Figma and Illustrator often get lumped together, but they’re built for genuinely different jobs.
Vector illustration, logo design, and anything print-bound. Its precision drawing tools and color/print handling are hard to beat for standalone artwork and brand marks.
UI design, prototyping, and anything that needs real-time collaboration or client feedback. Its component system also makes it far better suited to design systems that need to scale.
I usually design logos and illustration in Illustrator, then bring finished assets into Figma when building out a full brand system, website mockup, or anything a client needs to comment on directly.