Weekend Figma laundry: How startup designers keep their files interview-ready (+ talk recording & templates)
Insights from CoCreate Cohort 20 Alumni at MyWorkerAI and ion.design
For most people, weekends are for laundry. For ambitious designers, weekends are the perfect time to clean up messy visual assets and iterations in Figma before your next design walkthrough or critical presentation.
Last Thursday, we hosted an insightful AMA with CoCreate Cohort 20 alumni Santiago and Esther - design leads at MyWorkerAI and ion.design. They pulled back the curtain on their Figma files, sharing the exact organizational strategies that helped them excel in high-functioning startup environments and accelerate their careers.
6 Organization hacks from cracked startups
1. Structure files by design process stages
Create separate files for research, ideation, wireframing, and high-fidelity designs. This prevents version confusion and helps stakeholders understand your design thinking.
If your product is more complicated, you can even break out different features/flows into different pages
2. Develop a visual thumbnail system
Thumbnails keep things recognizable and coherent. Create consistent thumbnail previews that instantly communicate what each frame contains. This visual hierarchy saves countless hours during design reviews where you don’t have to gaze at long file names.
3. Master using sections
Use Figma's section feature to create clear boundaries between different features, user flows, or project phases. Think of sections as chapters in your design story.
4. Leverage smart naming conventions
Utilize Figma's bulk renaming feature (Ctrl/CMD + R) to maintain consistent layer names. Adopt naming conventions that make sense to your entire team, not just you.
For a user-flow-driven naming convention, you can use “>” to indicate nested click (thinking breadcrumb UI). For example: “Homepage > Profile > Settings”
5. Optimize Your Left Panel Navigation
Use Figma's pages feature strategically to sort layers and components logically. Treat your file structure like a well-organized directory. Sprinkle in some icons will also help with quick reference.
6. Think Like a Community Manager
Just as Discord admins maintain organized servers, approach your Figma files with the same administrative mindset. Every element should have a clear purpose and place to allow for easy access by other community members.
When to Delete vs. Archive
A hot take from our alumni panel: Don't keep every single iteration.
You explored and iterated for a reason: those early concepts served their purpose but rarely need permanent residence in your active files. The digital clutter creates unnecessary cognitive load when you're trying to focus on current work and also eat up your files’ loading speed.
Tip: Take screenshots of important iterations for your portfolio or case studies, then delete the original frames. Your future self (and teammates) will thank you.
Ready to Level Up Your Design Career?
Santiago and Esther didn't develop these professional habits overnight. They learned them during their transformative experience in CoCreate's intensive internship program, where they gained real startup experience under expert mentorship.
CoCreate Cohort 21 is now accepting applications for our 10-week advanced internship program designed specifically for designers who need real work experience and guided mentorship, starting late September. Here, you will:
Learn from instructors who are UX designers from big tech
Gain cross functional teamwork experience
Come away with an interview ready portfolio project
Apply for CoCreate Cohort 21 ASAP, we sold out last summer → https://www.cocreate.careers/post/apply-to-cohort-20---land-your-dream-job
Don't let another cohort pass you by. The difference between organized, career-ready designers and those still struggling with professional basics often comes down to the right mentorship and real-world experience.
Happy digital cleaning! 🧹✨
Upcoming events
Thu Sep 4, 6 pm pacific Navigating feedbacks and pivots as product design team at VC-backed startups https://luma.com/ch20-insight4
IRL San Francisco Mon Oct 6, Big Design Energy (design demo day): https://luma.com/design-demo
Resources
Report: The 2025 Impact of Social Media Marketing by Sprout Social, free download (for business owners and anyone interested in marketing!!)
Quick survey + LinkedIn premium giveaway: Would you get a credit card if it gave you free Adobe Creative Cloud? We are selecting random winners for 2 months of free linkedin premium! Please fill out this survey before Sep 5 https://forms.gle/fWzvyddCxBC5VxAj6
Sharing a founding designer role here! all info:
https://superflexteam.notion.site/Founding-Designer-Wonder-23464cd88e458076a81ac6636f0f24be if you'd like a direct referral, please email me grace@designbuddies.community with your resume and portfolio
Talk recording: How Apple builds products
Apply for CoCreate Cohort 21 ASAP, we sold out last summer → https://www.cocreate.careers/post/apply-to-cohort-20---land-your-dream-job
🐰 About CoCreate (Design Buddies/UXGO - we’re the same team)
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