Case Study: Citrusbyte achieves transparent, real-time collaboration and faster delivery with Figma

Why transparent open design leads to happier clients

Citrusbyte, a 90-person strategy, design and development firm in Los Angeles, wanted to move away from siloed, "black box" design workflows and give clients continuous, in-progress access to work. Traditional tools like Sketch and Photoshop forced exports, emails and Dropbox links that hindered real-time collaboration and clear feedback. To enable open client access from day one, Citrusbyte adopted Figma — using its cloud-based files and Figma Multiplayer to let multiple people work in and view a design simultaneously.

By implementing Figma, Citrusbyte consolidated design, prototyping and developer handoff into one web-based platform (including observation mode), eliminating re-uploads and reducing back-and-forth. The change saved the company about $20k/year on tooling, cut designers’ time by an estimated 30–50%, and halved review cycle time for projects like SundaySky, enabling faster delivery and more client buy-in. Figma also allowed clients such as Rouse Services to access live files directly, improving transparency, trust and project communication.

Citrusbyte

Alex Zapadenko

Design Manager