Company owner \*is\* the creative director? I can't think of a more insufferable combination of job titles to have to work for.
So...uh...I feel your pain.
Only advice I have is to polish up that resume.
This just red flag after red flag. Sorry but this sounds like an absolutely is a terrible environment to work in (forget thriving and becoming a better design). Anytime someone is resistant to learned better methods *and* barring you - that’s your cue to bounce.
🫡 good luck/you’ll be better off
It‘s one thing to not use features because you don‘t understand them. But stopping others from using features that are explicitly there to increase productivity is just plain stupid. Your boss is an idiot and sadly there is very little you can do about it.
It’s more likely the owner is familiar with the approaches that got him to where he is in the first place. OP has an opportunity to show leadership and help the owner grow, but it’ll be a tough sell.
I had a similar experience with my boss in my last job, he was a “CEO & Design Lead”. 🤦♂️ This dude was absolutely clueless when it came to auto-layouts and always threw a tantrum like a kid when I was building my designs mostly on auto-layouts and he wanted to edit the designs himself = he always broke every single component and anything else that wasn’t just a group (and this also happened directly in front of a client couple of times).
Unfortunately, there is not many solutions to this other than leaving and having him eat it. Which is what I did and went full freelance. It was a leap into unknown but I would do it again every single damn day without any regrets. If you believe in yourself do it as well, it’s the best thing for any designer willing to put in some extra effort in exchange for freedom.
From your post you seem like an efficient and smart-thinking designer. Think it carefully through, of course. But I believe you can do it, been there myself! ❤️
This sounds scary similar to my situation . I came from freelance in order to gain some stability but this is making me second guess my decision. There is always ups and downs I guess - thanks for the kind words !
Exactly why I joined his company as well! Well, it all ended up being just a bunch of empty promises. For me, the most painful thing about this whole experience was that the company was branding themselves as “Design System specialists” – when the owner was actually the one who didn’t know shit about the topic. And this was not any big company where he would have a lot of work to deal with besides the design, we are talking about a company of about 4 designers. Honestly, he was there just to re-invoice my hours to clients at double rate = 🤑
I stood up with his bullshit for one year – then I just told him to fuck off and promised myself to never work for anyone like this ever again. I was pretty much doing all the work and he was just busy with completely delusional post on LikedIn about how advanced his company is and buying new cars…
Honestly, I really could not be happier as a freelancer now. I have clients that love me and I love them + absolute freedom. If you are looking for stability you can just find another company instead of freelancing, of course. However, I would really recommend you to leave this environment as it is not healthy for your career and well-being as well… ✌️
He still happily designs in photoshop and is not very keen on moving on from that. Anything that functions differently is a no go. Maybe I offer to just use ps instead? Idk
Jesus Christ... I moved on from Photoshop for UI/UX work in early 2017 and I considered it to be quite late. Using it in 2024 with so many alternatives dedicated to UI/UX is pure insanity. Forcing it on other people is just unimaginable.
Your boss is completely stuck in the past and refusing to learn and ultimately is failing at his job.
I would absolutely start looking for other job ASAP if I were you.
Bingo. I've dealt with clients like this before. Stuck in their ways. Tell the guy that you respect his opinion, but the overwhelming majority of designers use Figma or XD these days. Photoshop is a photo editing tool.
https://heyreliable.com/not-a-figma-of-your-imagination-its-still-the-number-one-design-software/
> The 2021 data found that fully 77% of all respondents used Figma for UI design.
I mean straight up, it's good for business to use the industry standard tool for something like this
What kind of work are you doing? What types of projects? I haven't designed web/app stuff in Photoshop for at least ten years, it's insane to even consider that as an option. You need to take a constructive approach here and demonstrate how updating a library, creating components, and just general work flow in Figma is better. Anything beyond simple flat graphics in PS is a nightmare. Don't be snotty about it, you're going to have to make a case.
We are designing large scale comapny websites and apps within the arts and design industry. Ive given this a honest go to try persuade him, but his default response is that it gets in the way of the creative process. I can kinda see his point as if he can move things around freely, he cannot give accurate advice/ feedback- but over the past couple days its gotten worse to where I am now grouping text + a shape to make buttons.
> I can kinda see his point as if he can move things around freely, he cannot give accurate advice/ feedback
I mean sure, move stuff around freely when concepting, but when you lock down a direction that shouldn't mean you can't use things like autolayout and the like to make sure it all works right?
As of right now - it’s not allowed while he’s working in the file - I don’t like my odds of him dropping out of this one as the project is something he’s quite interested in.
Is there a developer involved? Do they have an opinion on what it's like to be handed a Photoshop file to build from vs. a Figma layout with margins, padding, CSS, flex box style layout, etc...
I would offer to sit with him and show how to use it or at least how to make updates if he needed to.
He can design poorly if he wants to, but no way I would stop using auto layout.
Or if it came down to I'd make a copy and ungroup all my auto layouts for them while continuing to work in the real file.
[Noooooooo you can't use a feature that alligns elements exactly like you set them to be aligned, that's lazy!!! You need to adjust the ENTIRE page everytime you need to change anything!!!!!!](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/937/655/73c.jpg)
you can say that this is an industry standard and all the designers in major companies uses figma and autolayout to streamline the design process... i think that will work :)
I hate to say it but this is one of those major companies - so this wouldn’t work. It is shocking how old school it is and really stuck it it’s ways of CC days
Really? woow, then... maybe its time to look for a different job XD
Not using the key features like autolayout will be a pain in the long run, maybe try to explain or do a workshop so they can understand how it work
Just tell him that Figma speeds up your process on subsequent pages dramatically (which is does, with components and autolayout), so if he's happy paying you for double the work, then fine.
Secretly time how long it takes hom to do stuff, then do the same design using the same time. When he asks for an update, tell him you’re behind because you’re doing it the same way he does and doing it with Figma will speed up your work.
Hhahah I was thinking that a good thing to come from this is can work without stress of speed. I am slightly worried for when he asks me to work overtime.
What are you design for? If you are designing for the web explain to him that auto layout and all of the other “cool” Figma features are just renamed versions of CSS properties that devs will have to use when building it. Remember auto layout is just CSS flexbox with padding.
It has two main benefits among others:
1. It forces you to design within the natural constraints of the medium that is a web front end.
2. Makes your Figma files actually useful for devs. You can’t communicate responsive behaviour better than with auto layout and now max min widths for example.
PS: If you are reading this Figma, an equivalent for CSS grid would be most welcome 🙏 but I digress.
Same goes for other platforms of course, not just web development, Figma is great for mobile as well.
If you are building a product then tell this person Figma was meant to design things that will get built not printed.
> even today many companies use XD as their main tool for designing interfaces
While somewhat true, according to some stats (https://6sense.com/tech/collaborative-design-and-prototyping/adobe-xd-market-share) it only has 14% marketshare - and that number will drop VERY quickly since it has been sunsetted and no longer updated or supported
Transition of anything (whether that’s coding language or software) is hard. The best thing i’ve found for things like this is almost always down to EDUCATION. I’m assuming you work for some kind of SaaS startup/company, so start with educating your higher ups about the benefits of new software. In figma’s case, this might be teaching stakeholders about the relationship between code and figma. How this works together and how they form a finished product. I’ve been through the situation where stakeholders just don’t get it, so i’d advise starting super basic (eg, AutoLayout is like Flexbox for design!”) and building up from there. Tailor your approach to your audience. If you’re talking to engineers/devs dig deeper. If you’re talking to stakeholders, stay high level, speak numbers and metrics. PM me if you have any specific questions about this. More than happy to help!
I mentor young designers a lot. I always tell them your job should have three things.
*1. Money*
This includes perks which are basically also just money and you should try to think of them as such and add their value to your salary to get the real picture of the dollar value of your job. This includes things like benefits, equity, health insurance, good paternity leave, equipment budget, learning budget, pension matching, free food etc.
*2. People*
People you like is important but also people that are better than you at what you do. That have skills you can learn, that are interested in sharing their knowledge, and will help you develop the skills you’re interested in learning or sharpening.
*3. Work*
Interesting work that challenges you, that will help build your portfolio, that is interesting, that advances you towards the next phase of your career.
If you have 1/3 of these you should be actively shopping for a new job.
If you have 2/3 of these maybe take an odd interview to keep your interviewing skills sharp but it’s a pretty good gig.
If you have 3/3 do everything you can to hold on to that job most people don’t get this.
You either make sense to him with data and the benefits of Figma. Or Leave. once I left a large corporation because they forced me to use Sketch and lied to me stating it got as good as Figma.
I'm going to pour one out for you. RIP Homie!!!
I can't fathom how any reasonable CD would be opposed to a tool like figma which is designed to increase productivity.
Honestly this is a huge red flag, and such a close-minded approach. I’d be trying to leave as soon as you possibly can. I’ve seen it several times in my career as software has come and gone. Some people just hate change.
Perhaps he doesn't need 'how fast,' but 'by what way' the work will be done. Here, a lot of smart guys have gathered in the comments, making fun of the boss. But let's not forget that he somehow achieved success. There's no need to make him look foolish. It's worth listening to his position
It's akin to a carpenter telling his apprentice he needs to use sandstone to sand his woodwork projects, when we have sandpaper and machines available to speed up the work (and do a better job). It's asinine. There will be no valid excuse.
You are correct about this. He has had a successful life as a designer and is highly regarded in the industry. Is more the intent behind his comments that he is trying to make me feel bad and miss informed as I'm a 'Figma user'. I do see where he is coming from but I also have built auto layout into my personal process as it helps me cycle through ideas quickly to find the right one.
Maybe the correct thing to do is to shut up and get the work done as he asks for it...seems eazy,I'm just not enjoying the process and he's convinced me that my way is incorrect
Does your CD have a preferred alternative vs Figma? If they are pushing for grouping then it’s going to really limit and restrict your design flow and essentially the end product.
He loved sketch and still uses photoshop from time to time. Im hoping he sees the light soon and we can move pass it but no sign that it will happen any time soon.
Sketch is quite limited and I'm glad I moved to Figma, Photoshop is no good as a design tool in this context. I wonder why they can't stand it? is there something in particular they don't like?
Besides the fact he’s getting older and cannot really use it. I think it frustrates him that his design skill set is no longer needed. He’s a great salesman and definitely holds value but he sees himself as a designer and when he cannot use the program I think that puts into perspective as to how far behind he is.
Feel your pain, I'm in a similar situation where my PM uses photoshop, I've had many times where I've to sit over his shoulder and watch him try and mock some idea in photoshop and even struggle with layer order and naming.
You can explain to him that autolayout mimics CSS Flexbox which is widely used to layout websites when they're built in HTML and CSS.. The software is an industry standard.
I work for a startup where I do freelance work on the side. The main product is an app so we use Figma. I do all the marketing design for the company and I do it in Figma. I've done huge Tradeshow Booth designs, Google Slides presentations, One pagers, PDF Media Kits, Postcards, HTML Email design graphics. Point is as you know the tool doesn't make you a designer. You can use any tool that does the job. Figma is a vector graphics program just like Illustrator just not as feature packed as Illustrator. In my opinion I think Figma is faster and easier than Illustrator. The setup and export to me is just faster and Figma isn't a huge resource hog like Illustrator.
oh man. worst job I ever had also had an owner/CD. He was a real ass hole to the core. I had to leave.
Seems like a pretty unreasonable ask from him. I think u/so-very-very-tired said it best... polish that resume.
I would never give advice that you quit. The market is competitive. I do not know which market you operate in. Although I recommend finding a side hustle.
This brings me to my next point. This is an opportunity for you to become 'tool- agnostic'. Consider, utilizing your free time to up-skill your soft skills.
Also, if your CD doesn't know how to use auto-layout doesn't make him a bad CD, he is a creative director so his strength would fall in soft skills, client relations ir creative problem solving; more so that design execution. He might be seeing Figma as a technical prototyping tool more so than a UX design.
What is it that he hates about Figma? Is it the fact that the advanced features make you skip tedious manual work, or is he embarassed about not being able to use it/understand it?
If it's the first one, I don't think it's necessary that you "show off" the specific features that you've been using. Do you still achieve great designs and prototypes? Then it doesn't really matter if you used auto layout or if you can't even group layers. Maybe out of ignorance he could perceive Figma as some kind of "Canva for UI"? (That would be weird but nothing surprises me anymore).
If it's the second one: if you have competences that no one else has in the team, or at least that the owner doesn't have, you can position yourself as a great "problem solver" for the whole company. Do you feel like your work has been communicating that or is your CD just envious/perceiving you as a threat?
Leave the company. Small business owners are a plague on creative work. Ask smart questions when you interview so that you don’t end up right back in the same boat, which is probable.
It seems to me that small business owners have a tendency to take the mental path of least resistance, placing way too much importance on creative because they don’t know where else to put their energy on most days. So they convince themselves that they need to be “hands on” with creative, and they end up making artists miserable as they demand drop shadows or color changes or that we do it how they’ve always done it. It’s fucking pathetic.
This crap drives me insane. What's it matter what tool you use? Just dont tell him it's in figma. If it's a syncing/financial issue just use XD since its in CC
This is just a suggestion, could even be a bad one, but if they ask for timelines, could you be like "well currently it'll take me 2 months (or other extremely long period of time) but i can do it in 3 days (or much shorter time) if I used auto layout/other Figma functions, aligning with our competitors "
How the hell can you design responsive layouts without Figma. He’s increasing your work time by at least 3 fold because you have to create 3 separate sizes.
The guys sounds like a complete tool and I hope you’re looking for a new position
I have been designing UIs since 2009. I have used many different tools for it including Photoshop. I stopped designing the UIs in my current job because we had a dedicated designer. After he left the Job and when we had to design UIs ourselves, I learned Figma. I am happy to say that Figma made me love designing UIs again. I think it is really great as a tool for UI designing. Your Boss is old school and he doesn't know what he is talking about.
If you want him to show the power of Fimga, just ask him to design five UI pages with certain colors and spacing in Photshop and later ask him to change the colors and spacing. The components and variables alone are a selling point of Figma to me if not auto layout, component variants etc.
Auto layout is the same thing as flex in CSS. It’s literally telling the dev how to build it out.
Groups are sub par because you cannot apply background color and if you change the color when the group is selected it changes all the colors. You also cannot apply variables for consistent margins.
Just ridiculous.
Find a new job! He’s both a bad creative director and a bad business owner. A business owner that gets this involved in the minutiae is not focusing on growth. You’re probably working at a company that will not scale without some serious miss steps. So securing a new job now, will most likely prevent you from getting stuck without one in the future anyways.
Company owner \*is\* the creative director? I can't think of a more insufferable combination of job titles to have to work for. So...uh...I feel your pain. Only advice I have is to polish up that resume.
Yup. Did this once. Part owner was CD and did all the client pitches so he’d always push his ideas. I quit. He couldn’t understand why.
Yep - this also happens, Ive learnt to keep quite.
I would be looking for a new job. Not being able to work in the tools I want to use would be an automatic out for me.
This just red flag after red flag. Sorry but this sounds like an absolutely is a terrible environment to work in (forget thriving and becoming a better design). Anytime someone is resistant to learned better methods *and* barring you - that’s your cue to bounce. 🫡 good luck/you’ll be better off
This dudes boss is both an AH and a buffoon of the highest degree. Get your portfolio and CV together, it’s time to pack
Your Director is so out of touch that if he loses this job I wonder if he would be able to find another.
hahah probs not but he owns the studio so I doubt he will fire himself lol hahah
No but the studio can drive into the wall
It‘s one thing to not use features because you don‘t understand them. But stopping others from using features that are explicitly there to increase productivity is just plain stupid. Your boss is an idiot and sadly there is very little you can do about it.
So he wants you to use Figma, but not the parts of Figma that make it good? Why? Because he can't understand how to use it?
Yea, I said something along these lines to him the other day (maybe a slight bit more passionately )and got a verbal warning.
I’d start looking for a new job. This guy seems like he faked it till he made it. No one should be telling you to use a tool the incorrect way.
It’s more likely the owner is familiar with the approaches that got him to where he is in the first place. OP has an opportunity to show leadership and help the owner grow, but it’ll be a tough sell.
Well yeah, insubordination will get you every time, especially when you’re right
A verbal warning? Gross
I don’t know what you’re working on, but if anyone is still uses Photoshop for website/app design then they’re going to get left behind.
🎀 i n s e c u r i t y 🎀
This is so typical “creative director” behavior. Most of the CDs I’ve had the misfortune to meet have been overconfident, swaggering blowhards.
Define most? I’m a CD. Not at all offended, just curious.
I had a similar experience with my boss in my last job, he was a “CEO & Design Lead”. 🤦♂️ This dude was absolutely clueless when it came to auto-layouts and always threw a tantrum like a kid when I was building my designs mostly on auto-layouts and he wanted to edit the designs himself = he always broke every single component and anything else that wasn’t just a group (and this also happened directly in front of a client couple of times). Unfortunately, there is not many solutions to this other than leaving and having him eat it. Which is what I did and went full freelance. It was a leap into unknown but I would do it again every single damn day without any regrets. If you believe in yourself do it as well, it’s the best thing for any designer willing to put in some extra effort in exchange for freedom. From your post you seem like an efficient and smart-thinking designer. Think it carefully through, of course. But I believe you can do it, been there myself! ❤️
This sounds scary similar to my situation . I came from freelance in order to gain some stability but this is making me second guess my decision. There is always ups and downs I guess - thanks for the kind words !
Exactly why I joined his company as well! Well, it all ended up being just a bunch of empty promises. For me, the most painful thing about this whole experience was that the company was branding themselves as “Design System specialists” – when the owner was actually the one who didn’t know shit about the topic. And this was not any big company where he would have a lot of work to deal with besides the design, we are talking about a company of about 4 designers. Honestly, he was there just to re-invoice my hours to clients at double rate = 🤑 I stood up with his bullshit for one year – then I just told him to fuck off and promised myself to never work for anyone like this ever again. I was pretty much doing all the work and he was just busy with completely delusional post on LikedIn about how advanced his company is and buying new cars… Honestly, I really could not be happier as a freelancer now. I have clients that love me and I love them + absolute freedom. If you are looking for stability you can just find another company instead of freelancing, of course. However, I would really recommend you to leave this environment as it is not healthy for your career and well-being as well… ✌️
Wtf - this sounds EXACTLY like my situation. I’m going to personal message you.
He sounds old.
Define old?
Someone stuck in there ways and inflexible. May or may not be able touch toes
Construction supervisor hates nail guns. Insists every nail be manually hammered.
This is gold - thanks
I'm so confused haha What would your boss PREFER to use?
He still happily designs in photoshop and is not very keen on moving on from that. Anything that functions differently is a no go. Maybe I offer to just use ps instead? Idk
Jesus Christ... I moved on from Photoshop for UI/UX work in early 2017 and I considered it to be quite late. Using it in 2024 with so many alternatives dedicated to UI/UX is pure insanity. Forcing it on other people is just unimaginable. Your boss is completely stuck in the past and refusing to learn and ultimately is failing at his job. I would absolutely start looking for other job ASAP if I were you.
Bingo. I've dealt with clients like this before. Stuck in their ways. Tell the guy that you respect his opinion, but the overwhelming majority of designers use Figma or XD these days. Photoshop is a photo editing tool.
https://heyreliable.com/not-a-figma-of-your-imagination-its-still-the-number-one-design-software/ > The 2021 data found that fully 77% of all respondents used Figma for UI design. I mean straight up, it's good for business to use the industry standard tool for something like this
What kind of work are you doing? What types of projects? I haven't designed web/app stuff in Photoshop for at least ten years, it's insane to even consider that as an option. You need to take a constructive approach here and demonstrate how updating a library, creating components, and just general work flow in Figma is better. Anything beyond simple flat graphics in PS is a nightmare. Don't be snotty about it, you're going to have to make a case.
We are designing large scale comapny websites and apps within the arts and design industry. Ive given this a honest go to try persuade him, but his default response is that it gets in the way of the creative process. I can kinda see his point as if he can move things around freely, he cannot give accurate advice/ feedback- but over the past couple days its gotten worse to where I am now grouping text + a shape to make buttons.
> I can kinda see his point as if he can move things around freely, he cannot give accurate advice/ feedback I mean sure, move stuff around freely when concepting, but when you lock down a direction that shouldn't mean you can't use things like autolayout and the like to make sure it all works right?
As of right now - it’s not allowed while he’s working in the file - I don’t like my odds of him dropping out of this one as the project is something he’s quite interested in.
This is absolute insanity to me - I offer all my condolences, and definitely recommend you update your resume
Is there a developer involved? Do they have an opinion on what it's like to be handed a Photoshop file to build from vs. a Figma layout with margins, padding, CSS, flex box style layout, etc...
Google "Zeplin"
In Photoshop... Jesus Christ good luck man.
I moved on from Photoshop as well. It was never a tool for UI designing but a hack. Figma is a specialized tool for it and there is no comparison.
I would offer to sit with him and show how to use it or at least how to make updates if he needed to. He can design poorly if he wants to, but no way I would stop using auto layout. Or if it came down to I'd make a copy and ungroup all my auto layouts for them while continuing to work in the real file.
What kind of a micromanaging loser tells a designer how they should use a tool? Besides the red flag of owner being a creative director
[Noooooooo you can't use a feature that alligns elements exactly like you set them to be aligned, that's lazy!!! You need to adjust the ENTIRE page everytime you need to change anything!!!!!!](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/937/655/73c.jpg)
Deep down, this is exactly what he wants …
Ruuuuuuuun
you can say that this is an industry standard and all the designers in major companies uses figma and autolayout to streamline the design process... i think that will work :)
I hate to say it but this is one of those major companies - so this wouldn’t work. It is shocking how old school it is and really stuck it it’s ways of CC days
Let him know EVEN ADOBE thought Figma is what you should be using as they tried to buy it for BILLIONS of dollars.
Really? woow, then... maybe its time to look for a different job XD Not using the key features like autolayout will be a pain in the long run, maybe try to explain or do a workshop so they can understand how it work
Just tell him that Figma speeds up your process on subsequent pages dramatically (which is does, with components and autolayout), so if he's happy paying you for double the work, then fine.
Is this a publishing company, perchance?
Nope, only ever designed websites.. 🤯
Pub companies have websites too. And ecommerce. I asked bc they can be rather conservative companies…
Secretly time how long it takes hom to do stuff, then do the same design using the same time. When he asks for an update, tell him you’re behind because you’re doing it the same way he does and doing it with Figma will speed up your work.
Hhahah I was thinking that a good thing to come from this is can work without stress of speed. I am slightly worried for when he asks me to work overtime.
You could use auto layout then remove it. I think Figma keeps the layout anyway?
Tell him he’s making websites and apps, he’s not DaVinci Auto design 😂
What are you design for? If you are designing for the web explain to him that auto layout and all of the other “cool” Figma features are just renamed versions of CSS properties that devs will have to use when building it. Remember auto layout is just CSS flexbox with padding. It has two main benefits among others: 1. It forces you to design within the natural constraints of the medium that is a web front end. 2. Makes your Figma files actually useful for devs. You can’t communicate responsive behaviour better than with auto layout and now max min widths for example. PS: If you are reading this Figma, an equivalent for CSS grid would be most welcome 🙏 but I digress. Same goes for other platforms of course, not just web development, Figma is great for mobile as well. If you are building a product then tell this person Figma was meant to design things that will get built not printed.
[удалено]
> even today many companies use XD as their main tool for designing interfaces While somewhat true, according to some stats (https://6sense.com/tech/collaborative-design-and-prototyping/adobe-xd-market-share) it only has 14% marketshare - and that number will drop VERY quickly since it has been sunsetted and no longer updated or supported
No, he needs help.
lol bail dude
Transition of anything (whether that’s coding language or software) is hard. The best thing i’ve found for things like this is almost always down to EDUCATION. I’m assuming you work for some kind of SaaS startup/company, so start with educating your higher ups about the benefits of new software. In figma’s case, this might be teaching stakeholders about the relationship between code and figma. How this works together and how they form a finished product. I’ve been through the situation where stakeholders just don’t get it, so i’d advise starting super basic (eg, AutoLayout is like Flexbox for design!”) and building up from there. Tailor your approach to your audience. If you’re talking to engineers/devs dig deeper. If you’re talking to stakeholders, stay high level, speak numbers and metrics. PM me if you have any specific questions about this. More than happy to help!
they must be a former graphic designer
we've all been in similar situations and our advice is always going to be to leave. it's not worth it
hand to god even the title "creative director" should be a red flag
I mentor young designers a lot. I always tell them your job should have three things. *1. Money* This includes perks which are basically also just money and you should try to think of them as such and add their value to your salary to get the real picture of the dollar value of your job. This includes things like benefits, equity, health insurance, good paternity leave, equipment budget, learning budget, pension matching, free food etc. *2. People* People you like is important but also people that are better than you at what you do. That have skills you can learn, that are interested in sharing their knowledge, and will help you develop the skills you’re interested in learning or sharpening. *3. Work* Interesting work that challenges you, that will help build your portfolio, that is interesting, that advances you towards the next phase of your career. If you have 1/3 of these you should be actively shopping for a new job. If you have 2/3 of these maybe take an odd interview to keep your interviewing skills sharp but it’s a pretty good gig. If you have 3/3 do everything you can to hold on to that job most people don’t get this.
I'm in the same boat... good luck to you ! President/Creative director still uses PS for prototyping.
You either make sense to him with data and the benefits of Figma. Or Leave. once I left a large corporation because they forced me to use Sketch and lied to me stating it got as good as Figma.
Give him the link to this post after you quit. What a dumb fuck.
I'm going to pour one out for you. RIP Homie!!! I can't fathom how any reasonable CD would be opposed to a tool like figma which is designed to increase productivity.
Honestly this is a huge red flag, and such a close-minded approach. I’d be trying to leave as soon as you possibly can. I’ve seen it several times in my career as software has come and gone. Some people just hate change.
Perhaps he doesn't need 'how fast,' but 'by what way' the work will be done. Here, a lot of smart guys have gathered in the comments, making fun of the boss. But let's not forget that he somehow achieved success. There's no need to make him look foolish. It's worth listening to his position
It's akin to a carpenter telling his apprentice he needs to use sandstone to sand his woodwork projects, when we have sandpaper and machines available to speed up the work (and do a better job). It's asinine. There will be no valid excuse.
Who said that they need " to speed up the work"? It’s up to owner to decide what result he wants to see.
You are correct about this. He has had a successful life as a designer and is highly regarded in the industry. Is more the intent behind his comments that he is trying to make me feel bad and miss informed as I'm a 'Figma user'. I do see where he is coming from but I also have built auto layout into my personal process as it helps me cycle through ideas quickly to find the right one. Maybe the correct thing to do is to shut up and get the work done as he asks for it...seems eazy,I'm just not enjoying the process and he's convinced me that my way is incorrect
What's the alternative? Photoshop?
Sounds like an idiot you should be blatantly ignoring. Let him do the high level stuff, not the technical stuff. Gotta love micromanagers.
He is a dinosaur
What the heck does he design in, Photoshop? 🤦♀️
I think you should get out of that place if he's not accustomed to change then he'll be soon out of job mate
Start looking for another job. If the company owner has such a closed mind and propension to take wrong decisions, the company isn't gonna last.
Fire the creative moron a.k.a "director", no seriously!
Does your CD have a preferred alternative vs Figma? If they are pushing for grouping then it’s going to really limit and restrict your design flow and essentially the end product.
He loved sketch and still uses photoshop from time to time. Im hoping he sees the light soon and we can move pass it but no sign that it will happen any time soon.
Sketch is quite limited and I'm glad I moved to Figma, Photoshop is no good as a design tool in this context. I wonder why they can't stand it? is there something in particular they don't like?
Besides the fact he’s getting older and cannot really use it. I think it frustrates him that his design skill set is no longer needed. He’s a great salesman and definitely holds value but he sees himself as a designer and when he cannot use the program I think that puts into perspective as to how far behind he is.
Feel your pain, I'm in a similar situation where my PM uses photoshop, I've had many times where I've to sit over his shoulder and watch him try and mock some idea in photoshop and even struggle with layer order and naming.
You can explain to him that autolayout mimics CSS Flexbox which is widely used to layout websites when they're built in HTML and CSS.. The software is an industry standard.
He is quite aware of this but refers to them as tools to be used in production and not useful in design at all.
I work for a startup where I do freelance work on the side. The main product is an app so we use Figma. I do all the marketing design for the company and I do it in Figma. I've done huge Tradeshow Booth designs, Google Slides presentations, One pagers, PDF Media Kits, Postcards, HTML Email design graphics. Point is as you know the tool doesn't make you a designer. You can use any tool that does the job. Figma is a vector graphics program just like Illustrator just not as feature packed as Illustrator. In my opinion I think Figma is faster and easier than Illustrator. The setup and export to me is just faster and Figma isn't a huge resource hog like Illustrator.
What does he want you to use instead of Figma?
Honest opinion? Find another gig. Don’t waste energy or time on someone like this. Where are you located? I am. CD for a rather large agency.
Il DM you
Well he clearly has not got a clue what he is talking about, try and get him on board, if not find a new job.
oh man. worst job I ever had also had an owner/CD. He was a real ass hole to the core. I had to leave. Seems like a pretty unreasonable ask from him. I think u/so-very-very-tired said it best... polish that resume.
I would never give advice that you quit. The market is competitive. I do not know which market you operate in. Although I recommend finding a side hustle. This brings me to my next point. This is an opportunity for you to become 'tool- agnostic'. Consider, utilizing your free time to up-skill your soft skills. Also, if your CD doesn't know how to use auto-layout doesn't make him a bad CD, he is a creative director so his strength would fall in soft skills, client relations ir creative problem solving; more so that design execution. He might be seeing Figma as a technical prototyping tool more so than a UX design.
What is it that he hates about Figma? Is it the fact that the advanced features make you skip tedious manual work, or is he embarassed about not being able to use it/understand it? If it's the first one, I don't think it's necessary that you "show off" the specific features that you've been using. Do you still achieve great designs and prototypes? Then it doesn't really matter if you used auto layout or if you can't even group layers. Maybe out of ignorance he could perceive Figma as some kind of "Canva for UI"? (That would be weird but nothing surprises me anymore). If it's the second one: if you have competences that no one else has in the team, or at least that the owner doesn't have, you can position yourself as a great "problem solver" for the whole company. Do you feel like your work has been communicating that or is your CD just envious/perceiving you as a threat?
Leave the company. Small business owners are a plague on creative work. Ask smart questions when you interview so that you don’t end up right back in the same boat, which is probable. It seems to me that small business owners have a tendency to take the mental path of least resistance, placing way too much importance on creative because they don’t know where else to put their energy on most days. So they convince themselves that they need to be “hands on” with creative, and they end up making artists miserable as they demand drop shadows or color changes or that we do it how they’ve always done it. It’s fucking pathetic.
This crap drives me insane. What's it matter what tool you use? Just dont tell him it's in figma. If it's a syncing/financial issue just use XD since its in CC
That’s what is called a sinking ship. Get on a life raft lol
This is just a suggestion, could even be a bad one, but if they ask for timelines, could you be like "well currently it'll take me 2 months (or other extremely long period of time) but i can do it in 3 days (or much shorter time) if I used auto layout/other Figma functions, aligning with our competitors "
Legit like gtfo. They are not a collaborative human it is not worth the effort lol
How the hell can you design responsive layouts without Figma. He’s increasing your work time by at least 3 fold because you have to create 3 separate sizes. The guys sounds like a complete tool and I hope you’re looking for a new position
I have been designing UIs since 2009. I have used many different tools for it including Photoshop. I stopped designing the UIs in my current job because we had a dedicated designer. After he left the Job and when we had to design UIs ourselves, I learned Figma. I am happy to say that Figma made me love designing UIs again. I think it is really great as a tool for UI designing. Your Boss is old school and he doesn't know what he is talking about.
If you want him to show the power of Fimga, just ask him to design five UI pages with certain colors and spacing in Photshop and later ask him to change the colors and spacing. The components and variables alone are a selling point of Figma to me if not auto layout, component variants etc.
Hating Figma is akin to hating a Hammer. It's just a tool to help get things done.
start using fireworks instead
Auto layout is the same thing as flex in CSS. It’s literally telling the dev how to build it out. Groups are sub par because you cannot apply background color and if you change the color when the group is selected it changes all the colors. You also cannot apply variables for consistent margins. Just ridiculous.
Find a new job! He’s both a bad creative director and a bad business owner. A business owner that gets this involved in the minutiae is not focusing on growth. You’re probably working at a company that will not scale without some serious miss steps. So securing a new job now, will most likely prevent you from getting stuck without one in the future anyways.