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Lesson 5

Figma Fundamentals: Shapes, Frames & Text

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Hello! Welcome back to your graphic design course.

In our last lesson, you did a great job setting up your Figma account and getting acquainted with the editor's layout. You now know your way around the Canvas, Toolbar, Layers Panel, and Properties Panel.

Today, we move from navigating to creating. We'll start using the tools to bring your ideas to life. This lesson is all about the fundamental building blocks of any design: frames, shapes, and text. Mastering these basics is the first and most crucial step toward creating professional designs, as they are the elements you will use in every single project you tackle.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to create and manipulate basic shapes, frames, and text elements in Figma.

Let's begin!

Part 1: Frames - Your Design's Container

In Figma, you don't just draw randomly on the infinite canvas. You place your designs inside Frames. Think of a Frame as your artboard, your piece of paper, or the screen of a device. It's a container that holds all the elements of a specific design, like a social media post, a website screen, or a business card.

Why use frames?

  • Organization: They keep all related elements together.
  • Sizing: You can choose from preset sizes (like an iPhone 13 Pro or an Instagram Post) or create custom dimensions.
  • Exporting: When you export your design, everything inside the frame is saved as a single image.

The best way to understand frames is to see them in action.

Figma Tutorial for Beginners

This video, 'Figma Tutorial for Beginners' by Kevin Stratvert, provides an excellent demonstration of how to work with frames. He covers everything from creating a frame to using presets and renaming.

Watch from 09:03 to 14:55. Open your 'My First Design File' in Figma and try to follow along with the steps.

As you saw, the key steps are:

  1. Select the Frame Tool from the toolbar (or press the F key).
  2. Either click a preset size in the Properties Panel on the right (e.g., Social Media > Instagram Post) or click and drag on the canvas to draw a frame of a custom size.
  3. You can adjust the dimensions of a selected frame anytime in the Properties Panel.
  4. You can rename your frames in the Layers Panel on the left by double-clicking them. This is essential for staying organized.

Part 2: Shapes - The Building Blocks of Form

Shapes are the visual foundation of graphic design. In Figma, you can create basic vector shapes like rectangles, ellipses (circles), polygons, and lines with just one click.

Let's start with the most common ones: rectangles and circles.

  1. Rectangles: Select the Rectangle tool from the toolbar (or press R). Click and drag on your canvas to draw a rectangle.
  2. Ellipses/Circles: Click the dropdown arrow next to the shape tools to find the Ellipse tool (or press O). Click and drag to draw an ellipse. Pro-tip: Hold down the Shift key while dragging to create a perfect circle.

Once you create a shape, you can change how it looks using the Properties Panel on the right. With your shape selected, look for these sections:

  • Fill: This changes the inner color of the shape.
  • Stroke: This adds a border or outline. You can change its color and thickness.
  • Corner Radius: For rectangles, this allows you to round the corners.

The following short clips demonstrate these basic actions clearly.

Figma Wireframe Tutorial for Beginners

This first clip from Aliena Cai's 'Figma Wireframe Tutorial' shows you how to quickly create and style a rectangle.

Watch from 01:19 to 02:04. Pay attention to how she draws the rectangle inside the frame and adjusts its properties.

Figma Wireframe Tutorial for Beginners

This next clip from the same video shows how to create a perfect circle and the importance of the Shift key.

Watch from 02:17 to 02:42. Try creating a perfect circle yourself.

Figma Basics: Shape Tools - Circle and Polygon
This slide shows the toolbar icons for the Circle (Ellipse) and Polygon tools, with instructions on how to use them. These are just two of the several basic shapes available.
Test your understanding!

You want to create a perfect square. How would you do it?

Show answer

You would select the Rectangle tool (R) and hold down the Shift key while clicking and dragging on the canvas. The Shift key constrains the proportions, ensuring the width and height remain equal.

Part 3: Text - Giving Your Design a Voice

Adding text is just as simple as adding shapes.

  1. Select the Text tool from the toolbar (or press T).
  2. Click anywhere on your canvas or inside a frame.
  3. Start typing!

Just like with shapes, you can modify your text using the Properties Panel. With your text layer selected, you'll see a "Text" section where you can change:

  • Font family
  • Font weight (e.g., Regular, Bold, Black)
  • Font size
  • Alignment (left, center, right)

You can also change the text color using the Fill property, just as you did with shapes.

Let's watch a detailed walkthrough of adding and styling text.

Figma Tutorial for Beginners

Returning to the Kevin Stratvert tutorial, this section provides a fantastic guide to using the Text tool and adjusting its most common properties.

Watch from 24:22 to 26:09. Notice how he uses the alignment options in the Properties Panel to center the text within the frame.

Part 4: Putting It All Together - Arranging and Aligning

You've now created frames, shapes, and text. But how do you control which element is in front and which is behind? And how do you line them up perfectly?

Layer Stacking
Look at the Layers Panel on the left. Every element you create is a new layer. The layers are stacked from bottom to top. The layer at the top of the list is the front-most element on your canvas. To change the order, simply click and drag a layer up or down in the list.

Alignment Tools
To perfectly align two or more objects:

  1. Select multiple objects by holding Shift and clicking on each one, or by clicking and dragging a selection box around them.
  2. In the Properties Panel on the right, a set of alignment tools will appear at the top.
  3. You can use these to align objects horizontally (left, center, right) or vertically (top, middle, bottom) relative to each other.

For a clear, text-based guide on these essential actions, refer back to the Figma 101 article from our last lesson.

Figma 101: Introduction to Figma

This article from DesignLab provides simple, step-by-step instructions for arranging and aligning layers. It's a great quick reference.

Read sections 8 ('Create a rectangle and arrange the layers') and 9 ('Align the text and rectangle'). Focus on the concepts of layer order and using the alignment buttons in the Properties panel.

Now, try this out for yourself with a mini-project.

Mini-Project: Create a Simple Profile Badge

Let's apply everything you've learned. Try to create the following design in Figma:

  1. Create a square Frame (e.g., 400x400 pixels).
  2. Inside the frame, create a large Circle that almost fills the frame. Change its Fill to a color you like.
  3. Create a Text layer with your first initial (e.g., "A").
  4. Change the text's font size to be large and its weight to Bold or Black. Change its color to white.
  5. Place the text layer on top of the circle.
  6. Select both the circle and the text layer. Use the Align Horizontal Centers and Align Vertical Centers tools to perfectly center the initial inside the circle.
  7. Make sure the text layer is above the circle layer in the Layers Panel.
Show example

Your final result should look something like this, though you can use any color and initial you like!

An example of the profile badge you can create. This demonstrates a frame, a shape (circle), and a text element, all properly aligned and layered.

Conclusion

Fantastic work today! You have moved from being an observer of the Figma interface to an active creator. You've learned how to create, style, and arrange the three most fundamental elements of any design.

Let's review the key takeaways:

  • Frames (F) are containers for your designs, allowing you to set specific dimensions.
  • Shapes (R, O, L) are the visual building blocks, which you can style using the Fill and Stroke properties.
  • Text (T) allows you to add written content, with full control over typography in the Properties Panel.
  • The Layers Panel controls the stacking order of your elements.
  • The Alignment Tools help you create clean, professional layouts by perfectly positioning your elements.

In our next lesson, we will build directly on these skills. We'll focus on how to use Figma's selection, move, and scale tools effectively, giving you even more precise control over the elements you now know how to create.