Innovation Playground
Sprint Week Theme Builder
COLLABORATORS & PROJECT PEERS: Engineering and a UX colleague
CRM
Rapid Innovation: How Sprint Week Launched Our Theme Studio
COLLABORATORS & PROJECT PEERS: Product Management, Engineering, UX Team Leads
& Executive Stakeholders
Company
SugarCRM
Role
Senior Visual Designer
Collaborators
Engineering and
a UX
Timeline
1 week
From Concept
to Code:
Building a Product in One Week
Okay, so maybe a bit longer than a week. Initially, I planned this as part of the SugarCRM platform’s modernization, but that project’s scope shifted its priority. However, I took advantage of our annual Sprint Week—an intense, week-long hackathon focused on brainstorming, prototyping, and collaboration. Working with a small group of engineers and a UX colleague, we rapidly iterated to develop a viable solution, leveraging creativity and teamwork under tight deadlines.
Prototype to Possibility: Pitching the Theme Builder Vision
I developed a Figma prototype of a Theme Builder concept for the Sugar Modernization project. Sprint Week seemed like a great opportunity to explore turning it into a fully coded product. I then updated that prototype and shared it with the engineers to gauge their interest in taking on the project.
Screen recording showcasing the final coded Theme Builder, complete with some imperfections.
Theme Studio 1.0: Built Fast, Built to Win
The engineers hit the ground running, and I managed the project from start to finish, coordinating with teams from Bucharest 🇷🇴 to Seattle ☔️. They did an incredible job, even implementing an AI text-to-image generator and an improved location of the light/dark mode toggle I proposed after reviewing user data. I presented the demo at Sprint Week—and we won!
Progress Over Perfection: Sprint Week’s Winning Formula
Sprint Week's Hackathon sparks fresh ideas, speeds development, and unites colleagues. It’s a great way to get creative, test out new features, and break through silos—all while having fun and boosting team spirit.
First, just make it exist.
You can make it good later.
— John Coulter
Supercharging Theme Studio
with AI
The engineering team also successfully implemented my idea for a text-to-image generator and even added a hotkey for toggling transparency, allowing better visibility of the background.
