Sympli — Designing for Designers

In 2017, I joined Sympli, a design tooling company used by tens of thousands of designers and developers worldwide. My mission was to help build a new product — a version control system for Sketch files, later called Sympli Versions — while also maintaining the company's existing ecosystem of plugins and integrations.

Sympli's users weren't casual designers. They were enterprise teams working across Sketch, Photoshop, Xcode, and Android Studio. Their expectations were high: they wanted tools that integrated seamlessly into their workflows, reduced churn, and scaled with their teams.

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Context

Sympli's ecosystem already supported handoff from design to development. But one pain point remained unsolved: version control.

Design teams hacked together their own solutions using Dropbox, Git, or endless file suffixes (final-final-v2.sketch). Enterprise clients in particular were demanding a real versioning tool for design files, something developers had enjoyed for decades.

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The problem

We faced three critical challenges. There was no proper version control for design files, which led to lost work and messy file management. We also faced high churn risk because enterprise clients expected serious collaboration tools. Additionally, we had scaling challenges: Sympli needed to grow beyond handoff and expand into the design ops space.

The business goal was clear: build a tool that would broaden our user base, reduce churn, and open new revenue streams with enterprise teams.

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My role

I was the sole designer in a highly technical team. My responsibilities included:

— Designing Sympli Versions from concept to launch.
— Creating user flows, wireframes, and high-fidelity prototypes.
— Running over 20 user interviews with design teams to validate concepts.
— Writing interface copy and building marketing materials.
— Maintaining the design of existing Sympli products (handoff plugins, web app, integrations).
— Acting as art director, copywriter, and even illustrator when needed.

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Process

Discovery

We validated early that designers desperately needed version control, but existing tools (like Git) weren't user-friendly enough. Interviews revealed pain points: lost work, confusion over file states, and friction in collaborating with developers.

Ideation

Working with engineers, I explored how native OS features like Finder daemons could support version snapshots. We iterated rapidly, focusing on flows that felt natural to designers.

Testing

Over 20 interviews with design teams shaped the product. Beta users tested prototypes and early builds, giving us feedback on usability, terminology, and performance.

Delivery

In 6–7 months, we launched the beta of Sympli Versions for macOS. At the same time, I:

— Designed and shipped a new Adobe XD plugin.
— Updated Sympli's main plugin for Sketch with new prototype handoff features.

— Built live Jira/Confluence embeds to strengthen enterprise adoption.

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Results

— Sympli Versions launched in ~6 months, with 100+ beta users onboarded.
— Churn reduced by ~12% across Sympli Handoff, thanks to UX improvements and clearer onboarding.
— Enterprise appeal strengthened: live embeds for Jira/Confluence integrated Sympli into client workflows.
— Marketing impact: redesigned sympli.io, created newsletters, blog assets, and announcements, reducing support overhead.

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Challenges & tradeoffs

— Resource constraints: as the only designer, I had to balance product, marketing, and design ops simultaneously.
— Legacy assets: much of Sympli's design library was outdated or poorly maintained. Rebuilding it from scratch was time-intensive but essential.
— Education: explaining version control concepts to designers (without overwhelming them) required careful UX and clear copy.

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Learnings

— A good interface is 80% copy. Clear terminology made version control accessible to designers.
— Enterprise demands drive growth. Jira and XD integrations weren't just features — they were entry points into new client bases.
— Small teams can punch above their weight. By collaborating tightly with engineers, we shipped a complex product in under 7 months.

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Closing thoughts

Designing for designers is both rewarding and humbling. Expectations are high, scrutiny is constant, and shortcuts are spotted instantly.

With Sympli Versions, we proved that a small team could solve a problem that had frustrated design teams for years — and do it in a way that combined usability, technical innovation, and business impact.

For me personally, it was also a crash course in wearing many hats: from UX strategist to marketing designer to copywriter. And it reinforced a belief I carry to this day: design is most powerful when it bridges craft and business impact.