As a Designer Advocate at Figma, Laura combines consulting, community-building and product feedback in one role. In this episode, we explore why great design systems depend less on perfect components and far more on empathy, communication and playfulness. And how AI can support creativity without replacing it.

In this conversation you’ll learn:

- how Laura moved from product design, photography & code into design systems and ultimately Figma

- why design systems are 80% communication, documentation & enablement

- how The Power of Play was created, including a fully digital nail salon in Figma

- why chaos is an essential part of her creative process

- what the Designer Advocate role actually looks like

- how Friends of Figma work globally & why community matters so deeply

- how AI supports design – while never replacing emotion or intuition

- why design fundamentals matter even more in the age of AI

Timestamps:

00:00 – Intro & Laura’s path from product design to Figma
02:30 – Product design, visual communication & the mix of analog photography and programming
03:47 – How Laura unexpectedly fell in love with design systems
04:54 – What makes a good design system: empathy & communication
07:45 – Do design systems limit creativity? Why the opposite is true
08:17 – The Power of Play & the fully digital nail salon built in Figma
09:46 – Creative process: chaos, experimentation & bringing back structure
10:29 – What a Designer Advocate at Figma actually does
13:23 – A global team: Designer Advocates from Berlin to London, Paris, Tokyo & San Francisco
14:07 – Figma as a love brand & the importance of community
18:28 – Friends of Figma: local chapters, volunteer work & how Figma supports them
21:24 – How community feedback flows back into the product team
23:21 – Educational content, Playground files & teaching new features
25:10 – From one tool to a product suite: Figma Draw, Make, Slides & Sites
27:28 – How AI breaks down silos and brings product teams closer together
30:18 – AI in creative workflows: inspiration, edge cases & sparring
32:37 – Is AI creative? Why AI is math — and humans bring emotion
35:03 – Learning, junior roles & why basics matter more than ever
43:16 – Analog creativity: zines, photography & bringing it back into digital
46:08 – The Figma Community platform: files, plugins & active exchange
49:16 – Global community formats: Coffee Breaks, Leadership Collective & regional differences
53:40 – Laura’s feature wishes & why “Check Design” is a dream for design system teams
54:45 – Wrap-up & final thoughts