clicks. This not only dramatically increases production speed, but also provides an environment where even beginners can easily create high-quality websites.

[What about corporate use?] Issues with SEO, security, and operation

On the other hand, there are still some unclear points as to whether Figma Sites can actually be used for corporate official websites or large-scale marketing sites. Specifically, there are many questions remaining regarding SEO, security, page loading speed, form and CMS functions, integration with external tools, revision history and version control.

Figma will be officially announcing details on these points in the future, so I will keep an eye on future information.

■Figma Make | AI supports prototyping

[Designs can be made into prototypes instantly] Shorten production flow

The newly released “Figma Make” is an amazing new feature that uses AI to automate prototyping. Based on the design data created in Figma, AI instantly builds prototypes of web services and apps. The prototyping process, which previously required repeated manual tweaking of images and layouts, has been greatly streamlined, dramatically reducing the workload of designers and marketers.

In addition, the prototypes automatically generated by AI can be viewed in real time on a web browser, allowing for immediate feedback from clients and within the team, which could help speed up the entire project.

Figma Make’s functions go beyond simple prototype generation. It supports a wide range of functions, including image replacement, margin adjustment, and even actual code generation. This enables designers to focus on the design while the AI ​​handles the fine-tuning and repetitive tasks, making for an efficient production style.

Summary

Use the evolution of Figma to your advantage. Accelerate your business with the efficiency of no-code marketing!

The new products announced by Figma this time show great progress in the fields of web design, marketing, and no-code production. Draw, Buzz, Sites, Make, and Grid Layout. All of them are likely to be powerful tools to prevent work from becoming dependent on individual skills and to efficiently produce high-quality deliverables.

However, not all companies will see immediate results after implementation. It is necessary to determine how to make a new tool fit into your company, how much of the operation should be in-house and what should be outsourced. In particular, there are still few examples of companies using “Figma Sites” and “Make” at the moment, so I thought it would be more realistic to gradually introduce them.

Seeknet USA also provides support for the creation and operation of no-code websites using these latest tools. Please feel free to contact us for any inquiries.

Reference page

• Config 2025 – Figma official event page (viewed on May 9, 2025)
• Figma Config New – Product Update Summary (Accessed: May 9, 2025)
• Figma Release Notes | Config 2025 Release Notes (viewed on May 9, 2025)