How Figma Design Systems Accelerate Contentful Site Migrations

At Adapt, we’ve perfected the art of site migrations by leveraging Figma Design Systems and Contentful to create seamless, scalable websites. Here’s why this approach is the future of web development:

Figma has become the standard for design collaboration in 2024, and its ability to create design systems that are easily shareable and adjustable makes it an ideal tool for managing complex web projects. A Design System in Figma is more than just a set of UI elements—it’s a collection of components, typography, spacing rules, and color palettes that ensure consistency across the entire design.

When building or migrating a site, a Figma Design System ensures that both designers and developers are on the same page. With Figma’s Dev Mode, developers can easily inspect design files, access design specs, and extract code snippets, reducing the guesswork involved in turning a design into a functional website.

Migrating a website from a traditional CMS to Contentful requires a strategic approach to content and design. Figma Design Systems streamline this process by providing a clear structure for all UI components that need to be implemented. Here’s how they work together:

• Consistent Design Implementation: During the migration, we align Figma components with Contentful’s content models to ensure that the UI components and dynamic content (texts, images, videos) can be managed and rendered without breaking the design. This ensures that once we build the pages, they look consistent and are easy to maintain.

• Faster Migration with Predefined UI Components: With a Figma Design System in place, developers don’t need to guess how components should look or function. Components like buttons, forms, and navigation menus are already designed and documented, reducing the time it takes to recreate them in Contentful.

• Dynamic Content and Structured Models: Contentful’s API-first approach allows us to model content dynamically, so once the site is migrated, we can manage and update content independently of the design. Using Figma’s system to map content structures to dynamic content types in Contentful ensures that the site remains consistent even as new content is added.

• Streamlined Handoff Between Teams: When migrating sites, there’s often a disconnect between designers and developers. With Figma, the design system is directly linked to development, which reduces the back-and-forth and accelerates the process. Developers can access all design specs, ensuring the final site reflects the original vision.

• Scalability and Flexibility: As you continue to add new content or expand your site, the Figma Design System ensures that new features can be added without compromising the user experience. Since all components are designed and defined in advance, updates and changes can be handled quickly, keeping the site consistent as it grows.

• Reduced Redundancy: By using a modular design system and content models in Contentful, we minimize duplication of work. The same UI components can be reused across multiple pages, while Contentful allows us to update content without redesigning pages. This reduces redundancy and improves the efficiency of ongoing updates.

At Adapt, we specialize in Contentful migrations that are powered by Figma and Atomic Design principles. We understand that a successful migration is not just about moving content from one platform to another—it’s about ensuring that the design remains consistent, content is dynamic, and the entire system is scalable.

By using Atomic Design, Figma Design Systems, and Contentful, we ensure that your website is future-proof, maintainable, and built to scale with your business.

If you’re ready to migrate to Contentful or build a new website with design systems that scale, let’s talk about how we can make the transition as smooth and efficient as possible.