Figma for non-designers: How marketers can use it for email

Figma has a reputation for being a designer's tool. And yeah, if you want to build a design system from scratch or create custom components with complex auto-layout logic, that's probably true.

But a lot of what marketers need to do in Figma? Copy text, swap images, adjust colors, review layouts, leave feedback, understand what they're looking at? That's completely accessible without any design background. You just need to know where to look.

This post is for the marketers, lifecycle managers, and email strategists who are handed a Figma link and expected to do something with it.

Why Figma matters for your email workflow

Figma is where email designs live before they get built. It's the source of truth for layout, copy, imagery, and brand decisions. If you don't know how to navigate it, you're either dependent on a designer to answer basic questions or you're giving feedback on something you can't actually see properly.

Getting comfortable in Figma even at a basic level puts you in a better position to give useful feedback, catch issues early, and move campaigns through review faster. And for teams building email at scale, speed through the design review stage matters a lot. It connects directly to the kind of time-saving automations and processes that lifecycle teams run on.

The basics: navigating Figma as a viewer

When a designer shares a Figma link with you, you're usually dropped into View mode. Here's what you can do without touching anything:

• Pan and zoom: Hold Space + click and drag to pan. Use Ctrl/Cmd + scroll to zoom.

• Click on frames: Click any element to see its name in the left panel and its properties in the right panel.

• Copy text: Click a text layer, then double-click to enter the text. You can select and copy it even in view mode.

• Inspect mode: Switch to the Inspect tab in the right panel to see exact font sizes, colors, and spacing  -  useful if you're briefing a developer.

• Leave comments: Press C to enter comment mode, click anywhere on the design, and type your feedback. Tag teammates with @.
  
  

None of that requires design skills. It requires clicking. If you want to go deeper, Figma's own learn hub has short, beginner-friendly tutorials that don't assume any design background.

What marketers actually use Figma for

Reviewing email designs before they go to development

This is the big one. Your designer has built the email in Figma before it gets coded into your ESP. This is your chance to catch copy errors, flag brand inconsistencies, and make sure the layout tells the right story before any code is written.

Use comments instead of Slack messages or email threads. Comments in Figma stay attached to specific elements, which means your designer can see exactly what you're referring to without trying to decode "the thing in the middle section."

Updating copy in template files

If your team has set up Figma email templates which, if they haven't, they should you can often update the copy directly in the file without touching any design elements. Click the text layer, double-click to edit, type your changes.

Important caveat: don't rearrange layers, resize elements, or change anything structural without checking with your designer first. Figma's auto-layout means that moving one thing can cascade in unexpected ways.

Checking designs on mobile

Most Figma files include mobile frames alongside desktop. Switch to the mobile frame and check that the email is readable, that CTAs are tap-friendly, and that the hierarchy still makes sense at a smaller size. If there's no mobile frame and you're sending to a mobile-heavy list, flag it.

The AI shortcut: Figma Make for quick variations

One of the more recent additions to Figma is Figma Make, which lets you generate and iterate on designs using plain language prompts. For non-designers, this is genuinely useful for exploring rough layout ideas or creating quick concept mockups to discuss with your design team.

It's not a replacement for a designer especially for anything that needs to be on-brand or production-ready. But for thinking through a new section layout or visualizing a concept you're struggling to describe, it's a useful starting point. We explored this in more depth in our post on how Figma and Claude are changing design workflows.

Things not to do in Figma (as a non-designer)

• Don't reorganize layers or rename components without asking layer structure often has logic that isn't visible from the outside

• Don't delete frames or assets even if something looks like a duplicate, it might be a state or variant your designer is using

• Don't make design changes directly without designer review copy edits are usually fine, but anything structural should go through the designer first

• Don't ignore Figma and give feedback via email the whole point of the file is to be the shared reference; use it

Building a better feedback culture

The best Figma experiences I've seen on email teams are ones where marketers know how to look at a file, leave specific feedback, and trust the designer to make the calls. That collaborative dynamic where everyone knows what they're responsible for  -  is the difference between a smooth review cycle and a messy one. Designing for skimmability and making good design decisions both depend on having that kind of feedback loop working well.

You don't need to become a Figma power user to get value out of it. You just need to know enough to navigate, comment, and review with confidence. That alone will make you a better collaborator and help your email program move faster.

If your team wants to set up Figma email templates that non-designers can actually use, or build a design system that scales across your lifecycle program, Scalero can help.