Overview​​​

 

Best Buy Canada’s digital design team supports high-volume production across e-commerce, marketing, and advertising channels. As production demands increased, the team’s Photoshop-based workflow began to create friction around collaboration, version control, and feedback. I led the transition to Figma to improve efficiency, consistency, and cross-team collaboration—while maintaining ongoing production output.

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Problem​

 

While Photoshop worked well for individual tasks, it became increasingly limiting at team scale. Designers worked in isolated files, making real-time collaboration difficult. Version control issues led to duplicated work and rework, while feedback was often shared through screenshots and email, slowing iteration. As output demands increased, these inefficiencies began to impact turnaround time and team velocity.

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My Role​

 

As a Product / Digital Designer, I helped lead the transition from Photoshop to Figma. My role included identifying workflow pain points, defining new collaborative design processes, creating shared file structures and standards, and supporting team onboarding and adoption.

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Constraints​​

 

The transition needed to happen alongside ongoing production work, with no opportunity for downtime. Designers had varying levels of comfort adopting new tools, and existing workflows were deeply tied to Photoshop. Maintaining quality and speed throughout the transition was critical, which required a careful, incremental approach.

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Strategy & Process

 

I began by reviewing how the team created, shared, and revised design files to understand where friction occurred. The most significant issues were versioning, fragmented feedback, and limited visibility into work in progress. Rather than positioning Figma as a replacement tool, I framed it as a solution to these specific problems.

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To reduce risk, I introduced Figma gradually. I set up a shared team space with clear project organization and established file, page, and naming conventions. Early projects were chosen intentionally to allow designers to adopt the tool without disrupting critical production work.

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Adoption focused on enablement rather than enforcement. I created lightweight documentation for common workflows, walked designers through relevant Figma features tied to their daily tasks, and provided ongoing support during live projects. This approach helped designers see immediate benefits and encouraged organic adoption.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​