The first iteration of the Figma Design Kit for Microsoft Surface Duo is now available to designers, allowing app developers to get to grips with Microsoft’s dual-screen device.
The Figma Design Kit integrates several standardized patterns, templates, and components, helping app developers quickly put together app designs and mock-ups for their work.
Figma Design Kit for Microsoft Surface Duo
Microsoft detailed the Figma Design Kit for Microsoft Surface Duo in a recent blog post.
The blog post explains how the design kit will work and includes a host of design patterns that illustrate how app design on the Surface Duo work.
For example, in the image below, you can see Surface Duo Pattern 1: Extended Canvas, where the app stretches across both screens for a more immersive or productive experience.
Or, you could opt for Pattern 5: Companion Pane, where one of Duo’s screens turns into a toolbar or task area, while the second screen becomes a media player or otherwise. You can see Pattern 5 in the image below.
The other interesting thing you’ll find in the Figma Design Kit are the Safe Areas, which illustrate the areas of the Surface Duo screens available for app development. It all sounds very normal and standard but understanding how to stop app content from underlapping the central divide is an important consideration for app developers.
Within the Figma Design Kit, “each component is built to be as flat as possible.” Microsoft has made each component available to developers and designers easy to move around, working in togglable layers for quick edits and style decisions.
You can check out the Surface Duo Design Kit on Figma to take it for a test spin and begin prototyping apps for the Microsoft Surface Duo.
Is the Microsoft Surface Duo Any Good?
When the Microsoft Surface Duo launched in September 2020, the initial feedback wasn’t brilliant.
In fact, many users found the Surface Duo experience downright poor, contending that the tech wasn’t quite ready to launch. As with all things tech, companies are rushed into releasing hardware or software that isn’t 100 percent ready, and it is always the consumers that suffer the consequences.
After a short period, Microsoft began releasing updates for the Surface Duo, fixing some of the more glaring issues such as faulty cameras and random freezing or crashing.
More recent Microsoft Surface Duo reviews paint a better picture. Microsoft has fixed numerous bugs and other issues holding the device back, and more app developers are considering dual-screen devices like the Surface Duo in their plans.
The launch of the Figma Design Kit for Microsoft Surface Duo should boost those reviews a little more as apps become better suited to the Duo’s design.