Note: If you have a different UI than in the course, you can change it back by clicking the '?' in the bottom right corner of Figma and select 'Go back to previous UI'. Happy Figma'ing!

How to overlap & stack things in a Figma Autolayout

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Course contents

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Course info

177 lessons / 16 hours 46 quiz questions 21 projects Certificate of achievement

Overview

Hi there, aspiring Figma enthusiasts! Are you ready to embark on an exhilarating journey with me, Dan Scott, as we unlock the full potential of our Figma skills in the dazzling realm of UX/UI Design using Figma Advanced?

Try Figma for free by clicking here.

This course is tailor-made for those who have already mastered the fundamental principles of UI/UX Design using Figma. If you've triumphed over my Figma Essentials course or have a sneaking suspicion that there's a treasure trove of unexplored tools, tips, workflows, and updates awaiting your discovery, then look no further! This course is your golden ticket to taking your UI/UX prowess to the next level.

Together, we'll start by delving into the depths of multilevel nested autolayouts, and unravel the secrets used by UX professionals by learning:
- Workflow techniques, managing design assets, styles, components, grid and column layouts like true virtuosos.
- Learn how to use Variables and put them to work creating even more complete prototypes.
- Use variables to make Light & Dark Modes + Compact & Comfortable spacing versions of your components. 
- You’ll then take your new knowledge of variables to understand and create your own Design Tokens. 
  • - Unleashing the magic of advanced animation techniques, captivating users with animated background gradients and Houdini Text.
  • - Harness the power of Lottie animation files, breathing life into your designs.
  • - Crafting responsive elements that effortlessly adapt to any device, proving your design prowess knows no bounds.
  • - Unleashing the full potential of powerful images & video masking techniques, amplifying the visual impact of your creations.
  • - Mastering advanced typography features, transforming words into captivating works of art.
  • - Embracing the realm of AI, infusing your process with its genius to elevate your skills as a UX designer.
  • - Elevate your prototyping game, conducting user tests with finesse using advanced techniques.
  • - Unveiling sticky scroll buttons that stack, animated anchor points and booleans, and a host of other captivating effects.
  • - Creating enchanting dropdown menus, hover grow effects for images, and expanding search bars.
  • - Discovering the right accessibility tools & techniques, ensuring inclusivity and usability for all users.
  • - Becoming a variant boss, expertly taming unwieldy variants to just 1 or 2.
  • - Unveiling the secrets of seamless collaboration with designers, developers, and stakeholders.
  • - Mastering the art of exporting production-ready assets, bringing your designs to life beyond the realm of Figma.
  • - Unearthing professional workflow tricks & shortcuts, saving you precious time and skyrocketing your efficiency.
  • - Plus much more exciting advanced Figma goodness along the way!

As you journey through this course, you'll acquire the skills wielded by UX professionals, gaining a profound understanding of the UX Design industry. From concept to a highly polished finish, you'll confidently manage your own UX projects ideal for your portfolio.

Throughout the course, I'll assign assignments and projects that nurture your skills and empower you to create your very own unique UX design masterpiece for your portfolio. Don’t worry if this all seems overwhelmingly advanced right now, because the BYOL crew stands ready to support and guide you, ensuring your questions get answered.

It's time to embrace the call to upgrade yourself and transcend from being a good UX Designer to a bona fide Figma UX Superhero! Unlock your potential, save the day, and let your design prowess soar!

Requirements:

- A copy of Figma (a free plan is available on the Figma website).
  • - Basic knowledge of Figma is required. I recommend watching my Figma Essentials course prior to embarking on this epic adventure.

Who this course is for:

  • - UX/UI adventurers who already have a basic understanding of Figma.
  • - Self-taught Figma enthusiasts yearning for structured guidance.
  • - Graduates of my Figma Essentials Course, hungry for more knowledge and skills.
  • - Visionaries who have developed their own unique Figma approach but crave exploration of the vast universe of tools, updates, and time-saving techniques.

What you'll learn:

  • - Diving deep into multi level nested autolayouts. 
  • - Robust components that are easy to update and hard to break. 
  • - Component properties. 
- Variables
- Design Tokens
- Advanced Prototyping using Variables
  • - Learn Workflow tips and tricks for managing your design assets, styles, components, grid and column layouts.
  • - Advanced animation techniques
  • - Animated Background gradients. 
  • - Houdini Text
  • - Animate along a path in Figma
  • - How to add Lottie animation files in Figma
  • - Build responsive elements ready for any device size.
  • - The best shortcuts & plugins to make you a more efficient UX designer.
  • - Absolute Positioning of Autolayouts. 
  • - Powerful images & video masking techniques. 
  • - Advanced typography features. 
  • - Learn to use AI in your process to make you a better UX designer. 
  • - Advanced prototyping techniques to level up your user tests. 
  • - Make prototypes better and faster using tricks & shortcuts. 
  • - Sticky scroll buttons that stack. 
  • - Video playback controls. 
  • - Animated anchor points and booleans.
  • - Create a Dropdown menu
  • - Create a hover grow effect for images.
  • - Create and expanding Search Bar 
  • - Learn the right accessibility tools & techniques  
  • - Become a variant boss. Cutting down those 100 variants to just 1 or 2. 
  • - Learn the best ways to work with other designers, developers and stakeholders. 
  • - Build a UX project from beginning to end ready for your portfolio.
  • - Export production ready assets.
  • - Learn professional workflow tricks & shortcuts.
  • - Forum support from me and the rest of the BYOL crew.
  • - All the techniques used by UX professionals
  • - 160 videos of detailed Figma Advanced Content.
Daniel Scott

Daniel Scott

Founder of Bring Your Own Laptop & Chief Instructor

instructor

I discovered the world of design as an art student when I stumbled upon a lab full of green & blue iMac G3’s. My initial curiosity around using the computer to create ‘art’ developed into a full-blown passion, eventually leading me to become a digital designer and founder of Bring Your Own Laptop.

Sharing and teaching are a huge part of who I am. As a certified Adobe instructor, I've had the honor of winning multiple Adobe teaching awards at their annual MAX conference. I see Bring Your Own Laptop as the supportive community I wished for when I was first starting out and intimidated by design. Through teaching, I hope to bring others along for the ride and empower my students to bring their stories, labors of love, and art into the world.
True to my Kiwi roots, I've lived in many places, and currently, I reside in Ireland with my wife and kids.

Certificates

We’re awarding certificates for this course!

Check out the How to earn your certificate video for instructions on how to earn yours and click the available certificate levels below for more information.

Downloads & Exercise files

Transcript

Hi everyone, in this video I'm going to show you how to Overlay things... so that they stack on top of each other... if you're like, just put them in different layer orders, that is partially true... but not if you want to make them an Auto layout... where we can be nice and reorganize them, there you go... you can play with the stacking order as well, fancy.

To get started I am back on my Page 1, with all the junk... I have made a frame, 'Shift' 2... and I made a box for the comments to go inside... I'm going to bring in some icons that I want to overlap... they are in the Exercise Files, 'Command Shift K', 'Ctrl Shift K'... it's a bit late for shortcuts, Dan, especially those ones...

bring in icons, I'm going to place them all, oh, in the wrong spot... I'm going to use my quick actions, I'm going to go 'Pack Horizontal'... and the easy way is, with them all selected... smart selection now lets you do negative, there you go... but it won't let you change the stacking... and while that's the easy way, that's may be all you need...

let me show you the proper way, the proper way starts here... where all of these guys need to be multiple components... these need to be taken to my Main Components document... or to my Components page, I'm not going to right now... don't judge me, these instances... even though the components can still be negative aligned...

but the trick really happens when we turn them into Auto layout... remember, 'Shift A', and let's give it a name, 'Command R'... "Emoji Responses"... I can now, using Auto layouts, still use that negative... but the nice thing about here is we've got some advanced Auto layout options... and we can now go in the Canvas Stacking now...

they're all the Z index, depending on what you want to call it... I'm going to do, First on top, 'Last on top', depends on what you want. Now to do this properly, how big do these need to be? I'm going to go back to the Main Components, and say 'K' for Scale... and the height there, I'm going to make these all 16... it messes with my Auto layout because it's still using the negative...

you know, that negative setting, which doesn't make sense when it's really big... I put these on my page. Last thing I want to do is add some Drop Shadows... I'm going to probably do it to this... actually, I'm going to tidy it up, make it look nice, but really that's it... the negative spacing works, just with regular old objects...

it works when you make them components, it works when you make them Auto layouts... but once they're Auto layouts you can play around with the stacking... under the Advanced options... what I want to do now is tidy them up, so I'm going to select them all... go down to, oh, this is worth hanging around for, if you're going to jump off... is Effects, I'm going to add a Drop shadow...

and what you'll see is, let's have a look... I've added them over here, can you see, let's move them over to here... can you see what's happened... not a good Drop Shadow... what I want to do is grab all of these guys, go to my 'Effects'... go into the 'Settings', there is an option now in here that says...

'Show behind transparent areas'... I don't like that... I don't like my Drop Shadow, but it works... I want to go, maybe '2' that way, '0' that way... I like to tab through these as I'm kind of changing them... maybe just one that way, there we go...

and when they get kind of negatively applied, look at that... they got of a little Drop Shadow between them, I love that face... all right, that's it, that is how to easily overlap and stack things in Figma.
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