Overview of Figma Conditional

Imagine a prototype that adapts to user choices in real time, creating a truly interactive experience. That’s the power of conditional logic in Figma. This feature allows designers to set up rules that determine how a prototype behaves based on specific conditions. Whether it shows different screens based on user input or changing elements depending on the state of the design, conditional logic brings a new level of sophistication to Figma prototypes.

Conditional logic in Figma is a game-changer for designers. By enabling the creation of dynamic and interactive prototypes, it significantly enhances the design process. Prototypes closely resemble real applications, facilitating accurate user testing and early identification of issues. Moreover, conditional logic streamlines workflow by reducing the need for multiple static prototypes and ensuring efficient handoff to developers through clear communication of design intent.

Let’s explore the use cases.

Instance 1: Crafting Dynamic Checkbox Dropdowns

Problem Statement

When designing a checkbox dropdown with multiple options, each possible combination of checkbox states requires a separate component. This results in a proliferation of components, which can be cumbersome to manage and update. As the number of checkboxes and options increases, this method becomes increasingly complex and inefficient.

Why use conditional values for checkboxes?:

1. Efficiency: Creating a single, dynamic checkbox dropdown component with conditional variants reduces the need to design and manage numerous static components. This streamlines the design and prototyping process, saving time and effort.

2. Maintainability: Fewer components mean there are fewer elements to update and maintain. Changes to the dropdown’s design or functionality can be applied globally rather than needing to be replicated across multiple components.

3. Consistency: By using conditional logic within a single component, you ensure that the dropdown’s appearance and behavior remain consistent throughout the design. This avoids discrepancies that can arise when manually managing multiple component states.

4. Scalability: As new options or checkboxes are added, a single component with conditional variants can easily accommodate these changes without needing extensive redesign or additional components. This makes it easier to scale your design as requirements evolve.

By leveraging Figma’s conditional variants and Boolean variables, you address these issues, making the prototyping process more efficient, maintainable, and scalable.

Solution

It feels like magic when you first encounter the concept, but Figma truly works wonders. Let’s dive into how you can create a checkbox dropdown using these conditional values.

Let’s break down the process of implementing conditional logic in Figma:

1. Identifying the condition: To begin, it’s crucial to identify the condition and understand the different outcomes it will trigger. In this scenario, our goal was to create a multi-selectable checkbox dropdown.

Conditions:

• If a checkbox is selected, the corresponding option is added to the input field.

• If a checkbox is deselected, the corresponding option is removed from the input field.

• The input field dynamically updates to reflect the selected option.

2. Creating a component: Let’s start building the design. We created components for both checkbox and dropdown options. See the image below.

3. Creating Boolean Variables: Once the components are created it’s time to create Boolean variables and one string variable for input field default text (select Location). There will be three kinds of Boolean variables created:

Dropdown state: Indicates whether the dropdown is open or closed.

Options: Individual options inside the drop down.

Dropdown icon direction: Controls the orientation of the dropdown icon (up or down).

4. Setting up the trigger: After creating Boolean variables, connect them to control content visibility. In the layer panel, right-click the eye icon of the target content and choose the appropriate Boolean variable. As the default is false, the content will be concealed until the variable’s value changes.

5. Connecting the checkboxes: To enable multi-selection and link checkboxes to specific content, connect each checkbox layer to its corresponding Boolean variable. For instance, when the “Carol Stream” checkbox is checked, the associated Boolean should switch to true, displaying “Carol Stream” in the input field. Conversely, an unchecked checkbox corresponds to a false Boolean state, hiding the content. (Refer to the image)

6. The final step: Let’s set the conditional logic. Conditional logic will be set in two places:

1. Input field: Three conditional logic rules will be established. One will determine when to open or close the dropdown menu, while the other two will control the visibility of the up and down arrows based on the dropdown’s state. (Refer to the image)

2. Drop-down options: The most exciting part is setting conditions for each dropdown item. We’ll be implementing three conditions: one for when an option is unchecked, another for when it’s selected, and a third for multiple selections. As shown in the image, we also need to set a condition where if a location is selected, the default placeholder text (“Select Location”) is cleared, leaving it empty, and the selected locations are displayed instead.

Later, we can set the dropdown to “false” in the local variable, and it’s ready to be used in the design.