Explore the value of play through a new zine made in collaboration with It’s Nice That

This article was originally published on It's Nice That.

Finding moments for play is an essential part of any design process. Whether you’re building an exhibition, crafting a typeface, or designing and developing a new app, opportunities for play open up new paths to follow on the journey to your next idea.

At Figma, play represents a vital aspect of our ability to learn. Anyone who has spent time collaborating knows the value of connecting the dots and sparking new ideas. It’s a value we also hold here at It’s Nice That, and we are thrilled to share a new print collaboration between us and the team at Figma. Say hello to The Playbook!

An exploration of play through a range of essays and visual commissions, The Playbook is a zine developed by It’s Nice That and Figma to showcase the benefits of spontaneous thinking and curiosity through design. Inside, we learn from Chief Product Officer Yuhki Yamashita on “how to embrace (and enjoy) endless iteration”

, as well what it truly means to be a collaborative engineer

Why roles are not rules

Product development is increasingly collaborative. But what does it mean to be collaborative as an engineer? It starts with thinking across code boundaries, and beyond the limits of our roles and responsibilities. Here’s how we’ve found our own collaborative sweet spot on the engineering team at Figma, and the principles and processes that help define our work.

from Chief Technology Officer Kris Rasmussen.

Elsewhere, we speak to a variety of creatives on the importance of curiosity in a world where the possibilities are endless, providing helpful advice on seeking out the “what if?” moment to kickstart any project. We gain insight into “ten rules for play

” that the great Paula Scher has noted down over her career, from a surprising spot for sketching logos to how to make peace with how you’re influenced creatively.

If you prefer getting hands-on rather than sitting down with an essay, there are also a host of activities within The Playbook to tackle. First of all, you’re encouraged to “onboard” in the zine itself, take a quiz to determine your meeting-hosting style, and take a break with a design challenge based on the phrase, “How might we?” Or otherwise you’re welcome to just enjoy a variety of visual commissions, from Shawna X’s visualization of a “lightbulb moment” to Manshen Lo’s interpretation of Bruno Munari’s famed 12-step design methodology.

If you attended Config, you received your own copy of the zine to dig into on arrival. As our own Amber Bravo, Figma’s Director of Content and Editorial, writes in the foreword

to The Playbook, quoting Plato: “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” Hopefully, our playful zine will facilitate just that.