Layers 101: Get started with layers

You’ll usually create designs from a combination of shapes, text, and other layers. You can arrange your layers and stack them on top of each other, while still being able to edit them independently.

This card for a travel destination is made up of four layers: a city name, the trip's length, a total price, and a photo.

Layer order

The layer order determines how layers overlap in the canvas. Any layers at the top of the layers panel appear above any layers below them in the canvas.

On this destination card, the city name, length, and price layers appear on top of the photo. That's because those layers are above the photo layer in the layers panel.

Layer properties

Every layer will have properties associated with it. A layer's properties give us basic information about the layer, like it X and Y coordinates, or position on the canvas, or its dimensions like width and height.

Other properties control how the layer looks, like what color it is, whether it has a border (called stroke in Figma), or if it has any effects, like a drop shadow or blur.

You'll find most of these properties in the right sidebar. Which properties you can see will depend on the type of layer you have selected.

If we select the price layer, which is a text layer, we can view the position, layout, appearance, typography, and fill properties in the right sidebar.