How To Design A Modern Website FIGMA From Scratch? A Step By Step Guide

Let’s be real for a second. Opening a blank canvas in Figma for the first time can feel a bit like staring into the abyss. Where do you even start? The grids? The colors? That weirdly satisfying pen tool you keep hearing about?

I remember my first attempt. I spent three hours designing the “perfect” header, only to realize I’d forgotten to plan for, you know, the actual content. It was a beautiful, useless masterpiece. If you’ve ever been there, take a deep breath. This guide is for you.

This isn’t just a list of Figma features. This is the exact process I use—and teach—for turning a vague idea into a polished, modern website design, ready for a developer to build. We’ll walk through it together, step-by-step, from absolute zero to a finished design. No prior expertise needed, just a willingness to click around and learn.

Before You Even Open Figma: The “Why” Behind The “What”

Jumping straight into design is like building a house without a blueprint. It might stand, but the walls will probably be crooked. The most crucial phase of any website project happens before the first shape is drawn.

Step 1: Define Your Goal (And Ask The Awkward Questions)

What is this website supposed to do? Is it to sell products (e-commerce)? Generate leads (a service business)? Showcase your portfolio? Every single design decision you make should ladder up to this goal.

• For a portfolio site: The goal is to get you hired. So the design must make your work the undeniable star.
• For a SaaS product: The goal is to explain a complex tool simply and get sign-ups. Clarity is king.
• For a local bakery: The goal is to make mouths water and get people to visit. Imagery and location info are paramount.

Grab a notepad (digital or paper) and write down: “The primary goal of this website is to ______.” Keep this sentence visible the entire time you design.

Step 2: Know Your Audience (Like, Really Know Them)

Who are you designing for? A 60-year-old financial advisor and a 22-year-old graphic designer will interact with a website in wildly different ways.

Create a simple user persona. Give them a name, an age, a job, and most importantly, a core need they have when visiting your site. Are they in a hurry? Are they researching thoroughly? This persona will be your compass.

Step 3: Gather Your Ingredients: Content & Inspiration

You can’t design a frame without knowing the size of the picture. Gather whatever content you have—text, logos, photos, brand colors. If you don’t have final text, use realistic placeholder text (not just “lorem ipsum”). Write the actual headline you want to use.

Next, create an inspiration mood board. Head to sites like Dribbble, Awwwards, or even Pinterest. Don’t copy—analyze. What layouts feel good? What color combinations catch your eye? Save screenshots. This isn’t cheating; it’s research.

Alright, Let’s Open Figma: Setting Up For Success

Now we fire up the tool. If you don’t have a Figma account, go sign up for free—it’s genuinely powerful enough for almost everything we’ll do.

Step 4: Creating Your Figma File & The Sacred Art of Grids

Create a new Design file. First thing’s first: frames. In Figma, a Frame (F) is your artboard/canvas. Don’t just pick a random size.

• For a standard desktop design: Start with a frame width of 1440px. That’s a common, comfortable size.
• Set a layout grid: Click the “+” in the right sidebar under “Layout grid”. Use a “Grid” type with, say, 12 columns and a gutter (the space between columns) of 20-30px. Make it a light grey. This grid is your secret weapon for alignment and consistency.

“A grid is like the invisible scaffolding of your design. It doesn’t limit creativity; it gives your creativity a structure to shine against.”

Step 5: Establishing Your Visual Foundation: Color & Typography

This is where your design starts to get a soul. Don’t pick colors randomly.

1. Color Palette: Choose a primary color (your brand’s main color), a secondary color, and a range of neutrals (whites, light grays, dark grays, black). Use tools like Coolors.co or Adobe Color for help.
   • Accessibility Check: Always check the contrast between your text color and background color. Figma has great plugins for this (like “Stark”). Low contrast text is hard to read for everyone.
2. Typography (Fonts): Choose one font family for headings and one for body text. Often, a bold, clean sans-serif for headings (like Inter, Poppins, Montserrat) and a highly readable sans-serif for body (like Inter, Open Sans) works wonders. Don’t use more than two fonts max.
   • Define Text Styles: This is a Figma superpower. Set up styles for H1, H2, H3, Body, Caption etc., with defined sizes, weights, and colors. Use the Text section in the right sidebar and click the “+” icon. This ensures consistency and lets you change the look site-wide in one click later.

The Fun Part: Designing Page Sections, One Block at a Time

Modern web design is often built in sections. Let’s design a classic, effective layout for a homepage.

Step 6: The Hero Section – Your 5-Second First Impression

This is the top section of your page. Its job is to instantly tell visitors who you are and what you offer. It needs a clear hierarchy.

1. Background: Could be a solid color, a subtle gradient, or a high-quality, non-distracting image with an overlay.
2. Headline (H1): Large, bold, and benefit-driven. “Grow Your Audience” is better than “Social Media Tool.”
3. Sub-headline: A short sentence that elaborates.
4. Call-to-Action (CTA) Button: One primary, eye-catching button (“Start Free Trial”). Maybe a secondary, less prominent link (“Learn More”).
5. Supporting Visual: A relevant illustration, photo, or simple graphic.

How to do it in Figma: Use your grid! Place the text elements within a few columns. Use your Heading and Body text styles. For the button, create a rectangle with Auto Layout (Shift+A)—this magical feature makes buttons (and everything else) resize automatically with their content. Add padding inside it.

Step 7: The “Features” or “How It Works” Section

After the hook, you need to explain your value. A 2-column or 3-column grid works perfectly here.

For each feature:

• A small icon or number.
• A short, bold title.
• A concise description.

Design one feature card beautifully, then use Figma’s Duplicate (Ctrl+D) feature to create the others. Consistency is key.

Step 8: The “Social Proof” Section – Building Trust

People trust other people. This is where you’d add client logos, testimonials, or user stats.

Design a simple, elegant carousel of logo placeholders or a quote card with a name, title, and photo. Keep it clean. Don’t let it compete visually with your main CTAs.

Step 9: The Final Call-To-Action & Footer

Before the footer, have one last clear CTA section, summarizing the offer. “Ready to get started?”

The footer is the utility belt: copyright, important links (Privacy Policy, Terms), maybe social media icons, and a repeat of your primary logo. Use a darker background to visually ground the page.

From Static To Interactive: Adding That “Modern” Feel

Step 10: Creating A Simple Interactive Prototype

Modern websites aren’t just pictures; they’re experiences. Figma’s prototyping tool lets you connect frames to simulate a real site.

1. Duplicate your main frame to create a second page (e.g., a “Pricing” page).
2. Click the “Prototype” tab in the right sidebar.
3. Select your “Pricing” button in the header on the first frame.
4. Drag the little blue circle that appears to the second frame (“Pricing Page”).
5. Choose an interaction (like “On Click” → “Navigate To”). Maybe add a smooth “Smart Animate” transition.

Click the “Play” button in the top-right to test it. Boom! You just made a clickable prototype. It’s not real code, but it feels real, and that’s priceless for feedback and client presentations.

Step 11: Designing For Mobile – It’s Not Optional

Over half of web traffic is on mobile. In Figma, create a new Frame with a width of 375px (iPhone standard). Now, take your desktop design and rearrange it, don’t just shrink it.

• Stack everything vertically (1-column layout).
• Increase tap target sizes (buttons should be at least 44x44px).
• Simplify navigation (think hamburger menu).
• Use a smaller grid (maybe 4 columns).

This process is called creating a breakpoint. A modern designer always thinks in multiple sizes.

Handing Off & Iterating: The Final, Crucial Steps

Step 12: Preparing For Development (The Handoff)

If a developer is going to build this, your job is to make their life easy. Figma is brilliant for this.

• Name Your Layers: Seriously. “Rectangle 47” is a nightmare. Name them “Primary Button,” “Hero Background,” etc.
• Use Auto Layout Everywhere: For buttons, lists, nav bars. It defines spacing and behavior in code.
• Use the Inspect Panel: Developers can click on any element and see exact dimensions, colors, font styles, and even get CSS code snippets. Ensure all your styles are defined properly.
• Add Notes: Use the comment tool (C) to explain anything tricky, like “This animation should bounce” or “This image changes on hover.”

Step 13: Seek Feedback & Iterate Relentlessly

You are not the user. Share your prototype link with friends, colleagues, or even your target audience persona. Ask specific questions: “Was the call-to-action button easy to find?” “What do you think this company does?”

Be prepared to tweak, adjust, and sometimes scrap parts that don’t work. Design is a process, not a one-shot event.

Wrapping Up: You’ve Got This

Look at you. You’ve gone from a blank page to a structured, thoughtful design process. Remember, the first website you design in Figma won’t be perfect—and that’s okay. My first one certainly wasn’t. The goal is to learn the workflow: plan, set up, design in sections, prototype, and adapt.

The real magic of Figma isn’t in the tools, but in how it lets you think through a user’s experience before a single line of code is written. It saves time, money, and a whole lot of headaches.

So, open a new file. Take a deep breath. And start with Step 1: ask yourself, “What is this website for?” Everything else flows from there.

Happy designing! And hey, if you create something you’re proud of, I’d love to see it. That’s the best part of this community—we all start somewhere.