Case Study: Elevating Team Figma Skills with Designlab Courses & Custom Coaching

Background

Founded in 1992 and based in Boston, America’s Test Kitchen (ATK)  is a highly regarded culinary media company known for its rigorous testing of recipes, equipment, and ingredients, producing content across television shows, magazines, and online platforms. Their product design team plays a vital role in delivering this content through various digital platforms.

Challenge

Having previously used Adobe XD, the team transitioned to Figma and needed advanced training to go beyond their self-taught skills. "We switched from XD to Figma, and we did a lot of self-learning together as a group, which was fun, but we still wanted to get everybody's skills to the next level and really hit new benchmarks with craft," shared Head of Product Design Kate Tetreault. 

Key areas for growth included mastering Figma's auto layout feature, understanding components and variables, and developing better prototyping practices to communicate design ideas more effectively.

Solution

To address these challenges, five ATK designers completed the 4-week Advanced Figma course. To further enhance their skills, they added two private coaching sessions with Designlab mentor and Figma expert Blake Arnsdorf. These sessions specifically focused on prototyping practices that went beyond what was covered in the course. The blend of course content and customized coaching helped the team improve in:

• Incorporating Figma's auto layout feature into their workflows from the start of their design process
• Developing flexible, reusable components and scalable design systems
• Standardizing design practices for better team collaboration
• Using prototyping to ideate and communicate design concepts effectively

Some of the highlights [from the course] were the shortcuts that I now use daily, as well as making sure I'm correctly starting with auto layouts in the beginning of a project. - Danielle Barberra, ATK product designer

The team began applying their new skills during the course itself, with immediate improvements to their design process. “I didn't realize how much more was achievable in Figma,” shared product designer Danielle Barberra. “Some of the highlights [from the course] were the shortcuts that I now use daily, as well as making sure I'm correctly starting with auto layouts in the beginning of a project.”

Mentorship & Peer Group

A key aspect of the Advanced Figma course was the opportunity to work with an expert mentor and engage in peer group feedback. 

This was especially valuable for the ATK team, who interacted with designers from other companies during the course, including peers from other design organizations. "They enjoyed the smaller group size, and they also enjoyed that there were some folks from The Home Depot's team in the course with them. It was fun for them to get to meet other people on similar types of teams and exchange experiences. They really appreciated that," Kate noted.

Personalized Coaching

Beyond the course, the team also benefited from customized coaching sessions, which helped them dive deeper into prototyping challenges. "The [coaching sessions] were great, and I really enjoyed the more intimate experience with just us from America’s Test Kitchen participating," said product designer Bradford Rusick.

The [coaching sessions] were great, and I really enjoyed the more intimate experience with just us from America’s Test Kitchen participating. - ATK product designer Bradford Rusick.

The coaching sessions focused on integrating prototyping more effectively into their design system and improving cross-functional communication. "The particularly satisfying thing I learned was that I don't have to create numerous screens to create an effective prototype. I was especially excited at the prospect of prototyping within components, which I think will have a great impact on our design system in the future," added designer Alex Boeri.

Key Outcomes

• Streamlined Collaboration: Mastery of auto layout feature and standardized practices improved design team efficiency 
• Immediate Skill Application: Designers quickly incorporated new techniques related to auto layout and prototyping into live projects, enhancing communication and efficiency. 
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Enhanced prototyping led to richer feedback from stakeholders and more efficient handoffs, improving project outcomes. 
• Increased Team Confidence: Mastery of previously challenging concepts has increased confidence in design processes, both individually and as a team, allowing for more advocacy for the importance of design. 

Conclusion 

The combination of Designlab’s Advanced Figma course and personalized coaching helped ATK’s design team elevate their capabilities. "It was really great to be able to hear people say things like ‘I went back into this file and was able to totally redo it with the knowledge that I learned in the course,’ or ‘I have great ideas about how I want to expand our design system with prototyping and individual components.’ People were able to take the learning and apply it to not only what they were immediately working on, but what they wanted to do next," Kate shared, reflecting on the team’s success.

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