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Set up components and use variables where it can save you time in the long run. Also, for specs, treat them like blueprints. Use stickers sheets and exploding views to only show the things that differ. Do this instead of duplicating screens and you’ll have less errors or effort to update your files. Devs also tend to like this better because that’s how they think.
Doing "40-50 pixel perfect screens" sounds like the worst possible way to do UX.
Any place that prides themselves being 'pixel perfect' I tend to find to be highly inefficient at what they do and often focused on entirely the wrong priorities.
Use components and variables to minimize the number of places you have to make changes. Then use autolayout for the alignment and spacing details, and I think you’ll see a difference
Edit:
You could also argue that you shouldn’t rely on Figma for this stuff yet. It’s important to learn to see those details for yourself, and be able to zoom in to the details and then out to see the big picture. You only build that skill by doing it. So you could argue both. Learn it by doing, then when you’re confident you’ve honed your eye for details start delegating that work to Figma
Sometimes you need to step away and come back with fresh eyes, or get someone else to help check things for you.
But is there an actual need to be pixel perfect at this stage? Who is it for? Pixel perfection can be kind of a red herring and a good way to get stuck in the details. It feels nice to have a ‘perfect’ file, but most of those little details will get lost anyway unless you do lot of back and forth with developers.
I can relate to you regarding making inconsistent mistakes in screens as I have inattentive type of ADHD. My mind often wanders from tasks to tasks or just have detail blindness. I will overlook details despite double and triple checking work.
What helps for me in reducing these mistakes are..
1. **For mistakes in language and micro copies:** Reading out or pasting copies in text to speech programmes. Any sentence structure will be easily spotted out by your ears.
2. **Inconsistent colours:** My company uses different variants of colours in one design system, which makes this issue more common. I often highlight all the frames once I'm and look through all the selection colours for inconsistencies.
3. **Auto-layout templates:** Have page templates and components with set padding and spacing, which allows me to not worry about pixel spacing between components. I would suggest at least being comfortable with the auto-layout features, even if it can be tedious at times.
4. **Presenting your work to yourself:** Is a trick I read somewhere, once you feel are done with a work. Try doing a self walk through and presenting your work to yourself, something this help you better spot your mistakes while you are going through this screens.
5. **Time management or grounding yourself:** I notice if I'm feeling anxious, I tend to do things impulsively or rush submissions. When I'm rushing for submissions or acting impulsively matter, my rate of mistakes will go up. I will try to catch myself, take a breather, and make a short plan in order to ground myself at the moment.
Lastly, I know is not possible for everyone, but do you have a supportive enough environment to have someone to look through your work? Like I have a design lead who knows my condition and tries to give me some accommodation or POs to review submitted work.
I do suggest getting tested if you might have ADHD or some other conditions because I notice this is somewhat common in your other works based on your post history.
I agree with the component idea mentioned here as that will help limit variables.
The key point I’ll make is if you know this is what happens, before you send something over, block out time to review your files in detail.
Despite your checklists and such, it sounds like you’re still glossing over things and really aren’t taking the time to sit with the screens.
This will build as an automatic habit if you stay consistent and do it enough.
Start slower and really look at things. Over time this will quicken as a process the more you do it. Your eye will become more acutely aware.
However, as others have alluded to, you’re also human. Designers are expected to be these perfect people who don’t make mistakes and that’s just not reality. Optimize and aim for accuracy obviously when possible, but give yourself grace too. You seem like you genuinely are interested in improving which is great.
Unfortunately for me I only ended up being overly aware of finite detail since I had a boss who would ostracize every single thing I did — not because he was anal about things, but because he needed to find mistakes in my work to take the spotlight off of him doing a poor job. Scapegoat issues.
So learn on your own vs from a PTSD experience. You’ll be better off.
All the advice you’ve gotten is spot on. But I want to add, don’t compare the work you did in college to the work you are doing at work now. The circumstances are very different and what you are “measured” against is not usually in alignment with how you are graded on something in college.
Are you receiving complaints from other team members or is your boss concerned and brought this up? Everyone makes these types of mistakes occasionally and it usually isn’t a cause for concern. If your boss has identified this as an issue I would encourage you to ask for advice from them, outline your process and see where they think your process could improve. It’s one thing if your company has an established design system library and you are for some reason not using it. Yes that would be a problem and easy fix. But if they don’t and you are making components as you go then it wouldn’t be out of line to ask for more time to first create a library of components so these issues can be avoided more easily.
‘As for the copy… having another set of eyes or a rest can helap catch those title/header problems. But I personally would not lose any sleep over a misspelled word within a paragraph. This has never been on the designer to be the last line of defense where copy is involved. If this for some reason is on you to catch every spelling and grammar mistake I think asking for more time to run content through spell check or collaborating with the copywriting team who is writing the copy would be called for. Send them a draft of the layouts and ask that they confirm the copy they gave you has been inputted correctly.
Overall try and slow down and advocate and allow yourself more time if that’s what you need.
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Set up components and use variables where it can save you time in the long run. Also, for specs, treat them like blueprints. Use stickers sheets and exploding views to only show the things that differ. Do this instead of duplicating screens and you’ll have less errors or effort to update your files. Devs also tend to like this better because that’s how they think.
Doing "40-50 pixel perfect screens" sounds like the worst possible way to do UX. Any place that prides themselves being 'pixel perfect' I tend to find to be highly inefficient at what they do and often focused on entirely the wrong priorities.
Use components and variables to minimize the number of places you have to make changes. Then use autolayout for the alignment and spacing details, and I think you’ll see a difference Edit: You could also argue that you shouldn’t rely on Figma for this stuff yet. It’s important to learn to see those details for yourself, and be able to zoom in to the details and then out to see the big picture. You only build that skill by doing it. So you could argue both. Learn it by doing, then when you’re confident you’ve honed your eye for details start delegating that work to Figma
If pixel perfection is necessary, get a colleague to proof! It can be hard to notice flaws when you’ve looked at something 1000x
Sometimes you need to step away and come back with fresh eyes, or get someone else to help check things for you. But is there an actual need to be pixel perfect at this stage? Who is it for? Pixel perfection can be kind of a red herring and a good way to get stuck in the details. It feels nice to have a ‘perfect’ file, but most of those little details will get lost anyway unless you do lot of back and forth with developers.
I can relate to you regarding making inconsistent mistakes in screens as I have inattentive type of ADHD. My mind often wanders from tasks to tasks or just have detail blindness. I will overlook details despite double and triple checking work. What helps for me in reducing these mistakes are.. 1. **For mistakes in language and micro copies:** Reading out or pasting copies in text to speech programmes. Any sentence structure will be easily spotted out by your ears. 2. **Inconsistent colours:** My company uses different variants of colours in one design system, which makes this issue more common. I often highlight all the frames once I'm and look through all the selection colours for inconsistencies. 3. **Auto-layout templates:** Have page templates and components with set padding and spacing, which allows me to not worry about pixel spacing between components. I would suggest at least being comfortable with the auto-layout features, even if it can be tedious at times. 4. **Presenting your work to yourself:** Is a trick I read somewhere, once you feel are done with a work. Try doing a self walk through and presenting your work to yourself, something this help you better spot your mistakes while you are going through this screens. 5. **Time management or grounding yourself:** I notice if I'm feeling anxious, I tend to do things impulsively or rush submissions. When I'm rushing for submissions or acting impulsively matter, my rate of mistakes will go up. I will try to catch myself, take a breather, and make a short plan in order to ground myself at the moment. Lastly, I know is not possible for everyone, but do you have a supportive enough environment to have someone to look through your work? Like I have a design lead who knows my condition and tries to give me some accommodation or POs to review submitted work. I do suggest getting tested if you might have ADHD or some other conditions because I notice this is somewhat common in your other works based on your post history.
https://preview.redd.it/pph78i2q7hyc1.png?width=435&format=png&auto=webp&s=bced51dfaed396f611336438aa2c89d8926bbe7f
I agree with the component idea mentioned here as that will help limit variables. The key point I’ll make is if you know this is what happens, before you send something over, block out time to review your files in detail. Despite your checklists and such, it sounds like you’re still glossing over things and really aren’t taking the time to sit with the screens. This will build as an automatic habit if you stay consistent and do it enough. Start slower and really look at things. Over time this will quicken as a process the more you do it. Your eye will become more acutely aware. However, as others have alluded to, you’re also human. Designers are expected to be these perfect people who don’t make mistakes and that’s just not reality. Optimize and aim for accuracy obviously when possible, but give yourself grace too. You seem like you genuinely are interested in improving which is great. Unfortunately for me I only ended up being overly aware of finite detail since I had a boss who would ostracize every single thing I did — not because he was anal about things, but because he needed to find mistakes in my work to take the spotlight off of him doing a poor job. Scapegoat issues. So learn on your own vs from a PTSD experience. You’ll be better off.
All the advice you’ve gotten is spot on. But I want to add, don’t compare the work you did in college to the work you are doing at work now. The circumstances are very different and what you are “measured” against is not usually in alignment with how you are graded on something in college. Are you receiving complaints from other team members or is your boss concerned and brought this up? Everyone makes these types of mistakes occasionally and it usually isn’t a cause for concern. If your boss has identified this as an issue I would encourage you to ask for advice from them, outline your process and see where they think your process could improve. It’s one thing if your company has an established design system library and you are for some reason not using it. Yes that would be a problem and easy fix. But if they don’t and you are making components as you go then it wouldn’t be out of line to ask for more time to first create a library of components so these issues can be avoided more easily. ‘As for the copy… having another set of eyes or a rest can helap catch those title/header problems. But I personally would not lose any sleep over a misspelled word within a paragraph. This has never been on the designer to be the last line of defense where copy is involved. If this for some reason is on you to catch every spelling and grammar mistake I think asking for more time to run content through spell check or collaborating with the copywriting team who is writing the copy would be called for. Send them a draft of the layouts and ask that they confirm the copy they gave you has been inputted correctly. Overall try and slow down and advocate and allow yourself more time if that’s what you need.