Hi Figma team and community,
First off, I just want to say that variables have been a game changer for me and my team. They’ve helped us improve both the efficiency and accuracy of our designs in a big way.
As we move toward treating our Figma files as the single source of truth for all customer-facing content, I wanted to share some feedback that might make variables even more powerful—especially for teams that are serious about using them to scale design operations.
Disclaimer: I haven’t searched to see if these ideas have been raised already, so if there’s any overlap—pardon the redundancy!
1. Rich Text Formatting Support
There are many times when a string includes things like hyperlinks, bold or colored text, or even superscripts—especially in compliance disclosures. It would be tremendously helpful if variables could support some basic rich text formatting to reflect these needs more accurately in design.
2. Composable String Variables (and Maybe Formulas?)
Right now, if I want to create a sentence that includes dynamic and static parts (e.g., a name that changes based on user context), I have to create multiple separate strings.
It would be amazing if a string token could:
Include multiple variables (like Variable A + Variable B)
Allow one part to switch dynamically while keeping the rest constant
For example, in a social app:
“Welcome back, Tom!” → where "Welcome back," is fixed, and "Tom" is a variable that switches depending on the profile.
Bonus: if some kind of formula or lightweight logic could be added in the future, that would open up even more possibilities.
3. Better Interface for Editing Long Strings
This one’s pretty straightforward—the current UI for editing longer strings isn’t very friendly. The small text cells truncate input, making it easy to make mistakes or miss issues while typing. A more flexible or expandable editing interface would make auditing and editing long strings much smoother. Also as the variable becomes long and all the interrelations of tokens become complicated, I just cannot tell if I am selecting the right one in the right box.
Thanks again for building such a thoughtful tool. These are small suggestions, but I think they could go a long way in helping teams really scale their use of variables effectively. 🙏
