Should Designers Design in Figma or in Code?

Karri Saarinen still designs product ideas in Figma rather than in code. He does not feel the need to design in code. A simple fix is a different case. If a border or a button is wrong, he might send it to a coding agent and see whether the live result works. For the thinking, he opens Figma.

He might use Linear's agent to gather the underlying need, then take that understanding into the file. He was doing this recently with an idea for team documents. In Figma he makes one screen, duplicates it, tries another direction, and goes back. A file can end up with tens or hundreds of screens. He does not want to solve code problems while he is still exploring the idea. Design, for him, is the planning stage, closer to a discussion than to building.

Code feels like the wrong medium for that stage. Redesigning a barn by taking out an axe, cutting a wall, and then putting the wall back is the comparison he used. He would rather draw the change on paper before anyone builds it.