Adobe Figma :(
I was waiting for the dust to settle to write this piece.
I was browsing Instagram for memes and find out a post about the Figma-Adobe deal. At first, I thought somebody was making a joke, but still, I Googled it to confirm. And found this TechCrunch article.
About Adobe
I wouldn't say I liked their CC way of managing everything. It slowed down my PC and made it very difficult to exit. It will always display in the taskbar. And very difficult to even uninstall.
I used Adobe XD from its Inception; to be frank, Adobe ecosystem was my favourite in the design field. Loved Adobe XD's initial releases. I even bought a brand new Windows 10 laptop to try this app.
In my early career stage, it was challenging even to afford a PC; that's when Adobe migrated to CC from the CS series of apps. So to even learn design or polish "moving rectangle" skills, I need to install Photoshop and Illustrator. You know what I mean if you're in this career.
All these apps were not accessible to all (I mean to the middle class and below). Their pricing was not justified in India then, and I was not even earning then, and not anywhere near affordable when making started. Tools open doors to tech jobs, so pricing does matter.
Here’s an interesting thread about the Adobe contract.
Click below to view it in detail.
A free tier is more remarkable than piracy because we will eventually take the paid subscription. XD was kind of free then with a limitation. From that time, I changed to access everything legally. This means subscribing to OTT mediums, paid subscriptions to apps etc., which felt nice.
From 2019 onwards, I only used the entire Adobe system for my professional work. There was a license available at the company. And I used to have maximum productivity, like a fast handoff and cloud saving, but I still faced some difficulties like sudden crashes. Needless to say, Adobe's support system was top-notch. I ask for support if something is bugging my working style. Why? Adobe's single-app license is a joke. So the only option is to go for a cloud subscription. We're paying a significant amount for the subscription monthly.
About Figma
I learned about Figma in the meantime and tried to learn; it was easy to adapt, more accessible and super easy onboarding. I moved some artboards around, played with every tool, and their cloud saving, frame concept, everything felt like a next-gen design style. Later they introduced the community. Everything is accessible for free and legally. So it was super cool even to design.
They introduced interesting features to speed up the design process. I messaged Adobe's support team every now and then to catch up with this. Because migrating from one platform to another is not easy when dealing with big projects. There are too many artboards, workflow and modules. And this locked file system culture is not going to be an easy process! 🥴
The Deal
Figma is a locked system. Naturally, Adobe is also closed but accessible in its ecosystem. I didn't care about this at first. But now it feels like a trap.
So now, when this news popped up, one thing was sure, XD failed miserably. They could have invested more resources with all this money, but it was too late. All the large organizations started to migrate to Figma with their design systems. Microsoft even did an excellent plugin - I love that. Google only published their Material Three library in Figma. That was a big red flag, I remember, when I thought about it. But in my mind, I thought maybe Figma would acquire Adobe, never this way. So now, a return is not even possible for Adobe. Figma was eating all their market in UI/UX sector. So the best option is…
It is the same as Instagram - Facebook deal. I'm sure Adobe will regain all this money in the future - FROM US!
I fear that they will indeed remove the free tier for everyone. Not now, maybe in 2 or 3 years. They will only give free lunch to educational institutions and students. We can expect this feeling, check the tone below from the founder.
Also, they repeatedly say there is no plan to touch anything - operating autonomously.
The Heat
I know there is no free lunch forever.
I think many designers backed Figma in the early days because it is not an Adobe product. I have always loved Figma's independent innovation and fast release of features. Once familiar with Figma's architecture, you'll never look back. Yeah, I know it's not about the tool but skills. But in this case, there is a difference. The right stack & tools can boost your execution speed.
Now I'm concerned about Figma's future. I'm staying open-minded till I'd gladly be proven wrong. A lot of heat went to Adobe after this news on social media. My LinkedIn feed was full of it for two days. Adobe needs to respond by building trust. Now that they're getting this much heat, I hope they make a good product and features.
There's a reason every designer is so sad and disappointed about this. Figma felt like the first design tool that offered a free tier with almost every feature with access to everything inside the app, and those days are now questioned.
Exit like this after years of “user-first” projection in all marketing and branding - from some article. Credits to he/she
Some people say the Adobe-Figma acquisition is the same as Microsoft - Github. But Adobe and Microsoft aren't the same. I don't even care if Google or Microsoft bought Figma like this.
The Philosophy
This acquisition made Adobe a monopoly company in design tools on Windows right now. That's not looking good, right? I believe competition is the backbone of innovation. Like Telegram's CEO once said in his updates, "Capitalist monopolies and socialist dictatorships are equally bad." Monopolies are bad for consumers. One thing I'm quoting again is, "Figma has done amazing things for the industry. But it's also okay for people to hate monopolies". The power of a monopoly is that it will bury you or buy you, and after failing at the former, it will surely succeed with the latter. Some people say Adobe is excellent. Yeah, Adobe was great. But they stopped caring about users a long time ago. That's why most people and organizations switched. Now, all we have is the illusion of choice, and these markets are obviously not free.
The below points are credited to someone on the internet. I don't remember where
A huge success story for the founders
Potentially life-changing for the employees
Confirmation of the value of design
A source of concern for existing users
A risk to competition
But also a huge opportunity for competitors
XD - A Story
And the Future
It’s simple. Adobe XD will die slowly.
The Migration
I know there is Lunacy and UXPin, but I still don't feel "home" in that. The main competition was Figma x Sketch x Adobe XD. Now in Windows, there is “logically” no competition as of now. I don't understand the people who are rooting for Sketch. It's not accessible to the poor. I can't even afford a Mac. Or that subscription. I really want to try that out. Even EMI is not affordable right now. And some job descriptions are placed like Familiarity with Sketch will be a plus.
“Design tools should work more collaboratively together with each other instead of being private sandboxes.” From an open doc enthusiast.
The Mourning
Check out this link 🤣
Figma Mourning v2.1 v4 final. v2final‒final.fig
I wish everyone behind Figma the best and look forward to Adobe’s development.
It took two and a half days to process their deal and write my blog. Thank you for reading.Update 26 Oct, 2023
Marketing video for further clarification and PR
Update 31 Oct, 2023
https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/29/adobe-figma-deal-regulatory-limbo
Update 18 Dec, 2023
While this is a piece of good news for designers everywhere, I feel the sadness of all the employees who could have benefited from the big fat cheque! But in terms, it might be a different outcome. Let's see.
And also according to The Verge
As a result of the termination, Adobe will be required to pay Figma a reverse termination fee of $1 billion in cash.
From https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/796343/000114036122033413/ny20005310x2_8k.htm
Termination Rights. Both the Company and Figma may terminate the Merger Agreement under certain specified circumstances, including if the Mergers are not consummated by September 15, 2023 (the “Initial Outside Date”), subject to two extensions of three months each in order to obtain required antitrust approvals or clearances, or if there is a final, nonappealable legal restraint in respect of antitrust law that makes illegal, prohibits or prevents the consummation of the Mergers, in each case, provided all other conditions to closing have been satisfied or waived, as applicable, as of the Initial Outside Date (except for those conditions which by their nature are to be satisfied at closing, provided that such conditions shall then be capable of being satisfied if the closing were to take place on such date) (the “Outside Date”). If either the Company or Figma terminates the Merger Agreement due to the failure of the closing to occur by the Outside Date or due to a final, nonappealable legal restraint in respect of antitrust law that makes illegal, prohibits or prevents the consummation of the Mergers, and at the time of such termination the closing conditions relating to obtaining required antitrust approvals and clearances or the absence of any injunction, law or order under antitrust laws making illegal, prohibiting or preventing the consummation of the Mergers have not been satisfied, but all other conditions to closing have been satisfied or waived, as applicable (except for those conditions which by their nature are to be satisfied at closing, provided that such conditions would be satisfied if the closing were to take place on such date), the Company will be required to pay or cause to be paid to Figma a reverse termination fee of $1 billion in cash.