The Figma Fallacy

The first time I held an iPod, I understood something that watching Steve Jobs demo never could have taught me.

Weight. Texture. The satisfying click of the scroll wheel.

You can’t experience lag in a prototype. You can’t feel the awkward pause between tapping a button and seeing a response. Screenshots are beautiful liars.

We’ve gotten so good at making static designs look finished that we’ve forgotten they’re just educated guesses.

A perfectly polished Figma prototype sends the wrong signal: “This is ready. Don’t change it.” The more professional it looks, the more people hesitate to suggest improvements. Nobody wants to be the person asking for “small tweaks” to something that looks complete.

But show someone a working prototype where they can type in a text field and watch their words appear instantly? Different story.

“Can this button be bigger?”

“What if the text was clearer?”

“This feels slow - can we make it faster?”

Suddenly everyone becomes a user experience expert. Not because they know more, but because they’re experiencing rather than imagining.

The best feedback comes from touching, not looking.

Paper sketches invite edits because they look unfinished. Working prototypes invite interaction because they feel real. Polished mockups invite approval because they seem done.

Choose your invitation wisely.