SageSure Figma Plugin

Building an AI Figma plugin for Designers

Role

Design Engineer

Full-stack Engineer

Duration

June 2025

Tool

Cursor, Figma

Skills

UI/UX
User Research
Software Development

Team Members & Roles

Bao To (me)

Design Intern

Rachael Greene

Principal Designer, Design Systems

Ben Bailes

AVP, Design

I worked closely with and reported to Rachael - my manager and principle designer of the Alto Design System, and Ben - the AVP of Design at SageSure.

What this plugin does

Bullet points of features, on hover over point, show video embed appear

Problem & Hypothesis

Why do we need a plugin?

Insert Before and After - 2 flows through 2 videos - one without and one with the plugin —> include count

Design Team is growing
was going to get a content person, but they took it away - business doesnt want support people, they want designers with consumer-facing progress —> design enablement is underresourced team, Rachael handling multiple roles and responsibilities

bullet points of friction —> how much time is spent doing tasks that are necessary

—> How do we scale design team sustainably and allow both designers & the design systems team to do more awesome things?

—> with tools that support the designers

Why Figma plugin?

Lives inside Figma so designers don't have to leave the canvas
Can directly access and make changes to selected layers, metadata, styles, tokens, etc.
Authorization & security handled by Figma - no need for custom auth
No setup for end users - install anytime through plugins platform

Research

asking designers

show make mvp - boilerplate code

talked to design team during crit

attending Quarterly meetings, ask designer questions

identified pain points —> propose potential features —> show feedback loop illustration

Insights

Many designers noted that …..

From the survey (link), we found that the overwhelming majority of respondents viewed journaling as “too much work” and described themselves as “too lazy” to journal consistently. Most saw it as requiring significant active effort—whether curating materials like photos, tickets, and receipts for physical scrapbooks or putting in mental effort to write. Another key insight was that users value multimedia entries.

For those who do not currently journal, it is not a priority in their daily lives. However, most expressed interest in journaling if it were easier and acknowledged its value for self-reflection and memory-keeping. In short, most people want to journal—but the process feels too effortful.

Use Cases & Scenarios

a few cards showcasing image + subtitle of different use cases of this plugin

show INSIGHT: difference between designing tools for UI/UX designers vs design systems designers
==> different tools are needed for different roles within the design team.

Taylor, the Digital Nomad

Profile: Early 30s, frequent traveler.

Needs: An efficient tool for capturing diverse travel experiences on the go.
Capsule Benefit: Seamless multimedia capture and unified travel diaries that compile moments into a coherent narrative.

Casey, the Reflective Family Archivist

Profile: Late 40s, family-oriented.

Needs: A simple, organized way to preserve and relive cherished family memories.
Capsule Benefit: Effortless recording and dynamic recaps that create a cohesive, multimedia family archive.

Sam, the Social Student

Profile: Early 20s college student who values authenticity and spontaneous expression.

Needs: A platform to capture raw moments in diverse formats (photos, voice notes, texts) and share them effortlessly with friends.
Capsule Benefit: Delivers one-tap multimedia entries and engaging recaps, offering a richer, more genuine experience than apps like BeReal.

Riley, the Tech Enthusiast

Profile: Mid-20s, early adopter.

Needs: An innovative, aesthetically pleasing app that blends cutting-edge tech with usability.
Capsule Benefit: Intuitive design, seamless AI integration, and visually engaging recaps that satisfy both form and function.

Design Challenge

Here is the design challenge in one sentence

Another consideration: balancing between ai integration and designer autonomy

Diving Deeper

Competitive Analysis

Insert description on existing products on the market, and a table of comparison, and why this plugin is specific to solving SageSure's painpoint, and be a one-stop shop.

Analysis Takeaways

This analysis reveals that this plugin is positioning itself as a unique blend of …

The Solution

A Figma plugin that

Key features:

Feature 1: asdadads

Feature 2: asdadsada

Feature 3: asdasdadsad

Feature 4: asdasdsdaad

Planning & Process

Architecture

We started off with designing the ……

Insert code embed of interactive model

To embed a website or widget, add it to the properties panel.

Security & Privacy

SageSure info security

—> protect company propertuy

Save key locally

Tech Stack

short description

Images of tech stack

Feature Implementation

Feature 1

What it does, and how its made. insert picture/embed video

Feature 2

What it does, and how its made. insert picture/embed video

Results

Statistics

Adoption metrics, time saved on average per tasks, …

We were judged on several criteria:

Feedback

We asked for feedback from the judges after the designathon. Here are what they said:

Designer #1

This is

Designer #2

aasdasd

Designer #3

asdadad

We took notes of these feedback, and are keeping them in mind while iterating on the design and building the actual working app.

Takeaways

Deep User Empathy: We learned that understanding user behaviors and motivations is essential; even under tight deadlines, focusing on what people genuinely need leads to impactful design decisions.

Simplicity Wins: I discovered that streamlining interactions, like our one-tap entry, can drastically reduce friction and encourage habitual use.

Balanced AI Integration: We realized that when AI is integrated in a subtle, playful way, it can enhance the experience without overwhelming users.

Team Collaboration & Resilience: The designathon further reinforced my appreciation for the collaborative spirit and a willingness to adapt are as important as technical skills in achieving breakthrough results.

Reflection, or "what would i do differently?" —> shows character & humility

For me, a key element in us winning this designathon was our ability to resolve conflicts and communicate. While we ran into some heated discussions due to team members having different view points and varying windows of availability (we were in two different time zones!), everyone was willing to meet and talk through our concerns, effectively resolving our disagreements and preserve our momentum, creating a finish product within a very tight deadline.