Explaining Figma Components Like You’re Five (Simplest Way Possible)
Summary
TLDRThis video tutorial simplifies understanding Figma components, essential for efficient design work. It explains how components act as reusable templates, with instances reflecting any changes made to the original. The tutorial covers creating component sets, using variants like 'apple' and 'orange' within a 'fruit' component, and managing properties. It also delves into nested components and component properties, illustrating how these features streamline design updates across multiple instances, emphasizing the power of components for prototyping in Figma.
Takeaways
- 🔧 Components in Figma are foundational for efficient design work, allowing for the creation of reusable design elements.
- 🍎 Components function as templates, enabling designers to maintain consistency across a design by making edits in one place that reflect everywhere the component is used.
- 📚 Understanding components is crucial for leveraging the full potential of Figma and similar prototyping tools.
- 🔄 Creating a component set involves selecting multiple objects and defining them as a single component, which can then be instanced across a design.
- 🍊 Variants within a component allow for different versions of the same component, such as different types of fruits, while maintaining a common structure.
- 🛠 Naming components and their properties descriptively is essential for clarity and ease of use within a design system.
- 🌿 Nested components are powerful for creating complex structures, where a component can contain instances of other components, like a leaf within a fruit.
- 🔄 Component properties and nested instances enable granular control over design elements, allowing for toggling features like the presence of a leaf on a fruit.
- 🔧 Exposing properties from nested instances is a feature that enhances the management of complex component structures, providing direct control over nested elements.
- 🔄 The ability to make widespread changes to design elements through a single component instance is a significant time-saver, especially in large-scale projects.
Q & A
What are components in Figma?
-Components in Figma are essentially templates that allow you to reuse objects across your design. They are crucial for maintaining consistency and can be used in prototyping apps that employ similar mechanisms.
How do you create a component in Figma?
-To create a component in Figma, select the objects you want to include, go to the top menu, and choose 'Create Component Set'. This will generate a main component that you can reuse as instances in your design.
What is an instance in the context of Figma components?
-An instance in Figma refers to a copy or usage of the main component. Any changes made to the main component will be reflected across all its instances, ensuring consistency throughout the design.
Can you explain the concept of variants within a component?
-Variants in Figma components allow you to have different versions of the same component. For example, a 'fruit' component can have variants like 'apple' and 'orange'. Each variant can be used independently, and changes to one variant do not affect the others.
How do you change the name of a component in Figma?
-To change the name of a component in Figma, select the component, go to the 'Properties' panel, and edit the name under the 'Name' field. This helps in making the components more descriptive and easier to manage.
What is a nested component and how is it used?
-A nested component is a component that contains another component. For instance, a 'leaf' component can be nested within a 'fruit' component. This allows for complex structures and the ability to manage properties at different levels of the design hierarchy.
How can you control the visibility of a nested component?
-You can control the visibility of a nested component by creating a Boolean property. For example, you can add a 'Show Leaf' property to a 'fruit' component, allowing you to toggle the visibility of the 'leaf' component on each instance.
What are component properties and how do they differ from component property values?
-Component properties are attributes that define the characteristics of a component, like 'type of fruit'. Component property values are the specific settings for these properties, such as 'apple' or 'orange'. Variants are created based on these property values.
How do you expose properties from nested instances in Figma?
-To expose properties from nested instances in Figma, select the parent component, go to 'Properties', and check 'Expose Properties from Nested Instances'. This allows you to control properties of nested components directly from the parent component instance.
Why are components and instances powerful tools in Figma?
-Components and instances are powerful in Figma because they allow for efficient design management, especially when dealing with large projects. They enable you to make global changes from a single point, saving time and ensuring consistency across the design.
How can you ensure that your Figma components are easy to navigate and set up?
-To ensure that Figma components are easy to navigate and set up, use descriptive naming for components and properties, organize them logically within the 'Assets' panel, and make use of nested components and exposed properties to maintain a clean and manageable design structure.
Outlines
📘 Introduction to Figma Components
This paragraph introduces the concept of components in Figma, emphasizing their importance for designers who want to maximize the use of Figma and similar prototyping apps. Components are described as reusable templates for objects that need to remain consistent across a design. The video uses the analogy of fruits to explain how to create a component set, with the ability to create instances of these components that reflect changes made to the main component. The paragraph also covers the idea of variants within a component, allowing for multiple versions of the same component, and the importance of naming components and variants descriptively for clarity and ease of use.
🌿 Exploring Nested Components and Component Properties
The second paragraph delves into the advanced features of Figma components, such as nested components and component properties. It demonstrates how to incorporate a component within another component, using leaves as an example to show how changes to the nested component can be reflected across all instances. The paragraph also explains how to create Boolean component properties to control the presence of elements within instances, and how to expose properties from nested instances for easier editing. The video concludes by highlighting the efficiency of using components and instances for large-scale design projects, such as updating numerous buttons on a website, and encourages viewers to ask questions and provide feedback.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Components
💡Instances
💡Variants
💡Properties
💡Nested Components
💡Component Properties
💡Exposing Properties
💡Prototyping Apps
💡Design Efficiency
💡Updates and Consistency
Highlights
Components in Figma are essential for efficient design and prototyping.
Components act as templates for objects that can be reused across designs.
Creating a component set involves selecting objects and using a dropdown menu.
Instances of components allow for changes to be reflected across all uses.
Components can have variants, such as different types of fruits.
Renaming components to descriptive names improves navigation and usability.
Component properties and values enable customization of instances.
Nested components allow for complex structures within a single component.
Component properties can be exposed for easier control over nested instances.
Boolean properties can be used to toggle the presence of elements within a component.
Nested components update automatically when the parent component is modified.
Proper naming and organization of components and instances streamline design workflows.
Components are powerful for managing large-scale designs with repeated elements.
Updating a main component automatically updates all instances, saving time and effort.
The video provides a practical example of using components with fruits to illustrate the concept.
Nested components and properties can be used to control the appearance of elements like leaves.
Enabling beta features in Figma settings is necessary for accessing certain component options.
The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to engage with the content and ask questions.
Transcripts
hello everyone in today's video I'm
going to explain components in figma in
the simplest and quickest way possible
components in a figma are essential to
understand if you want to take full
advantage of figma and of other
prototyping apps that use a similar
mechanism and at the same time it may be
a struggle to understand for beginners
and on your own so let's get straight
into it components are basically
templates they are objects that you can
reuse across your design they are great
for something that needs to stay the
same across your design for creating and
using components let's use something
familiar from The Real World here we
have two photos we have an apple and we
have an orange both of these are fruits
so let's select both of them and go to
this drop down menu on the top and
create a component set we have created a
component called component one we can
now use an instance of this component by
going to assets and using component one
on our page like this so this is an
instance whenever we make a change to
our component to our main component
right here this change is going to be
reflected across our instances and we
can have one or multiple instances if I
now add for example a circle on top of
this apple within this component you can
see how this circle is now visible on
all of these instances so this is a
component this is an instance fairly
simple right but the name component one
is not really descriptive let's change
that to fruit we have a component called
fruit and as you can see there are two
objects within this fruit component
these objects are called variants it
makes logical sense that you have a
component called fruit and then variance
apple and orange so now I have three
instances of the fruit component where I
can also use the second variant which is
the orange right using this drop down
menu so let's recap a component is
basically the main object and these
instances are copies of this main object
that's why this is basically a template
right you should Now understand the
logic behind a component and variance as
you can see we can get multiple
instances and each of these can be a
different variant of course if we modify
this variant it's going to be updated
everywhere where we use this specific
variant of this component so remember
words component variance and instances
right here let me remove the circle from
the Orange Let's quickly take a look at
what we have here we have property one
image four and that's an instance of the
fruit component but property one nor
imh4 isn't really a sufficient and
descriptive wording of what is happening
so let me select the component go to
properties edit this property and change
this property to type of fruit at the
same time let me select image 4 and
change that to Orange and image 5 and
change that to Apple so if I click on
the instance of this component you can
see that we have an instance of the
fruit component with a property called
type of fruit set to Orange I can change
the type of fruit property to Apple and
back to Orange so at this point you
should understand what component
properties and component property values
are orange and apple are property values
and type of fruit is a property so if I
select the component you can see that
under properties I get type of root with
orange and apple being the values right
so that's a variant property so as I
said you can now reuse these elements
across your design and whenever you make
a change to the main component this
change is going to be reflected across
all of your instances which are here on
the right side now let's take this one
step further and talk about nested
components here we have two leaves one
is fresh and one is quite old I'm going
to select both of these and go to the
top bar and select create components set
I have now a component one which I'm
going to rename to leaf
right then under properties I'm gonna
edit property one to be called freshness
and we're going to have two values we're
gonna have a fresh leaf and we're gonna
have an old Leaf okay now when I use an
instance of the leaf component I can
select from a freshness property of
fresh and old and it's going to be
updated accordingly however I can also
take this Leaf press command X and paste
that directly into the fruit component
and as you can see I have now updated
all the instances of the fruit component
specifically the Apple variant I can now
select the sleeve and position it right
here so that it mimics how you
oftentimes see an apple with Leaf in the
real world I'm now gonna copy this and
paste that into the orange variant as
well so the fruit component now has this
old Leaf everywhere but I can change the
sleeve to new right I'm going to just
select these two and change the
freshness to Fresh it's now fresh
everywhere now imagine you'd want to
have an easy way to control what Leaf is
going to appear on your instance of this
component and you also want to select
whether it's going to be fresh or old so
to do that we're gonna have to create
something called component properties
and to do that I am going to select both
of these leaves and then under layer I'm
going to go over here and create a
Boolean property that will be called Joe
leaf with values of true now when I go
to the instance of this fruit component
I can now turn the leaf off and on on
each of these individual instances right
simple enough I can also do one more
thing I can also go to properties on the
fruit component and go to expose
properties from nested instances and by
the way if you don't see this option
make sure to enable beta features in
figma settings so I now click on exposed
properties from nested instances and I'm
going to check the leaf component and at
this moment when I select the fruit
instance I can also select the leaf
freshness it can be fresh or old right
on each of these individual instances so
not only can I now choose if I want to
have the leaf visible I can also control
whether the sleeve is going to be fresh
or old and because the leaf is a
component within a component right so in
this component we have an instance of
another component whenever I make a
change in the leaf component for example
I add a circle you can see that whenever
I use the fresh Leaf we get also a
circle that we have defined right here
similarly to the old Leaf as you can see
everything thing has now circles I can
now go ahead and use all these fruits
everywhere across my page and because I
have created this logic with nested
components with component properties
with variants and I named everything
correctly it is very easy to navigate
and set up specifically as I need I can
also make changes very easily if I make
up my mind so hopefully you now
understand what components instances
variants component properties and nested
components are and you also understand
how powerful this tool is for creating
things in figma and other prototyping
software because imagine that for
example this is going to be a button
instead of an apple you're gonna have a
button and instead of an orange you're
gonna have a darker button right if
you're going to design a website that's
going to have 60 pages and you're gonna
have 20 buttons on each of these pages
and then you want to update the button
the design of this button there is just
one way to do this and not lose your
mind and that's components and instances
right you're gonna use the button as
instances of a main button component let
me just show you if I duplicate these
fruits like dozens of times I have I
don't know how many pieces of fruit all
over the page if I now want to change
how the leaf looks normally I'd have to
change every single leaf on every single
one of these fruits but thanks to
components and instances I'm able to do
that easily in an instance from one
place let me know in the comments if you
have any questions and also make sure to
leave a like this video helped you
understand components in figma and let
me know if you'd like to see another
video on components where I go more in
depth with specific examples thanks for
tuning in and I will see you in the next
one
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