← Tool Garage
Design & assets station
Figma
A drawing board for screens, so you decide what it looks like before anything gets built.
1. Learn it
- It's a shared canvas where a page is just boxes, text and images you can move around.
- Deciding here is cheap. Deciding after it's built costs a rebuild.
- You do not need to be a designer — a rough grey sketch of where things sit is already worth doing.
- Everyone can comment on the same file, so feedback lands in one place instead of five messages.
Cost: Free for personal use.
2. Practice it
Simulated — nothing real happensSketch the one screen that matters
On paper or on screen, draw the page where your user does the main thing. Boxes only, no colour. Label every box with what it is and what happens when you press it.
3. Connect it
Real — your own account- 1Sign up free at figma.com — the free plan covers everything a solo builder needs.
- 2Start a blank design file and drop in rectangles for each part of your page.
- 3Share the link and ask one person what they'd click first.
MessyDev never signs you up, spends your money, or touches your accounts. You do that part.
4. Use it
Before you brief a builder. A sketch you can point at beats three paragraphs of description.
Honest alternatives
There is no single correct stack. Any of these would be a reasonable choice instead.
- Pen and paper (genuinely fine)
- Excalidraw
- Penpot
- Just describing it in words