Instances are one of the most powerful features of Figma, allowing designers to quickly and easily create consistent elements across their designs. Instances are essentially copies of design elements that can be modified independently but still retain their original form when changes are made.
This helps keep designs consistent, saves time and allows for faster iteration.
Creating an instance is simple. All you need to do is click the “Create Instance” button in the top right corner of a frame or shape.
This will duplicate the selected element and create a new instance of it. You can then modify the new instance independently from the original, while still keeping all of its properties such as color and size in sync with the original version.
Figma also allows you to create instances from multiple elements at once. To do this, select multiple frames or shapes that you want to turn into instances, then click “Create Instances” from the toolbar at the top of the page. This will create a new instance for each element selected.
Once created, instances can be modified just like any other design element in Figma. You can change colors, sizes, positions and more without affecting any other instances or the original version. This makes it easy to quickly iterate on designs without having to manually update all related elements.
Instances also have additional features that make them even more useful:
- They can be linked together so that changes made to one will automatically affect all related instances.
- You can toggle between different sets of properties with ease using Variants.
- They have an organized hierarchy so you can easily keep track of which elements are related.
Instances are a great way to keep designs consistent and efficient without needing to manually update each element every time something changes. With this powerful feature, designers can quickly iterate on designs without sacrificing quality or consistency.
Conclusion:
How do instances work in Figma? Instances allow designers to quickly create copies of existing design elements that they can modify independently while still retaining their original properties when changes are made.
These copies can be linked together so that changes made to one will affect all related instances and have additional features such as Variants and an organized hierarchy for easier tracking. Instances make it easy for designers to iterate on designs without sacrificing quality or consistency.