The Library + Flow approach to organizing Figma files

Organizing your files is a Sisyphean task. Much like housework, it is an ongoing task and will never truly be “done.” While I would never claim to be the domestic goddess of Figma files, I have learned a few things along the way (mostly through trial and error) that I want to share with you.

If you are part of a design team that already has an organized filing system, this article probably won’t be helpful to you. However, if you are part of a new small team or start-up, this will hopefully help you put the structure in place to build out your first projects.

In this article, we will cover:

• What makes a good filing structure?
• Library and flow approach
• The Libraries
• The Flows
• Closing thoughts
• Further reading

What makes a good filing structure?

While we can argue until the cows come home about what the ideal system is, there are three things that everyone can agree on when it comes to organizational structures:

1. Easy to maintain
If a system isn’t easy to maintain — no one will maintain it. Instead, lean towards making a system more simple with clear benchmarks than having a system with a lot of detail that is difficult to mantain.

2. Easy to understand
Designers and developers come and go. You know the drill. So unless a system is self-explanatory, no one will use it, or they will use it wrong. An easy test is to see if someone new can figure out how to do something without you explaining it to them. So while you can document how the filing structure should work, the question you should ask is: If it needs documenting, is it a good system?

3. Easy to navigate
A filing system should work much like good product architecture. Users should be able to navigate through the different projects, files, and pages without assistance.