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 set custom spacing in auto layouts in Figma

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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, have you got an Auto layout... but you need some custom spacing between a couple of them... disclaimer, at the recording of this video, there is no official way... there is hacks, there's three of them, they all kind of work... let's start with the easiest. Let's do it with text first, if it's got a bit of text...

going to turn it into a component... I'm going to duplicate it, 'Command D', or 'Ctrl D', 'D', 'D', let's have five... I'll change the text, you wait there... bunch of text, let's make it an Auto layout, 'Shift A'... now we can adjust the spacing... but at the moment, doesn't matter what you hold down...

you can't do separate padding, at the moment... it's one of those other features that I feel like... so many people are doing hacks for, that it'll be out soon. All right, hack one, is I've got this instance in here... I want to space between these two, right? is it's actually set to a fixed height...

so I can actually say, My Tickets is bigger... you can have a space in there, there you go, that's hack one... for some reason my Auto layout is set to a fixed height... remember how to double click it on the edge, to get it to hug, easy... so that's hack number one, I'm going to undo that, that works most of the time... another one, and really common one is, to use an invisible frame...

so 'F' key, put it the height that you want... that's good enough for me, whatever height that is, 88, perfect... accidentally stumbled across 8-pt pixel grid... and it has no Fill, no Stroke, but I can still drag it and put it in there... and it keeps the space going... again, I'm going to have to double click it to go to Hug...

and then you can just use this to do your spacing... remember, 'Shift O' is a really good outline view... so that you can then see it a bit better. You still need to account for this, for the padding... so if you need it to be 88... you've got to minus whatever your space between here is...

and mine is set to 21, which is not great, say it's 16... 16 at the bottom, 16 at the top... plus what's in the middle, that's going to give me my spacing... anything wrong with that? No, not really... you can tie it in with a hack from earlier on, can select on this invisible frame...

hold down the 'Command' or 'Ctrl' key, remember, up and down does the height... up and down, and you can kind of just get it going... and if you hold 'Shift' it'll do in 8-point steps, handy. Hack number three... what we can do is, we can say, you three are in an Auto layout, 'Shift A'... you are also in an Auto layout, 'Shift A'...

so I've got the parent frame but I've also got these two things on the inside... and we looked at this earlier, if I grab the parent frame and I make it bigger... nothing really happens, why?... because they're packed in there, remember, there's an option for Auto layouts... under Advanced Auto layout Settings... and instead of Packed we can go to 'Space Between'...

will try and spread them out... and these guys are kind of trapped inside their own Auto layouts... and it puts in this giant gap in the middle. This one's handy because it will try and force itself down the bottom... so depending on what you're doing this might work... if you need this to be at the bottom...

but if you want it to be a consistent size... you might want to look at the invisible rectangle... or just dragging the size of that frame bigger... and keep an eye out on Figma updates... I'll update this video if I can find a new way that Figma does it... but for now choose one of the three hacks.

All right, that's it, custom spacing in Auto layouts, inside Figma, done... I'll see you in the next video.
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