On April 9, 2024, we marked a significant milestone with the launch of Penpot 2.0. This release stands as a monumental shift in Penpot’s journey since our initial release (1.1.0-alpha, January 2021). The update brings forth substantial changes across key areas: feature parity, differentiation, community focus, and overall quality enhancement. Just in case you’re interested, we’ve talked before about our product focus areas.
Isn’t it a beauty?
The introduction of Penpot’s new component system, alongside innovations like Grid Layout and a revamped UI, underscores our commitment to delivering a cutting-edge design platform. These advancements, complemented by HTML generation, performance enhancements, and tons of other improvements, signal a leap in Penpot’s maturity, aimed at enhancing user experiences for both designers and developers.
The launch itself was meticulously planned, considering the delicate migration process from the previous component system to the new one. Despite unforeseen challenges and a longer-than-anticipated service interruption, Penpot 2.0 emerged as a reality, thanks to the dedication of our team and community support.
In the aftermath, we swiftly addressed expected and unexpected bugs, welcoming a plethora of feedback from our users. While there were inevitable “one thing missing” requests, overall, the response from our community has been overwhelmingly positive, a testament to our collective efforts.
As we delve into post-launch metrics, early indicators suggest promising outcomes, though it’s premature to draw definitive conclusions. Behind this huge update lies months of monumental effort and collaboration. The groundwork for Penpot 2.0 dates back to extensive research and epic endeavors initiated in early 2022.
Looking ahead, while we reflect on lessons learned and areas for improvement, we’re not embarking on an entirely fresh start. Existing initiatives, such as plugin framework development (which by the way, is at a fairly advanced stage) and integration tests, continue alongside new endeavors like growth cycles and the definition of components states/variants.
Congratulations to everyone involved in the Penpot team achieving this significant milestone, as well as the Community warm backup that we’ve always felt so close to. As we forge ahead, let’s remain focused on our shared goals and continued innovation.
We’ll see you in the next chapter of our journey.
