This article is for people who already has set their minds to teaching themselves Framer but don’t know where to start. Like myself.
Spoiler alert ? After reading this article you may experience something called joy or euphoria. You may also feel hopefully happy and {calmer}. I apologize beforehand.
Why Framer?
You know I love Sketch and have been using it for years. But I’m a creative and a very curious guy and I want to teach myself all great tools out there. Here’s a couple of bullets of what makes me want to teach myself Framer:
- All those sweet auto-layout features are freaking brilliant and would save me tons of time
- Copy+paste Sketch design assets seems to work really well
- Just like Sketch, Framer has a very healthy community of makers creating awesome things that expands the app
- Really advanced prototypes with real data right inside of Framer with freaking brilliant animation engine
- The vector tool seems awesome
- Framer X is lurking in the horizon, if I teach myself this now what can I do in the future?
Let’s begin
Ah Framer. That elusive super powered design and prototyping tool that’s so highly praised among product designers, UX designers and anything else that ends with designer.
Over the years I have watched in envy at those of our breed that already made the leap into the future. I say future because after just watching a couple of minutes of tutorials my jaw dropped down to the floor. Framer does things really really clever as I listed above.
I confess, I’m afraid of Framer! More even before they introduced the Design tab. You know the Code part. Where you need to enter commands by hand. You may think out loud in your head right now “I’m used to drawing rectangles and choosing fonts, this is too much for me man.” ?
But fear not dear reader I have now come to realize that this construct is only in our heads.
Now do a silent mind scream: I WILL LEARN FRAMER ! (And I will gladly convince my manager to buy me a license. Yes. Managers — we can’t live without them and we can’t kill them. Actually my manager is awesome! (Totally derailed there sorry about that let’s get back in focus).
So I’m sharing my insights in this article and hope this guide will help you (and myself actually). First let’s analyze a bit. Important these observations may not even apply to yourself, this is the way I see it.
Obstacles to get started with Framer
Pricing
You only get to use the app for free for a total 24 hours over a 14 day period, after that it will cost you a banging 144 USD per year for a single user license. That’s quite some money for a tool you may not be using that much if you already are using (for example) Sketch as your main go-to design tool. So you need some strategy how to use this trial period to the max.
Solution
Step 1
Plan your free trial period, set away time for watching tutorials first and trying them out in Framer later. Feed your brain. For example I watched all of Pablo Stanleys Framer Crasch Course before even downloading Framer. When learning complex software I have noticed that the more I get familiar with it watching other people use it, the easier it gets when I myself jump in. And it also helps that Pablo is a total genius when it comes to teaching.
Possible outcome
It may be that after learning Framer it will replace both Sketch and whatever prototype tool you use today. Then it will actually save you money ??
Finding the time to learn new software
Ah time. That strange and fickle beast. (Quoting Katarina from 12 Monkeys, excellent show btw!)
How to make time?
- Use slow weeks or fridays for learning Framer.
- Learn with coworkers! It’s actually much more fun than sitting there on your own, you can help each other out with more complex stuff. Read this article, I found great tips in it.
- If you’re freelancing and don’t have natural coworkers make sure to try to find a Meetup group in your area. Or online if you don’t have that luxury.
That’s all I have for now, cheers!
