figma learning curve looks  really long (for the design file/wireframing part)... just diving in and messing around doesn't seem to work very well

Is there a good cheat?

lately I've been finding that the newest generation of apps have a very "quiet UX" style where it's not obvious how to do basic things

Blogger at ribbonfarm.com, running summerofprotocols.com, host of /gloom ☀️

Can I help? I am proficient in Figma and was an applicant for SOP. 

In any case, a good cheat is to know everything is a Frame and they nest in an Outliner form, and each Frame has coordinates relative to the frame it is inside in. 

Pen tool draws vectors and acts like a real pen, where you press Esc to “pick up”