Figma Comments: Your Team's Built-in Critique Layer
Think of Figma comments as a critique layer on your design. They tie feedback directly to specific elements for asynchronous review, letting you iterate faster without constant meetings. The footgun: Over-mentioning creates notification fatigue.
Why it exists
Before integrated tools, design feedback was scattered across emails, Slack messages, and separate documents. This detachment from the visual context created confusion, made tracking changes difficult, and slowed down iteration cycles. Figma comments were created to solve this by keeping the conversation right where the work happens.
The mental model
Comments are a temporary, collaborative overlay on your design file. They are not part of the design itself but are pinned to specific coordinates on the canvas. This allows for contextual, asynchronous conversations that live with the design, creating a single source of truth for feedback, questions, and decisions.
How it works
Press 'C' to enter comment mode, which prevents you from editing the design. Your cursor becomes a comment icon, and you can click anywhere to drop a pin and start a conversation. Use '@' to mention specific colleagues, which triggers a notification for them. Teammates can reply in threads. Once the feedback is addressed, you can "resolve" the comment, which hides it from the default view and effectively marks it as 'done'.
When to use it
Use comments for targeted, asynchronous feedback. It's ideal for design reviews with remote teams, asking a developer a question about an interaction, or getting sign-off from a product manager on a specific component. It creates a documented history of decisions directly within the file.
When not to use it
Avoid comments for urgent, blocking issues where a direct message or call is faster. They are also not ideal for general, non-specific feedback that doesn't relate to a particular part of the design. For broad brainstorming or live workshops, a FigJam board is more effective than a long comment thread.
One canonical example
A designer drops a comment on a new button and types, "@ProductManager Is this CTA clear enough?" The PM receives a notification, clicks it, and is taken directly to that button in the file. They can reply in the thread, "Yes, approved," and the designer can then resolve the comment, clearing their to-do list.
Interview question
When is using Figma comments generally NOT the most effective approach for feedback?
- a.To ask a developer a question about an interaction.
- b.To get a product manager's approval on a component.
- c.For broad brainstorming or general, non-specific design discussions.Correct
- d.To gather targeted feedback on a specific UI element.
Why? this is the answer
The card explicitly states that comments are not ideal for 'general, non-specific feedback' or 'broad brainstorming,' suggesting FigJam for such cases. The other options describe scenarios where Figma comments are highly effective for targeted, asynchronous feedback.
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Read the original → help.figma.com
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- #ui design
- #collaboration
- #feedback
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