Raphael Thys
Don't you want to see your favorite tool in good hands?
Photo by Shubham Dhage on Unsplash
Figma announced in September 2022 that it was being owned by the leader in creative technology, Adobe. The CEO of Figma, Dylan Field, announced the news in a blog post. Users have traditionally preferred Figma's UX/UI design software over Adobe's version, Adobe XD. In light of the recent news, which came as a shock to many designers, let's discuss what good aspects we find in the partnership between these two giant companies.
Figma seems to avoid significant changes recently as Adobe has acquired more businesses. However, Figma's CEO stated that a combination between Adobe and Figma had been discussed for a few months.
Adobe is spending $20 billion on the acquisition of Figma. The deal will surely expand Adobe's collaboration-focused products as it tries to gain market dominance in the age of remote and hybrid work.
Collaborative creativity
The goal of Adobe is to change the world via digital experiences. Today, Adobe platforms and technologies that power the digital economy have impacted billions of lives worldwide. Adobe has launched electronic documents with PDF, modernized images, and creative expression with Photoshop and established the field of digital marketing with Adobe Experience Cloud. Adobe continues to create and modify categories.
Figma aims to promote visual team collaboration and make design accessible to everyone. The company, which Dylan Field and Evan Wallace founded in 2012, was a pioneer in web-based product design.
Today, it allows everyone who creates interactive mobile and internet apps to work together through multiplayer procedures, sophisticated design tools, and a rich, extendable developer environment. Figma has drawn millions of new designers, developers, and a devoted student following.
Together, Adobe and Figma will reimagine the possibilities for creativity and productivity, speed up web-based creativity, promote product design, and enthuse communities of artists, designers, and developers worldwide. The merged company will have a vast, rapidly growing market potential and the ability to provide significant value for customers, shareholders, and the industry.
The missing piece of Adobe…
Figma offers cloud-based design software aimed at enabling real-time team collaboration. It competes directly with Adobe XD. This acquisition improves Adobe's web capabilities, an area where it has failed.
“The key to Adobe’s success has been our capacity to establish new markets and provide cutting-edge technology through inorganic growth and organic innovation,” Adobe’s CEO Shantanu Narayen said in the press release. “The combination of Adobe and Figma is game-changing and will further our goal of collaborative creation.”
Although there has been no official announcement, it is expected that Adobe will eventually include Figma in its Creative Suite.
No significant changes in Figma soon…
Users of Figma may anticipate the platform to function as it always has in the near future. Friends of Figma will remain active and available for free educational usage.
“We plan to keep running Figma in the same manner that we have in the past, acting in a way that we believe is best for our company, our community, and our culture,” Field stated in the press release. “Adobe is steadfastly dedicated to maintaining Figma’s independence.”
Field expressed hope for the deal, saying it will be remembered as the turning point in Figma's growth that made the company expand even faster.
The future is web
It is now difficult for creators to produce an ever-increasing volume of material in close coordination with an ever-growing number of stakeholders. Teams may now collaborate more efficiently on projects because of the web's accessibility as a platform.
Figma's web-based, multiplayer capabilities will improve the distribution of Adobe's Creative Cloud technologies online, increasing the efficiency and accessibility of the creative process.
A blended platform…
Our personal and professional lives are becoming more focused on digital applications, which has caused the product design industry to develop rapidly.
By integrating advanced capabilities from Adobe's image, photography, 3D, video, illustration, and typography into the Figma platform, Adobe and Figma will benefit all stakeholders in the product design process, from designers to product managers to developers.
Inspiring and empowering the designer and developer community
Adobe's thriving creative community has driven the company's ongoing innovation. The dedicated Figma community creates and shares everything from tutorials to templates to plug-ins with their vast and expanding ecosystem. To maximize the potential of collaborative creation, the communities of Adobe and Figma will bring designers and developers closer.
“Figma has created an incredible online platform for product design,” stated David Wadhwani, president of Adobe’s Digital Media business. “We are excited to work with their exceptional team and lively community to further our common goal of reimagining the future of creativity and productivity.”
By 2025, Figma's potential market is expected to be worth $16.5 billion. The company is anticipated to increase net ARR by around $200 million this year, hitting $400 million in total ARR by the end of 2022, with best-in-class net dollar retention of more than 150%. Figma has established a productive, rapidly expanding business with gross margins of about 90% and positive operating cash flows.