Prototype Interaction Settings and Practice in Figma

Prototype interaction settings in Figma are essential for creating intuitive and engaging user experiences. This guide covers everything from basic triggers and actions to advanced transitions, helping you build prototypes that closely mimic real-world user interactions. By mastering these settings, you can elevate your designs, ensuring they are both functional and visually compelling.

In this section, we’ll cover the following topics.

Overview of Interaction Settings

Figma’s interaction settings are powerful tools that allow designers to craft prototypes with realistic user flows. There are two primary approaches to setting up prototype interactions in Figma: one for navigation components and another for non-navigation elements.

1. Navigation Components

Streamlining Interactions with Master Components

For elements like navigation bars, home buttons, or links to specific pages, Figma’s component system can drastically reduce repetitive work. Instead of setting up interactions for each instance individually across different frames, you can define interactions once for the master component. All instances (or child components) will automatically inherit the interaction settings from their master component.

This approach is especially useful when dealing with recurring UI elements such as navigation bars or footers that appear across multiple screens. By utilizing master components, you maintain consistency across your design and save valuable time.

Overriding Interaction Settings

There are instances where you might need to customize the interaction settings for specific instances of a component. Figma allows you to override the default interactions inherited from the master component, giving you the flexibility to adjust behaviors based on the specific context of an instance. This is particularly useful for cases where a button or link might need to lead to a different screen or perform a unique action in a specific scenario.

Prototype interaction settings in Figma are crucial for creating intuitive and engaging user experiences. This guide covers everything from basic triggers and actions to advanced transitions, helping you build prototypes that mimic real-world user interactions. By mastering these settings, you can elevate your designs, ensuring they are both functional and visually compelling.

2. Non-Navigation Elements

Setting Unique Interactions

For elements that are not part of the global navigation—such as buttons, list items, or custom controls—interactions typically need to be set individually. Each of these elements often has a unique role within the prototype, and their interactions are tailored to the specific function they perform.

This approach requires careful planning to ensure that each user interaction follows the designed flow and that the user experience remains seamless across different scenarios. While this process might be more time-consuming, it allows for greater specificity and control over how each element behaves.

Efficiency Tips

Before diving into prototype interactions, it’s crucial to define which components or design elements should have common interactions. Separately managing these components will streamline your workflow. If a design element hasn’t been converted into a Figma component, it’s recommended to do so first. Converting elements into compone