The Total Economic Impact™ Of Figma and FigJam

A FORRESTER TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ STUDY COMMISSIONED BY FIGMA

The Total Economic Impact™

Of Figma and FigJam

Cost Savings And Business Benefits

Enabled By Figma and FigJam

NOVEMBER 2023

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

Table Of Contents

Executive Summary ................................................. 1

The Figma and FigJam Customer Journey ........... 7

Key Challenges ...................................................... 7

Solution Requirements/Investment Objectives ...... 9

Composite Organization ......................................... 9

Analysis Of Benefits .............................................. 11

Vendor License Consolidation ............................. 11

Efficiency Gains In The Problem Definition Phase

.............................................................................. 13

Efficiency Gains In Ideate And Create Phase ...... 16

Efficiency Gains In The Develop And Implement

Phase ................................................................... 18

Reduced Travel Costs .......................................... 20

Unquantified Benefits ........................................... 22

Flexibility ............................................................... 23

Analysis Of Costs .................................................. 25

Figma And FigJam License Costs ....................... 25

Internal Costs To Deploy Figma and FigJam ....... 26

Financial Summary ................................................ 28

Appendix A: Total Economic Impact ................... 29

Appendix B: Endnotes .......................................... 30

Consulting Team:

Amy Harrison

Sarah Lervold

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THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

Executive Summary

Businesses are now moving at the speed of their digital customers. To keep up and stay

ahead, a company’s growth engine must be firing on all cylinders. That growth engine

must center on future digital experiences that anticipate customers’ needs and meet

them seamlessly.

The Figma platform provides tools that enable easy collaboration

throughout the design and development process, from concepting and ideation in

FigJam to designing user interfaces and prototyping in Figma.

Figma, combined with FigJam, is a web-based

platform that enables companies to create better

software products, ranging from websites to mobile

apps to desktop apps, and bring them to market

faster. FigJam brings cross-functional teams together

early in the development process to improve

collaboration among all stakeholders. Figma and

FigJam artifacts serve as a single source of truth

about how a software product is intended to work —

including both its appearance and its functional

behavior — and allow users to work together in

shared files in the cloud that always remain up to

date. An organization’s design system, defined in

Figma, enables teams to standardize and govern the

rules for asset creation, which ensures consistency

across the brand. Finally, Figma offers an open

marketplace of community-built plug-ins that help

companies customize the platform’s functionality for

their unique business needs.

Figma commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct

a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study and examine

the potential return on investment (ROI) enterprises

may realize by deploying Figma and FigJam.

The

purpose of this study is to provide readers with a

framework to evaluate the potential financial impact

of Figma and FigJam on their organizations.

To better understand the benefits, costs, and risks

associated with this investment, Forrester interviewed

four representatives with experience using Figma and

FigJam in 2023 and supplemented this with

information from twelve representatives of four

organizations who were interviewed in 2021. For the

purposes of this study, Forrester aggregated the

interviewees’ experiences and combined the results

into a single composite organization that is a

business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) retail

organization with 30 brands and a revenue of over

$15 billion per year.

Before using Figma, the interviewees’ organizations

used whiteboarding and design tools to facilitate

collaboration among product designers, developers,

product managers, and marketers. However,

employees had issues with legacy tools that couldn’t

communicate or interoperate seamlessly.

Interviewees noted that collaborating with existing

presentation tools was not engaging and required

many in-person meetings. Additionally, not all teams

had access to the same software and hardware

platforms, which slowed workflows as designers,

developers, and others downloaded, screenshotted,

created, and shared PDF files throughout the

Return on investment (ROI)

328%

Net present value (NPV)

$4.51M

KEY STATISTICS

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

software product design lifecycle. After investing in

Figma and FigJam, interviewees’ organizations

benefited from significant savings through effective

collaboration that created efficient workflows, design

systems, and plug-ins to automate design tasks. A

head of product design at a high-tech organization

described the role FigJam plays in their design

process, “FigJam is the beginning [for] anything that’s

around creative discussion, visual references, or

mood boards, and then Figma is all about visual

exploration and visual execution of the different

assets.” A UX engineer added: “Figma has made our

collaboration more real time and dropped some

barriers. It means that we can collaborate quicker

and move faster on projects. We can get ideas [from

concept to market] at a pace we never had before.”

KEY FINDINGS

Quantified benefits. Three-year, risk-adjusted

present value (PV) quantified benefits for the

composite organization include:

• Vendor license consolidation. The composite

organization experiences direct cost savings of

more than $838,000 over three years by

consolidating multiple contracts with vendors they

previously leveraged in their design process.

Because Figma and FigJam help consolidate

product design and development processes, the

organization eliminates products as contracts

come up for renewal.

• Efficiency gains in the problem definition

phase. Before FigJam, teams at the composite

organization in different geographies who

couldn’t communicate in real time struggled to

collaborate effectively. FigJam fosters

engagement for the early design process by

promoting lively participation in creative

discussion, which drives 40% efficiency in the

problem definition phase. Figma’s collaboration

features ease the process of cross-team

communication and improves the influence

“We think of Figma not just as a tool

but more like a platform. It’s a sibling of

our DevOps platform that allows us to

access designs and pull certain

elements, styles, and components. It

gives us pretty much everything that

we need.”

— Principal software development lead, high-tech

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

design has within an organization, driving 10%

efficiency in the problem definition phase at the

composite organization.

• Efficiency gains in the ideate and create

phase. Figma better enables product design

teams to consistently apply the correct

typography, colors, components, and other

assets. A custom design system saves teams

thousands of hours previously spent maintaining

asset repositories and performing repetitive work.

In addition, by creating prebuilt components and

interaction flows, teams save more than 50% in

their design time. The business impact of these

features in Figma is greatest at the composite

organization during the ideate and create phase,

optimizing the process by 60%. FigJam’s role in

providing project context accounts for a 10% gain

in efficiency. This translates to more than $2.5

million annual savings.

• Efficiency gains in the develop and implement

phase. Product design teams at the composite

organization improve their workflows by including

developers earlier, instead of writing lengthy

design specs. Now developers can identify

technical challenges and understand the project

history by viewing both Figma and FigJam files

and interact with an early prototype.

Development teams can automate functionality

by utilizing existing plug-ins or by creating

bespoke code that uniquely fits the business.

Development teams at the composite

organization recognize a 35% productivity gain in

the develop and implement phase.

• Reduction in travel costs by about $262,000.

FigJam is a valuable tool for enhancing team

communication, particularly for remote or global

teams. Its engaging interface, seamless content

access with Figma, and integration with audio

platforms contribute to smoother workflows and

improved collaboration. FigJam provides cost-

saving opportunities by reducing the need for in-

person meetings and workshops.

Unquantified benefits. Benefits that provide value

for the composite organization but are not quantified

in this study include:

• Increased engagement. Interviewees were

enthusiastic about FigJam, describing it as the

only software they find fun. They highlighted the

unique engagement features, such as file

stickers, thumbs up, and reactions that enhance

the design team's collaboration. They observed

that the fun aspect of FigJam is essential for

drawing people into the design and development

process, making it more engaging and effective.

• Increased speed-to-market. One decision-

maker at a manufacturing firm described how it

delivers projects four times faster internally

“Figma has absolutely impacted

our retention. At [our] core, we’re

a platform company, but we’ve

got so many different business

units that create so many

different products — hundreds of

products that run on our

platform. More and more

customers are purchasing

multiple products, and they all

need to work together

seamlessly, not just from a

technical standpoint but from a

UX standpoint.”

Senior design program manager,

high-tech

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

utilizing Figma versus outsourcing to an agency.

The UX team decreased their design cycle time

because all the tools and project files are in the

same ecosystem.

• Decreased their agency spend. Companies

that previously relied on creative firms reduced

their agency by about 50% to 90%. Deploying

Figma allowed them to optimize employees’ time

and provided the consistency and governance

needed to hire contractors when required.

• Reduced human error and improved product

quality. Figma streamlines product design

processes, reducing the number of steps and

thus the potential for human error. Organizations

described the positive business impact Figma

had, allowing them to release well-architected,

well-designed software faster instead of merely a

minimum viable product (MVP).

• Increased time to innovate and perform high-

value work. Figma afforded designers time to

solve customer problems instead of spending

time on tedious tasks like locating files and

approved font sizes.

• Improved employee retention. FigJam and

Figma transformed how product design teams

work and collaborate, improving their employee

experience. A design ops manager said that

Figma helped retain these highly sought-after UX

designers.

• Earlier leadership buy-in. Figma’s collaborative

canvas and ability to design dynamic interactions

and functions — not just screen layouts — allows

leadership to access project files directly and

experience the prototype by interacting with it

instead of making important decisions based

merely on a PNG image or a wireframe. Getting

leaders involved earlier prevented late-stage

changes.

Costs. Three-year, risk-adjusted PV costs for the

composite organization include:

• Figma and FigJam licenses for 300 editors

cost $716,000 over three years. For the

composite organization, Forrester used the price

of $900 per year for the Figma license and $60

per year for the FigJam license.

• Internal costs to deploy Figma totaled

$658,000 over three years. The project lead at

the composite organization spends six months

planning and deploying the Figma governance

and rollout plan. Eight workstream leads work on

the Figma deployment for 20% of their time for

six months. Finally, 300 license holders go

through 16 hours of training. FigJam requires no

additional training.

The representative interviews and financial analysis

found that a composite organization experiences

benefits of $5.88 million over three years versus

costs of $1.37 million, adding up to a net present

value (NPV) of $4.51 million and an ROI of 328%.

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

“FigJam provides fun, collaborative features

like timers, music and voting that we use to

run workshops. The integration between

FigJam and Figma makes it more competitive.

Figma came out with dev mode, allowing

developers to participate easier and earlier in

the design process.”

— Head of design, financial services

ROI

328%

BENEFITS PV

$5.88M

NPV

$4.51M

PAYBACK

11 months

$838K

$1.8 million

$2.5 million

$424K

$262K

Vendor license consolidation

Efficiency gains in the

problem definition phase

Efficiency gains in ideate and

create phase

Efficiency gains in the

develop and implement

phase

Reduced travel costs

Benefits (Three-Year)

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

TEI FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGY

From the information provided in the interviews,

Forrester constructed a Total Economic Impact™

framework for those organizations considering an

investment in Figma and FigJam.

The objective of the framework is to identify the cost,

benefit, flexibility, and risk factors that affect the

investment decision. Forrester took a multistep

approach to evaluate the impact that Figma and

FigJam can have on an organization.

DUE DILIGENCE

Interviewed Figma stakeholders and Forrester

analysts to gather data relative to Figma and

FigJam.

INTERVIEWS

Interviewed four representatives at four

organizations using Figma and FigJam in 2023

and supplemented this with information from

twelve representatives of four organizations who

were interviewed in 2021 to obtain data with

respect to costs, benefits, and risks.

COMPOSITE ORGANIZATION

Designed a composite organization based on

characteristics of the interviewees’

organizations.

FINANCIAL MODEL FRAMEWORK

Constructed a financial model representative of

the interviews using the TEI methodology and

risk-adjusted the financial model based on

issues and concerns of the interviewees.

CASE STUDY

Employed four fundamental elements of TEI in

modeling the investment impact: benefits, costs,

flexibility, and risks. Given the increasing

sophistication of ROI analyses related to IT

investments, Forrester’s TEI methodology

provides a complete picture of the total

economic impact of purchase decisions. Please

see Appendix A for additional information on the

TEI methodology.

DISCLOSURES

Readers should be aware of the following:

This study is commissioned by Figma and delivered by

Forrester Consulting. It is not meant to be used as a

competitive analysis.

Forrester makes no assumptions as to the potential ROI

that other organizations will receive. Forrester strongly

advises that readers use their own estimates within the

framework provided in the study to determine the

appropriateness of an investment in Figma and FigJam.

Figma reviewed and provided feedback to Forrester, but

Forrester maintains editorial control over the study and its

findings and does not accept changes to the study that

contradict Forrester’s findings or obscure the meaning of

the study.

Figma provided the customer names for the interviews

but did not participate in the interviews.

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

The Figma and FigJam Customer Journey

Drivers leading to the Figma and FigJam investment

KEY CHALLENGES

The interviewees noted how their organizations

struggled with common challenges, including:

• A much-needed upgrade to whiteboard tools.

Interviewees reported struggling with their

existing whiteboarding tools or lacking them

altogether. Interviewees also described their

current visual collaboration tools as too

complicated and unintuitive for users. Those

without specific whiteboarding tools used their

legacy presentation tools for collaboration. The

experience design director at a financial services

organization described, “Our legacy presentation

tools were a tiny and awkward surrogate for

whiteboarding.”

Interviews

Role

Industry

Region

Number Of

Employees

Interview Date

Experience design

director, design systems

Financial services

235,000 +

2023

Head of design, investing

Financial services

17,600

2023

VP of product design

High-tech

Global

6,000

2023

Head of product design

and UX research

High-tech

Global

100,000+

2023

• Principal UX designer

• Senior UX designer

• Senior designer

• Principal design

manager

• General manager

• UX engineer

• Principal software

development lead

• Principal designer

High-tech

Global

166,000

2021

Global head of UX

Manufacturing

Global

46,000

2021

Senior design program

manager

Professional services

Global

12,500

2021

• Senior US designer

• Principal US designer

Financial services

Global

50,000

2021

“Figma is more efficient than

what our process was before

because you’re in one tool. You

are designing your files. You’re

not having to export [to one

program or upload them using

another]. You build the screens,

link them, launch the prototype,

and you can edit in real time.”

Head of design, financial services

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

THE FIGMA AND FIGJAM CUSTOMER JOURNEY

• Disparate technology platforms created

chaos, resulting in version-control errors. Not

everyone in the interviewees’ product

development workflows had the same set of

tools, was running the same version, or was even

using the same computing platform. As a

workaround, employees created their own

personal design systems, which included

components, libraries, and homegrown tools to

help them be efficient. This caused issues when

project members shared files because not

everyone was working from a single design

system or toolset. One principal design manager

said: “It’s almost like being a developer. I got a

bunch of code but didn’t know what packages

were on it, which was a big frustration. The first

benefit we experienced [with Figma and FigJam]

was having a single-source-of-truth URL.” Figma

simplified file sharing by allowing teams to share

files as simply as dropping a link into a chat, for

example, eliminating the need to run the same

technology other than having a browser. The

URL link leads teams to the Figma workspace

that centrally stores the most recent work,

eliminating version-control errors.

• Legacy product upgrades caused broken

plug-ins. Interviewees repeatedly described

issues with their prototyping and product design

tools not integrating well. Product designers

relied on plug-ins to enable critical functionality

like communication between legacy tools. A

senior design program manager described the

massive effort they undertook to get everyone

running the same version of the toolset and the

problems the upgrade process caused: “Every

time we upgraded our [design tools] things broke,

plug-ins stopped working, [and] our design

system had issues. It was a huge pain point.”

• Disconnects between design and engineering

caused friction. In describing issues his team

experienced, the principal software development

lead said: “Design and engineering were two

different disciplines speaking a different

language, trying to explain how an app is

supposed to work or what the UX should look

like. A bunch of things were lost in translation.”

They continued, “Sometimes teams would throw

design specs over the fence expecting that

engineers would pick it up and make it right.”

Figma provided the opportunity to build bridges

between designers and developers by bringing

them together earlier in the process, allowing

both groups to understand the history, context,

and intention of the project. And FigJam plays a

vital role for developers because it documents

the earlier history of the project for developers

and others to refer back to.

• Security protocols blocked collaboration

features from legacy tools. Designers at the

financial services firm described how security

protocols flagged cloud-based file-sharing

functionality between previous solutions. This

forced users to create manual, time-consuming

workarounds to download, capture, and share

files. The senior UX designer said: “Figma

“Before Figma, it was messy. We

worked on [design tool files] and

flat files. Two or three designers

worked on a flat file and passed

it around via email or a shared

server. Files were dependent on

[design tool platform] plug-ins

that would break. Native features

in Figma were so amazing for

improving this process.”

Principal UX designer, financial

services

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

THE FIGMA AND FIGJAM CUSTOMER JOURNEY

passed all of our security checks with flying

colors. Being able to share files internally and

externally through the same tool without having

to jump through hoops or create watermarked

PDFs is a huge benefit to our workflow.”

SOLUTION REQUIREMENTS/INVESTMENT

OBJECTIVES

The interviewees’ organizations searched for a

solution that would meet their goals to develop

engaging products and services. To do this, they

searched for a set of product design tools that:

• Removed barriers to collaboration by offering a

fun, engaging workspace.

• Assisted in achieving goals to be eco-friendly by

eliminating unnecessary travel.

• Enabled collaboration natively without having to

rely on external plug-ins.

• Had both whiteboarding and product design tools

that function well together and are easy to use

regardless of operating system.

• Adhered to the latest security protocols.

• Eliminated errors and broken plug-ins caused by

upgrades.

• Eliminated the need to maintain multiple tools but

would provide the majority of functionality that

product teams need.

• Had the ability to create custom plug-ins to

support the individual needs of the business.

After a request for proposal (RFP) and business case

process evaluating multiple vendors, the

interviewees’ organizations chose to deploy FigJam

and Figma. A Forrester blog post states why this can

be so beneficial for an organization such as the

composite: “Figma lays a foundation, in terms of

strategy and architecture, for the platform to serve as

a more versatile hub for digital product creation

teams. It started with designers. It expanded to

developers.”

It ranges across more of the design

framework by addressing: 1) the problem space

through its FigJam offering; 2) the solution space

through its core design offering; and 3) the

implementation space through dev mode and related

features.

COMPOSITE ORGANIZATION

Based on the interviews, Forrester constructed a TEI

framework, a composite company, and an ROI

analysis that illustrates the areas financially affected.

The composite organization is representative of the

sixteen interviewees from eight companies that

Forrester interviewed and is used to present the

aggregate financial analysis in the next section. The

composite organization has the following

characteristics:

Description of composite. The global, multibillion-

dollar B2B2C organization sells products through a

retail channel targeted at consumers. The company

leverages its digital channel to provide best-in-class

experiences for consumers, to create a sticky

relationship with them. The composite has instituted

a design first culture. Additionally, the composite has

set ambitious goals to reach its sustainability goals in

the next ten years, it manages more than 30 brands,

and it operates globally.

Deployment characteristics. The composite

organization deployed Figma first and used FigJam

when it was initially released as a free feature. The

composite chose to pay for FigJam because it valued

the interoperability of the two solutions.

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

THE FIGMA AND FIGJAM CUSTOMER JOURNEY

What defines a project? The scope of what defines

a project will vary by size and duration. Historically,

designers worked on isolated, intensive projects such

as the redesign of a website or app. Today, many

organizations work in agile product teams and are

embedded to continuously evolve the product, which

can include fixing UX issues and creating entirely

new experiences.

For the purposes of creating a consistent model,

Forrester made the following assumptions:

• Project definition: The model assumes an

average of many small, short projects and two

extensive, yearlong major platform redesigns.

• Design team characteristics: The design team

— which includes roles such as interaction, UX,

and visual designers; DesignOps; research; and

content strategy — has 300 members who work

in smaller project teams. The size and scope of

the work will drive how many additional people

are needed to staff each project.

• Project team size: Each project includes a

design lead, product lead, and technical lead

heavily involved throughout each project stage.

For example, a project like a platform redesign

may require a team of 20, while a mobile app

refresh requires one designer and developer. The

model assumes an average of 30 yearly projects.

Key Assumptions

• Global B2B2C firm

• $15B in revenue

• 30 brands managed

• 30 annual projects

• Average project duration of 13

weeks

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

Analysis Of Benefits

Quantified benefit data as applied to the composite

VENDOR LICENSE CONSOLIDATION

Evidence and data. Interviewed decision-makers

experienced direct cost savings from consolidating

multiple contracts with their organizations’ previously

used vendors. Interviewees reported buying separate

tools for whiteboarding, design, file sharing,

collaboration, and prototyping. FigJam, coupled with

Figma’s web-based platform, integrated the tools

designers need to work through the phases of the

project design lifecycle. Customers no longer needed

multiple solutions, which allowed them to jettison

redundant tools to save on licensing costs. A

principal UX designer at a high-tech organization

said: “One of the huge bonuses was that we were

able to consolidate from multiple products down to

one. Being able to consolidate and get everything in

one tool and having everything work in that same

ecosystem made a ton of sense for us.”

Modeling and assumptions. For the composite

organization, Forrester assumes:

• Before Figma, the organization paid for an

additional, separate suite of design tools.

Total Benefits

Ref.

Benefit

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Total

Present

Value

Atr

Vendor license consolidation

$239,490

$359,235

$431,082

$1,029,807

$838,485

Btr

Efficiency gains in the

problem definition phase

$233,280

$933,120

$1,108,080

$2,274,480

$1,815,763

Ctr

Efficiency gains in ideate and

create phase

$326,592

$1,306,368

$1,551,312

$3,184,272

$2,542,068

Dtr

Efficiency gains in the

develop and implement phase

$54,432

$217,728

$258,552

$530,712

$423,678

Etr

Reduced travel costs

$105,300

$315,900

$261,866

Total benefits (risk-adjusted)

$959,094

$2,921,751

$3,454,326

$7,335,171

$5,881,860

“We moved from [our legacy

whiteboarding tool] to FigJam

because FigJam and Figma Design

are so well integrated. Figma

Design is the workhorse tool for

every product designer; most use it

daily. Figma Design has become

increasingly specialized and

powerful for product designers, it

is a very specialized tool. The

ability to take work from Figma

Design and use it in FigJam is

increasingly important to present

or collaborate with other

stakeholders, including product

design leadership. This is one of

the ways that FigJam adds

disproportionate benefit. It makes

design more accessible to

everyone else.”

VP of product design, high-tech

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

ANALYSIS OF BENEFITS

• The company paid $655 per user for this

combination of legacy design and prototyping

tools.

• The organization chooses not to renew the

contract for its whiteboarding solution. That saves

$249 dollars per user annually.

• The composite organization has a total of 300

seatholders for which it is paying for licenses.

• The legacy product design tools didn’t satisfy the

organization’s needs for prototyping, forcing it to

buy another software license for $30,000 each

year.

Risks. Vendor license consolidation will vary with:

• The number of legacy tools previously used at an

organization.

• The rate at which the prior tools are

decommissioned and the duration of legacy

contracts.

• The number of users.

• The rate at which Figma is adopted and used to

its fullest potential.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester

adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a

three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%)

of $838,000.

“We had a very fragmented tool

set. That’s another change that’s

driven efficiency. Ultimately …

broader cost savings [come from

how] we’ve really streamlined

our tool set significantly. From a

pure management standpoint,

that really is a big shift in

behavior and efficiency for our

creative ops team.”

Experience design director,

financial services

“We had four or five different

services we paid for just to get

our design process and

workflow going. Figma provided

all of these out of the box,

which was a huge win for us.”

Senior designer, high-tech

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

ANALYSIS OF BENEFITS

EFFICIENCY GAINS IN THE PROBLEM

DEFINITION PHASE

Evidence and data. The problem definition phase is

the foundation of the design process. It’s where

companies discover and define potential customers’

needs and motivations and teams align on a common

understanding of the problem to solve in the

remainder of the design process. Design

researchers, product managers, UX designers, and

business stakeholders all play a valuable role in

defining customer needs.

Before Figma, interviewees’ firms relied on face-to-

face workshops and onerous, inefficient file-sharing

processes to share thoughts and ideas. They

reported using legacy presentation tools as a means

to collaboration or had procured third-party

whiteboarding tools.

FigJam and Figma enable effective collaboration

between teams located in different geographies who

can’t communicate in real time. One head of product

design and UX research described how their high-

tech firm gained efficiencies by using a combination

of Figma and FigJam: “FigJam is so easy to use and

that just removes a lot of friction. The synergy

between Figma and FigJam is very important to stop

Vendor License Consolidation

Ref.

Metric

Source

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Avoided cost of previous design system

platform tools

Interview

$655

Avoided cost of previous design-only

tools

Interview

$770

Legacy whiteboarding solution

Interview

$249

Number of paid users

Composite

300

Legacy prototyping solution

Interview

$30,000

Percent reduction in licenses

Composite

50%

75%

90%

Vendor license consolidation

(((A1+A2+A3)*A

4)+A5))*A6

$266,100

$399,150

$478,980

Risk adjustment

↓10%

Atr

Vendor license consolidation (risk-

adjusted)

$239,490

$359,235

$431,082

Three-year total: $1,029,807

Three-year present value: $838,485

“The magic of Figma is that you

can give someone a URL and

they can see the work and even

feel a prototype of the work.

Figma has definitely improved

the iterative design and research

part of the workflow, and that

speeds the step around buying

or approvals.”

Principal designer, high-tech

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

ANALYSIS OF BENEFITS

wasting a whole bunch of time by exporting assets

and dropping them back in. Combine that with the

diversity of applications. From collaboration sessions

and ideating to doing research, capturing moods,

building out themes, in-person workshops through to

creating storyboards for production, you can use it in

a lot of diverse ways with a bunch of diverse actors,

and that’s really powerful.”

Easing the process of cross-team communication

contributed to elevating the role of product design

within one senior design program manager’s

professional services firm. They described how

design now has a prominent seat at the table:

“Design is no longer left out to only discover things

after they happen. Design is very much in the

forefront, providing vision-type work and research

that’s feeding the product roadmap.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the customer

interviews, Forrester assumes:

• An average of 10 team members participate in

the problem definition phase. This includes

product, technical, and design leads, plus

additional design and product managers,

business stakeholders, and design researchers.

• The composite performs a yearly average of 30

short-term upgrades and two long, in-depth

projects.

• The average fully burdened salary of each of the

10 team members who participate in this phase is

$72 per hour.

• Figma’s impact on the problem definition phase

results in a 10% reduction in team members’

time.

• FigJam’s impact on the problem definition phase

results in a 40% reduction in team members’

time.

• As a best practice, Forrester recognizes that the

employees who participate in the problem

definition phase convert 75% of the hours saved

into productive work time.

• As more employees collaborate using Figma, the

time-saving value capture increases from 20% in

Year 1 to 90% in Year 3.

Risks. Efficiency gains in the problem definition

phase will vary with:

• The number of team members involved in each

project.

• The number and duration of projects in this

phase.

• The rate at which teams adopt Figma.

“Figma and FigJam are always

open forever. Having it up

persistently is the easiest way to

get people to continue to engage

with it. It becomes a single

source of truth for all those

activities and the learnings that

you collect and need as you’re

going through the process. If

you’re in Figma all the time, it’s

like that’s the living room and I

know where everything is, and I

know where the remote is and I

can just go grab it.

Principal UX designer, financial

services

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

ANALYSIS OF BENEFITS

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester

adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a

three-year, risk-adjusted total PV of $1.8 million.

Efficiency Gains In The Problem Definition Phase

Ref.

Metric

Source

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Average number of project team

members

Composite

Average number of annual projects

Composite

Average project duration in the problem

definition phase (in hours)

4 weeks *40

hours per week

160

Average fully burdened salary of project

team members

TEI standard

$72

Percentage of time saved due to Figma

in the problem definition phase

Composite

10%

Percentage of time saved due to FigJam

in the problem definition phase

Composite

40%

Productivity recapture

TEI standard

75%

Percent of value captured per year

Composite

20%

80%

95%

Efficiency gains in the problem definition

phase

(B1*B2*B3*B4)*(

B5+B6)*B7*B8

$259,200

$1,036,800

$1,231,200

Risk adjustment

↓10%

Btr

Efficiency gains in the problem definition

phase (risk-adjusted)

$233,280

$933,120

$1,231,200

Three-year total: $2,274,480

Three-year present value: $1,815,763

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

ANALYSIS OF BENEFITS

EFFICIENCY GAINS IN IDEATE AND CREATE

PHASE

Evidence and data. According to interviewees,

Figma’s greatest business impact accrued during the

ideate and create phase. Figma better enabled

design teams to consistently use the correct

typography, colors, and assets when multiple

designers collaborate. The design system saved

teams thousands of hours previously spent

performing repetitive (yet necessary) work. One

senior design program manager for a professional

services organization explained: “In the past when

creating an early-stage design, a designer needed to

figure out what components were available and their

location. You have a hundred conversations to find

the component from another team who may not have

a library, only a previous design that contained the

desired component. It was a nightmare, and now that

all goes away.”

• Gives teams a head start in asset creation.

Instead of creating icons and page templates

from scratch every time, Figma allowed

designers to create design systems and page

templates. A senior design program manager

explained how their team saved more than 50%

in their design time: “Instead of taking 10

components and designing a page, we’ve prebuilt

that page using page templates. We can get to

the 50-yard line from day one versus starting

from the end zone.”

• Provides an operational framework for design

ops. Design operations teams no longer put the

onus on creators to pull down the latest file

updates. Figma allows design systems teams to

automatically publish updated assets and update

their design systems.

• Replaces traditional presentation tools.

Interviewees used FigJam or Figma to present

designs directly without using PowerPoint or

other presentation applications. Designers could

prototype, build high-fidelity screens, hand off

designs, and present them to stakeholders, all

within the same tool. The principal software

development lead, describing how their meetings

became more interactive, said, “Being able to

follow a presenter live provides that ability for us

to dive into the design quickly rather than just

show traditional slides.”

• Archives a history of the thinking. The

experience design director at the financial

services firm explained the role that FigJam

played in the ideate and create phase: “Our

designers are using FigJam in ways that replace

[traditional presentation tools] and [traditional

document repositories]. FigJam is the tool that

the majority of our designers and our content

designers use as the first step in that process.

When kicking off an ideation session, our

researcher and some of our designers open

FigJam at the beginning of that meeting. That’s

the space that they start from and document the

ideation. Ultimately that stays active through the

project as an adjunct to the product design work

that they’re doing in Figma.”

• Brings distributed teams together in near-real

time. Teams who were not able to work in real

time benefited from the ability to collaborate

asynchronously. This allowed designers to see a

project’s history and progress and jump in to

comment without fear of damaging the file. The

principal designer from the high-tech firm said:

“Whether it’s research, engineering, or marketing,

collaborating earlier in Figma means there are

fewer questions about ‘Why didn’t you think

about this?’ or ‘We forgot about this step,’ or ‘We

didn’t think about this engineering challenge.’

Because we can bring people in through a URL

into the design process earlier, it speeds up the

collaboration and approval process.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the customer

interviews, Forrester assumes:

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

ANALYSIS OF BENEFITS

• An average of 12 team members participate in

the ideate and create phase at the composite

organization. Those roles often include product,

technical, and design leads as well as additional

designers, product managers, business

stakeholders, legal, content strategists, and UX

writers.

• The average number of projects, which includes

both short-term upgrade work and long, in-depth

projects, is 30 annually.

• The average fully burdened salary of each of the

12 team members who participate in this phase is

$72 per hour.

• Figma’s impact on the ideate and create phase

resulted in a 60% reduction in team members’

time.

• FigJam’s impact on the problem definition phase

results in a 10% reduction in team members’

time.

• The employees who participate in the ideate and

create phase convert 50% of the hours saved

into productive work time.

• As more employees adopt Figma, design

systems are standardized and plug-ins are used

to automate updates, enabling the percentage of

value captured to increase from 20% to 90%.

Risks. Efficiency gains in the ideate and create

phase will vary with:

• The number of team members involved in each

project.

• The number and duration of projects in this

phase.

• The rate at which teams adopt Figma.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester

adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a

three-year, risk-adjusted total PV of $2.5 million.

“There is probably between 30%

to 50% improvement in terms of

efficiency. The efficiency comes

from having predetermined

templates, which my researchers

love. The efficiency comes from

being able to get people all

together in a really effective

way.”

Head of Product Design and UX

research, high-tech

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

ANALYSIS OF BENEFITS

EFFICIENCY GAINS IN THE DEVELOP AND

IMPLEMENT PHASE

Evidence and data. Before Figma, developers were

often brought into the design process late or left out

altogether. To counter this, design teams spent days

and weeks documenting the history of the design

versions and detailed specs. However, context and

intent were often lost in translation. After deploying

Figma, design teams changed their workflows to

include developers earlier in the process, which

saved time that had previously been spent writing

lengthy design specs. Developers could then identify

technical challenges, leverage FigJam to understand

the project history, and see an early prototype.

The principal software development lead at a

professional services firm provided the developer

perspective by stating succinctly: “My engineers say

the main selling point for them is to be able to click on

the link and see the design right away. They don’t

care about all the other features designers have; they

need the tool that works.”

Development teams also described how they were

able to automate functionality by using the plug-in

architecture. Teams leveraged the community for

existing plug-ins or created bespoke code that

uniquely fit their business.

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the customer

interviews, Forrester assumes:

• An average of five team members participate in

the develop and implement phase. Those roles

include product, technical, and design leads as

well as additional developers or engineers.

• The average number of projects, which include

both short-term upgrade work and long, in-depth

projects, is 30 annually.

Efficiency Gains In Ideate And Create Phase

Ref.

Metric

Source

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Average number of project team

members

Composite

Average number of annual projects

Composite

Average project duration in create and

ideate phase (in hours)

5 weeks * 40

hours per week

200

Average fully burdened salary of project

team members

$72

Percentage of time saved due to Figma

in the ideate and create phase

Composite

60%

Percentage of time saved due to FigJam

in the ideate and create phase

Composite

10%

Productivity recapture

TEI standard

50%

Percent of value captured by year

TEI standard

20%

80%

95%

Efficiency gains in ideate and create

phase

(C1*C2*C3*C4)*

( C5+C6)*C7*C8

$362,880

$1,451,520

$1,723,680

Risk adjustment

↓10%

Ctr

Efficiency gains in ideate and create

phase (risk-adjusted)

$326,592

$1,306,368

$1,551,312

Three-year total: $3,184,272

Three-year present value: $2,542,068

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

ANALYSIS OF BENEFITS

• The average fully burdened salary of each of the

10 team members who participate in this phase is

$72 per hour.

• Figma’s impact on the develop and implement

phase results in a 30% reduction in team

members’ time.

• FigJam’s impact on the develop and implement

phase results in a 5% reduction in team

members’ time.

• As a best practice, Forrester recognizes that the

employees who participate in the develop and

implement phase convert 50% of the hours saved

into productive work time.

• As more employees collaborate using Figma, the

time-saving value capture increases from 20% to

95%.

Risks. Efficiency gains in the develop and implement

phase will vary with:

• The number of team members involved in each

project.

• The number and duration of projects in this

phase.

• The rate in which teams adopt Figma.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester

adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a

three-year, risk-adjusted total PV of $424,000.

“Figma Design shines in the

creation phase. That’s where our

product designers spending a lot

of their time developing those

high-definition solutions. Then

when we’re trying to align with

stakeholders in the development

phase, that’s where strong

design communication is

important. We want to share

those prototypes seamlessly,

show how the solutions work,

and talk about the benefits or

drawbacks of different ideas.

We’re using FigJam for that.”

VP of product design, high-tech

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

ANALYSIS OF BENEFITS

REDUCED TRAVEL COSTS

Evidence and data. FigJam brought people together

at the interviewees’ organizations. It was a valuable

tool for facilitating communication among team

members who preferred visual content over

traditional documents. FigJam's integration with audio

communication platforms complemented these

interactions.

Reducing the need for regular office-based meetings

for global or geographically dispersed teams was a

significant cost-saving opportunity. Interviewees

noted that the solution allowed them to conduct

remote workshops that used to involve frequent

travel. FigJam's fun and lightweight interface made

conversations engaging and quirky while it enhanced

collaboration. Additionally, the seamless content

transfer between Figma and FigJam contributed to a

smoother daily workflow, eliminated minor obstacles,

and yielded tangible benefits.

The head of product design and UX research at a

high-tech organization said: "It's been cool bringing

people together in one place in FigJam. We have

partly for financial and environmental reasons

typically worked mostly remotely. The big cost saving

is we no longer fly people to offices regularly. FigJam

has been a catalyst in making that happen. It feels

more like you're conversing with mates when there

are little motion graphics. It works, and copying and

pasting content between Figma and FigJam is very

easy. It makes a big difference to your daily culture

and removes some of those ‘death by 1000 cuts’

friction points."

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the customer

interviews, Forrester assumes:

• The composite organization’s 150 research

design professionals travel for six workshops per

year.

Efficiency Gains In The Develop And Implement Phase

Ref.

Metric

Source

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Average number of project team

members

Composite

Average number of annual projects

Composite

Average project duration in the develop

and implement phase (in hours)

4 weeks *40

hours per week

160

Average fully burdened salary of project

team members

$72

Percentage of time saved due to Figma

in the develop and implement phase

Composite

30%

Percentage of time saved due to FigJam

in the develop and implement phase

Composite

Productivity recapture

TEI standard

50%

Percent of value captured by year

Composite

20%

80%

95%

Efficiency gains in the develop and

implement phase

(D1*D2*D3*D4)*

( D5+D6)*D7*D8

$60,480

$241,920

$287,280

Risk adjustment

↓20%

Dtr

Efficiency gains in the develop and

implement phase (risk-adjusted)

$54,432

$217,728

$258,552

Three-year total: $459,648

Three-year present value: $423,678

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

ANALYSIS OF BENEFITS

• The average cost of a three-day trip is $1,300 per

trip, per person.

• The composite assigns Figma and FigJam 10%

credit in eliminating the need for those expenses.

Risks. The opportunity to reduce travel costs may

vary based on:

• The number of employees who need to travel.

• The number of trips that an employee makes.

• The cost of travel.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester

adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a

three-year, risk-adjusted total PV of $262,000.

Reduced Travel Costs

Ref.

Metric

Source

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Number of employees who travel

Composite

150

Number of trips annually per employee

Composite

Cost of an average 3-day trip

Composite

$1,300

Percent attribution given to Figma and

FigJam

Composite

10%

Reduced travel costs

E1*E2*E3*E4

$117,000

Risk adjustment

↓10%

Etr

Reduced travel costs (risk-adjusted)

$105,300

Three-year total: $315,900

Three-year present value: $261,866

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

ANALYSIS OF BENEFITS

UNQUANTIFIED BENEFITS

Interviewees shared many stories about the value

they experienced by using Figma that couldn’t be

directly quantified. These stories include:

• FigJam drives engagement. When asked if

FigJam was fun, the VP of product design at the

high-tech firm had a lot to say: “I love that

question. I was at a [business dinner] seated next

to somebody with a C in their title. I still

remember what I said to her: ‘FigJam is the only

piece of software I use that I would describe as

fun. It’s some secret sauce I have not seen in any

other product. The FigJam stickers, high-five

gestures, and reactions really drive engagement.

I think it directly impacts our success as a team.

A lot of what we do as designers is about trying

to bring people into the design process, and you

do that by making it fun. If the process feels dry

and stiff, nobody will want to participate. Tools

like FigJam bring people into the process, which

we must do to be effective.’”

• Increased speed to market. The global head of

UX at a manufacturer described how their team

accelerated initiatives: “We’re delivering about

four times faster doing this in-house versus with

an agency. We met with marketing on a Monday

about a campaign rollout. A week later, all the

design work was complete, and the brand

manager's jaw dropped. He said it would have

taken at least a month with the agency.” The

executive continued: “With organizations of this

size, speed to market is a challenge due to the

various layers of bureaucracy that the initiatives

typically go through. The fact that we’re able to

maneuver a lot quicker helps us get to market

that much faster.”

• Decreased agency spend. Interviewees’

organizations that previously relied upon

agencies to deliver their creative work described

saving 50% to 90% of those expenditures.

According to the global head of UX at a

manufacturing firm, deploying Figma allowed the

company to optimize its employees’ time as well

as provide the consistency needed to hire

contractors when needed. The executive said:

“We looked at how much time we spent in design

to create an experience for one of our flagship

brands. Once we made the time investment,

deploying this experience in a completely

different region, we delivered the design work for

a brand-new site for $15,000 — whereas it would

have cost over $100,000 through an agency. We

do 100 of these throughout the year, and those

cost and time efficiencies begin to add up

significantly.”

• Reduced human error and positively

impacted product quality. The high-tech firm’s

principal designer described how Figma’s

automation features improved the quality of their

products: “There are a lot fewer steps in the flow

where a human being has to go in and manually

change something, which is a core part of the

efficiency gain. As the system changes, it evolves

together automatically, allowing each user to

benefit from improvements rather than

employees improving their individual design

systems.” The principal software development

lead at the same high-tech firm described the

major impact Figma has had on their business:

“We’ve changed from just releasing an MVP to

releasing a well-designed and well-architected

interface. The world is changing and the bar

keeps going up, but it’s much easier to keep up

with the fidelity and the quality.”

• Increased innovation. The financial services

designer said their team has more time to

perform high-value work: “What Figma affords

designers is the ability to spend time thinking

about the hard problems and the things that

they’re trying to solve, as opposed to how big a

button is or what size text should be. All of that’s

already done.”

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

ANALYSIS OF BENEFITS

• Improved employee retention. The senior

design program manager at a professional

services firm raved about the positive impact on

employee churn. They received a glowing email

from another senior design manager and said: “I

don’t know how to send a message to the whole

Figma crew, but I wanted to say that the change

to Figma has been transformative for multiple

designers on my team. I knew it would be nice,

but I had two designers say, ‘I was kind of hating

my job before, and now I’m having a good time.’

So great job to the Figma implementation team

and thank you for helping me not lose designers.”

• Streamlined communication with leadership.

The financial services principal UX designer

talked about democratizing the design process

and looping in leadership: “Before Figma, there

was a separation between the designs

themselves and then presenting it. We used to

turn these files into a PNG image and stick them

in a presentation tool, losing that closeness to the

actual design process. Because Figma’s canvas

is collaborative, leadership has been able to jump

into the files themselves and experience the

prototype you’re creating or provide feedback

directly on the design. It's quite meaningful.”

FLEXIBILITY

The value of flexibility is unique to each customer.

There are multiple scenarios in which a customer

might implement Figma and later realize additional

uses and business opportunities, including:

• Dev mode opens new doors for developer

productivity. According to Figma, Dev Mode in

Figma design gives developers everything they

need to navigate design files and transform

designs into code. With Dev Mode, designers

and developers stay on the same page, ensuring

essential details aren’t lost in the handoff

process. Dev Mode is currently in open beta, and

several interviewees expressed excitement about

its possibilities.

• Improving how teams work. The high-tech

principal designer said, “Many designers like me

used to hide behind the curtain before you reveal

the big showpiece. Figma changed that because

it emphasized the thought process and the

workflow. We’re more open to receiving feedback

in Figma because it is so much easier.”

• Providing stable plug-ins, whether custom-

built or from the community. The high-tech UX

engineer described the benefits he got from

engaging with the Figma community: “We take

our plug-ins in Figma very seriously, both the

architecture and the plug-in community. Because

“Are we seeing design playing a

more pivotal role? Yes. Is the

executive team getting exposed

to customer insight and

customer thinking more

frequently? Yes. Is the executive

team getting excited about team

design choices, and are they

seeing more of those? Yes.

Culturally, we’re influencing the

change of thought, meaning the

conversations are softer than

they would have been waiting a

year to see something. We now

have many more regular check-

in points with the directors,

group directors, and up to the C

suite.”

Head of product design and UX

research, high-tech

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

ANALYSIS OF BENEFITS

the community is open, easy to use, and easy to

install means we learn a lot and see many

opportunities with using plug-ins. The community

on Figma.com means that you don’t have to go

searching for this information. They’ve done a

very good job at keeping their community

centralized.”

• Collaboration beyond design teams. The

financial services head of design discussed how

business teams discovered the merits of FigJam:

“Now that we have Figma and FigJam, how does

this tool serve others outside the design

community? Our data analysts are interested in

using it. We have product owners that are

interested in using it. We have scrum masters

that are using it. And by using it, I mean FigJam,

in addition to Figma, or in some cases just

FigJam. Now that we are transitioning off

[competing tools], people have realized FigJam is

less expensive and has open sessions. I don’t

have to worry about having a license for

everyone who uses the tool.”

Flexibility would also be quantified when evaluated as

part of a specific project (described in more detail in

Appendix A).

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

Analysis Of Costs

Quantified cost data as applied to the composite

FIGMA AND FIGJAM LICENSE COSTS

Evidence and data. Figma provided all pricing

information. Because of this, there was a 0% risk

adjustment.

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the

information from Figma, Forrester assumes:

• The composite organization pays an annual list

price of $900 per user. Editor licenses include:

▪ Unlimited projects and version history.

▪ Custom file and user permissions.

▪ Invite-only private projects.

▪ Shareable team libraries and centralized

teams

▪ Organizationwide design systems and

analytics

▪ Private plug-ins and plug-in

administration.

▪ Shared fonts.

▪ SSO plus advanced security.

▪ Paid editor licenses are assigned to a

combination of design professionals,

researchers, developers, executives,

product managers, and marketers.

• In addition, the composite organization can

create an unlimited number of viewer licenses

that allow:

▪ Unlimited files in drafts.

▪ Unlimited viewers and commenters.

▪ Unlimited editors on three team files.

▪ One team project.

▪ 30-day version history.

▪ Unlimited cloud storage.

• The composite pays an additional $60 per user

annually for FigJam.

Risks. This cost can vary from organization to

organization due to the following factors:

• Teams may choose to invest more or less time

and resources in the planning and deployment

process.

• The level of orientation and onboarding will vary

based on the team’s familiarity with existing

design tools.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester

adjusted this cost upward by 0%, yielding a three-

year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of

$716,000.

Total Costs

Ref.

Cost

Initial

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Total

Present

Value

Ftr

Figma and FigJam

license costs

$288,000

$864,000

$716,213

Gtr

Internal costs to deploy

Figma and FigJam

$197,683

$448,589

$33,581

$713,434

$658,474

Total costs (risk-

adjusted)

$197,683

$736,589

$321,581

$1,577,434

$1,374,687

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

ANALYSIS OF COSTS

INTERNAL COSTS TO DEPLOY FIGMA AND

FIGJAM

Evidence and data. Interviewees described how

their organizations were able to achieve the benefits

of Figma by investing the time and resources to

create a strategic plan for its implementation, rollout,

governance, and training. FigJam was described as

so easy to use that no additional training was

required.

Modeling and assumptions. To accomplish this, the

composite incurs the following costs:

• The project lead spends six months planning for

and implementing Figma. After the initial rollout,

the lead spends 8 hours per week on

administrative functions.

• To establish a deployment, governance, and

training strategy, the composite organization

establishes eight workstream leads. They

negotiate the allocation of 20% of their

assignment.

• Thirty designers conduct a two-day sprint to

convert previous design files to Figma formats

and build plug-ins. The Figma deployment team

spends an additional 40 hours annually building

plug-ins after the first year.

• The composite organization requires 16 hours of

training for each of its 300 editor license-holders.

Risks. This cost can vary from organization to

organization due to the following factors:

• Teams may choose to invest more or less time

and resources in the planning and deployment

process.

• The level of orientation and onboarding will vary

based on the team’s familiarity with existing

design tools.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester

adjusted this cost upward by 10%, yielding a three-

year, risk-adjusted total PV of $658,000.

Figma And FigJam License Costs

Ref.

Metric

Source

Initial

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Cost of Figma license

Figma

$900

Cost of a FigJam license

Figma

$60

Number of paid users

Composite

300

Figma and FigJam license costs

(F1+F2)*F3

$288,000

Risk adjustment

Ftr

Figma and FigJam license costs (risk-

adjusted)

$288,000

Three-year total: $864,000

Three-year present value: $716,213

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

ANALYSIS OF COSTS

Internal Costs To Deploy Figma And FigJam

Ref.

Metric

Source

Initial

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Employee leading deployment

40 hours per

week *24 (6

months)

960

Ongoing management of Figma and

FigJam

8 hours per

week

384

Employee workstream leads

20% of

employee hours

for 6 months * 8

Employees

1,536

Employee time converting files and

building plug ins

30 designers in a

2 day sprint

480

User training

16 hours

Number of employees with editor

licenses

Composite

300

Average fully burdened salary of project

team member

$72 per hour

$72

Internal costs to deploy Figma and

FigJam

Initial:

(G1*G7)+(G3*G

7) Years 1,2,3:

(G2*G7)+(G4*G

7)+(G5*G6*G7)

$179,712

$407,808

$30,528

Risk adjustment

↑10%

Gtr

Internal costs to deploy Figma and

FigJam (risk-adjusted)

$197,683

$448,589

$33,581

Three-year total: $713,434

Three-year present value: $658,474

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

Financial Summary

CONSOLIDATED THREE-YEAR RISK-ADJUSTED METRICS

-$2.0 M

-$1.0 M

$1.0 M

$2.0 M

$3.0 M

$4.0 M

$5.0 M

$6.0 M

$7.0 M

Initial Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Cash

flows

Cash Flow Chart (Risk-Adjusted)

Total costs Total benefits Cumulative net benefits

These risk-adjusted ROI,

NPV, and payback period

values are determined by

applying risk-adjustment

factors to the unadjusted

results in each Benefit and

Cost section.

The financial results calculated in the

Benefits and Costs sections can be

used to determine the ROI, NPV, and

payback period for the composite

organization’s investment. Forrester

assumes a yearly discount rate of 10%

for this analysis.

Cash Flow Analysis (Risk-Adjusted Estimates)

Initial

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Total

Present

Value

Total costs

($197,683)

($736,589)

($321,581)

($1,577,434)

($1,374,687)

Total benefits

$959,094

$2,921,751

$3,454,326

$7,335,171

$5,881,860

Net benefits

($197,683)

$222,505

$2,600,170

$3,132,745

$5,757,737

$4,507,173

ROI

328%

Payback period

(months)

11.0

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

Appendix A: Total Economic

Impact

Total Economic Impact is a methodology developed

by Forrester Research that enhances a company’s

technology decision-making processes and assists

vendors in communicating the value proposition of

their products and services to clients. The TEI

methodology helps companies demonstrate, justify,

and realize the tangible value of IT initiatives to both

senior management and other key business

stakeholders.

TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT APPROACH

Benefits represent the value delivered to the

business by the product. The TEI methodology

places equal weight on the measure of benefits and

the measure of costs, allowing for a full examination

of the effect of the technology on the entire

organization.

Costs consider all expenses necessary to deliver the

proposed value, or benefits, of the product. The cost

category within TEI captures incremental costs over

the existing environment for ongoing costs

associated with the solution.

Flexibility represents the strategic value that can be

obtained for some future additional investment

building on top of the initial investment already made.

Having the ability to capture that benefit has a PV

that can be estimated.

Risks measure the uncertainty of benefit and cost

estimates given: 1) the likelihood that estimates will

meet original projections and 2) the likelihood that

estimates will be tracked over time. TEI risk factors

are based on “triangular distribution.”

The initial investment column contains costs incurred at “time

0” or at the beginning of Year 1 that are not discounted. All

other cash flows are discounted using the discount rate at the

end of the year. PV calculations are calculated for each total

cost and benefit estimate. NPV calculations in the summary

tables are the sum of the initial investment and the

discounted cash flows in each year. Sums and present value

calculations of the Total Benefits, Total Costs, and Cash Flow

tables may not exactly add up, as some rounding may occur.

PRESENT VALUE (PV)

The present or current value of

(discounted) cost and benefit estimates

given at an interest rate (the discount

rate). The PV of costs and benefits feed

into the total NPV of cash flows.

NET PRESENT VALUE (NPV)

The present or current value of

(discounted) future net cash flows given

an interest rate (the discount rate). A

positive project NPV normally indicates

that the investment should be made

unless other projects have higher NPVs.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI)

A project’s expected return in

percentage terms. ROI is calculated by

dividing net benefits (benefits less costs)

by costs.

DISCOUNT RATE

The interest rate used in cash flow

analysis to take into account the

time value of money. Organizations

typically use discount rates between

8% and 16%.

PAYBACK PERIOD

The breakeven point for an investment.

This is the point in time at which net

benefits (benefits minus costs) equal

initial investment or cost.

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM

Appendix B: Endnotes

Source: “Future Digital Experiences: Invisible And Immersive,” Forrester Research, Inc., February 13, 2023.

Total Economic Impact is a methodology developed by Forrester Research that enhances a company’s

technology decision-making processes and assists vendors in communicating the value proposition of their

products and services to clients. The TEI methodology helps companies demonstrate, justify, and realize the

tangible value of IT initiatives to both senior management and other key business stakeholders.

Source: “Figma’s Embrace Of Developers And AI Expands And Evolves Design,” Forrester Research, Inc., June

26, 2023.

THE TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ OF FIGMA AND FIGJAM