Can Figma replace Miro?
By: Anmar Matrood
Tags: Figma, Workshop, Collaboration, UX, Miro

Figma vs Miro

Usually, we conduct workshops using Miro boards. It’s an awesome and reliable tool. Since we are in the midst of transitioning from Sketch to Figma, we flirted with the idea of replacing other tools (Miro in this case)and have an all in one solution.

The test: 4-hour workshop

We had a 4-hour workshop to come up and collect feedback for a new webshop on an existing website. This is a B2B case, so things aren’t your usual e-commerce solution, rather a more complicated flow that is closer to an inquiry rather than e-commerce.

Participants: 13 Experts

2 Business owners

3 Product owners

1 Salesperson

2 Marketing specialist

2 UX designers (facilitators)

2 Full-stack developers

Our initial idea was to co-create the user journey, UI flow and wireframes during the workshop. We quickly realised that with four hours and so many people, there is no way we can get that done. Also, Figma does not give that ability to viewers.

Things we prepared before the workshop

We thought about the key outcomes as well as the materials to drive us there.

Material

Simple user journey

Some wireframes that follow the journey

An agenda for two days

Key outcomes

The correct user journey

Correct UI flow

Technical and security arrangements between all stakeholders

The plan for the next steps

Usually, starting a discussion or a concept from scratch with different stakeholders ends up nowhere. It’s simply too wide. We like to start the discussion by giving an initial direction and structure. This is what we as UX designers prepared before the workshop. Keep in mind, we had no clue whether this is the right flow or not, but this is a conversation starter.

Simple user journey, things are blurred for NDA reasons

UI flow

During the workshop

Announcing that we will do things in Figma startled some. Technical people were inside in no time, others really struggled and some were hesitant to make an account. Anonymous accounts could not make any comments before making an account.

A comment outside the frame.

After onboarding everyone (3 minutes±) and even after explaining how to comment and give feedback briefly, some struggled to grasp the concept. We had a hard time tracking what people were commenting on since they didn’t always specify the correct location of the comment.

When participants made comments, we followed up and gave additional comments, but not everyone found their way back to the comment section.

Reflections, the pros and cons

The pros of using Figma over Miro

One source of truth, there is one file to update, everyone knows the latest version, all the comments are in the right file. Amazing!

As designers, we had the visual control, we could update the wireframes live, and keep the style and usability intact

Discussion is more structured because you have to deliver discussion material beforehand.

The cons of using Figma over Miro

This menu has not been intuitive enough

There is too little onboarding for non-technical people. For example, how to zoom, pan and comment was a mystery to some of the participants. We had to say those things. Miro on the other hand does this very well!

Participants need more tools! I do like the lack of visual control as a viewer, but how about simple wireframing tools like squares, circles and arrows? That can improve things significantly for visual learners.

Commenting abilities as anonymous, do we really require salespeople and some business owner that might use the tool once or twice a year to make an account?

Most of the material needs to be delivered before the workshop, this is also a pro, depending on the contexts.

Conclusion and Tips

As of yet, there is not enough flexibility and features for Figma to replace Miro in all cases for design teams. However, the potential is huge, the fact that you can have your user journey, wireframes, prototype, comments and handover file in one source of truth is a game-changer for sure.

Are you thinking of doing your next workshop with Figma, here are a few tips:

Prepare as much material as possible beforehand

Do an extensive onboarding, for the registration, commenting (and follow up), panning, zooming and navigation.

Explain the key outcomes clearly to your participants, so that they know what to comment about.

The Figma team has been doing an amazing job to date but needs to improve the viewer’s rights and features, that way designers can conduct design sprints and other workshops with confidence.