My pre, Figma checklist before I design a single screen

Designing screens too early feels productive. It is also how teams ship beautiful interfaces for the wrong problem, which is a bit like furnishing a house before confirming the planet it sits on. The frames can wait. The thinking cannot.

Before I open a design tool, I run a short strategy framework that forces clarity: who, job, alternatives, outcome, belief gaps, and the path to a first win. Without those boxes filled, every pixel is a guess wearing typography.

Design-first vs strategy-first

**Bad outdoor product redesign:** jump into moodboards for a PDP before naming the trip or weather job. **Good pattern:** decide the job (all-day comfort when weather changes), the alternative (overpacked layers), and the proof, then design the page around that decision.

**Bad SaaS:** wireframes for every stakeholder request. **Good SaaS:** map the belief gap that blocks signup (risk, time-to-value, switching cost), then design the smallest path that answers it. Related: why I start every project without opening Figma.

The pre-Figma checklist

1. Write ICP in one line: person + situation, not persona poetry.
2. Write the job in their words. Confirm with two interviews if you can.
3. List real alternatives, including do nothing and spreadsheet glue.
4. Define the first-win outcome and the time budget to get there.
5. List belief gaps and the proof or UX that closes each one.
6. Only then open Figma: design the conversion path for that job, nothing else this sprint.

Jobs-to-be-done framing via Harvard Business Review pairs well with this. Related: before you build another feature, ask five questions and how I decide whether a product is worth building.