What’s your favorite design tool?”

Is often a question that gets asked at many a happy hour dedicated to bringing together the design community. It’s the coders’ version of “tabs or spaces?” It’s the relevant ice breaker that lends an opportunity to spark up a conversation with the person closest to your personal space. So pick your poison. Sketch? Figma? Adobe XD? Don’t you dare say Powerpoint…

Ann Marie and Tori, the designers behind The Brand Stand, were quite indifferent to the concept of a “favorite” design tool. That is…until April 1st. A day we all lovingly (or begrudgingly) know as April Fool’s Day. A day in which Ann Marie and Tori remotely logged into Figma to collaborate on a client project, when suddenly Ann Marie exclaimed…

“Oh my gosh you changed your cursor to a pizza?!”

“No, I didn’t…I don’t see a pizza but I see your cursor showing up as a block of cheese!” Tori retorted.

A flurry of screenshots naturally ensued and we had a good laugh. Tori went back to work on the project, but Ann Marie had bigger plans for the pizza cursor. She created a frame with the text “How to use the slice tool in Figma?” and asked Tori to put her cursor near the text. What happened next was a series of frames, screenshots, and some serious designing that culminated in what is now The Brand Stand’s latest marketing campaign. AND IT WAS SO FUN.

Now, back to the topic at hand: how to bring some delight to your day while working remotely. Because let’s be honest, working remotely can get lonely at best and unproductive at worst. So how do we foster a sense of remote community AND capitalize on this quarantine? The Brand Stand designers saw an accidental opportunity to create something new and innovative inspired by a timely tweak to Figma’s interface. Therefore, our first recommendation for this blog series dedicated to delight is as follows:

Take some time to create something fun in Figma with your team!

This wasn’t the first time we dilly dallied in Figma either. In the inaugural Figma creative session, the result was arguably less productive than a marketing campaign. Rather, both designers simply exercised their creativity in a way that felt like play…which was very much needed, if we do say so ourselves, because it was a LONG work day. It’s moments like these that remind us of the reasons we pursued design in the first place, and why we wake up to do it all over again the next day.

After today’s activity inspired by the unconventional Figma cursors, it made us realize that we may have stumbled upon a key to maintaining “quarantine connectedness”. For that reason, we felt compelled to share with the masses! We encourage all design teams to let their Figma freak flag fly. 

For our friends outside the design community, fret not! Fortunately, there are many collaboration tools that are industry agnostic. Accountants, create macro magic in Google Sheets. Salespeople, hold a debate via Zoom with your team on which CRM is best and convince the naysayers. Software engineers, we’re not entirely sure how Github works, but it’s got potential. You never know–you might discover your next big marketing campaign or revolutionary idea!

How to enter:

1) Follow @thebrandstandco

2) Comment with your vote (🍕/ 🥟) AND tag at least (2) two friends you like to get creative, collaborate or eat with.

We’ll donate $100 to a local DC (🍕/ 🥟) restaurant of the winning team’s cuisine AND the lucky winner will receive a $100 gift card to a restaurant of The Brand Stand’s choosing in the winner’s hometown. #StayHome #SupportLocalBusiness  

Contest begins today, April 1, 2020 and ends next Tuesday April 7, 2020 at 11:59 PM EST. The winning restaurant and follower will be announced via all platforms on Wednesday, April 8, 2020. Votes are limited to one per person across all platforms–but please do participate on all channels!

And of course, thank you, Figma, for introducing some delight into our work day!
You’re officially our favorite design tool.

Check back next week for updates to this post announcing the winner!

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