FIGBUILD · WINTER 2026
Sensora
Bringing sound and sight together for a more comfortable sensory experience.
speculative tech
agentic design
ar / wearables
ux / ui design
Role
Researcher, product designer
Team
2-person team
Timeline
4-day design-a-thon (Mar 6-9 ’26)
Scope
Figma: FigJam, Make, Design
01 / OVERVIEW
A little out of our element, in the best way.
Sensora is a speculative assistive technology that translates environmental sounds into visual adjustments through AR smart glasses.
Designed for FigBuild 2026, it explores how our senses could work together to make everyday environments more comfortable and accessible.
02 / THE CHALLENGE
Four days, two designers, and a sixth sense.
For FigBuild 2026, my friend Shivala and I tackled a rather unusual design prompt: create a tool that could detect, measure, or manipulate an aspect of human sensory experience.
As if the timeframe crunch wasn’t enough of a challenge, we were also balancing full-time internships and extracurricular commitments. Finding time to work together meant plenty of late-night calls, shared FigJam sessions, and squeezing in progress wherever our schedules aligned.
With no existing product or problem to work from, we had to figure out what to design, who it could help, and how to bring the idea to life, all before the deadline.
03 / IDEATION
Throwing ideas at the wall (a.k.a. FigJam)
We started by laying out concepts a FigJam board, exploring how wearable technology could change the way people experience their surroundings.
One direction focused on making colours easier to distinguish for people with colour vision deficiencies. Another explored how smart glasses could soften overwhelming visual environments using information captured by their microphones. Both ideas shared an interesting connection: they used one sensory input to influence another.
With the clock ticking, that shared connection became our direction.
04 / RESEARCH
Turns out, our senses don’t work alone.
Our research introduced us to cross-modal perception, which revealed that context, lighting, and even auditory information can influence visual experiences.
That led us to a question: What if environmental sound could help people adjust what they see?
From there, we developed a simple concept: environmental sounds are detected and interpreted, then used to inform adjustments to colour, brightness, and contrast.
05 / DEFINING THE EXPERIENCE
Different people, different definitions of comfort.
As we narrowed our direction, we kept coming back to two very different needs. Someone with a colour vision deficiency might benefit from greater contrast and richer colours. Someone experiencing sensory overstimulation might want the exact opposite.
Rather than choose between them, we designed Sensora around two complementary modes.
06 / VIBE-DESIGNING
Diving headfirst without time to overthink.
Once we had a direction, it was time to turn our ideas into something interactive.
This was my first time working with Figma Make, and I was really surprised by what it could produce. I still remember working with the beta AI features in Adobe Express during my 2nd year of university, when six-fingered hands and distorted faces made LLMs feel more like a novelty than a real creation tool.
During Figbuild, working with Make felt like a glimpse of how much had changed.
Of course, it wasn't a matter of typing a prompt and calling it a day. We still had to provide detailed design directions, from hex codes and visual tone to the interface structure and interactions. But the reliability of Make’s results allowed us to move from ideas to prototype at an accelerated pace.
07 / FINAL PRODUCT
A new way of seeing, closer in sight.
And finally...here she is: Sensora! After plenty of brainstorming, experimenting, and late-night calls, our idea finally took shape.
Our interactive prototype brings together personalized sensory controls, adaptive visual modes, and a calm, aurora-inspired interface. It's a small glimpse into how technology might one day make sensory experiences more comfortable and accessible.
07 / LOOKING BACK
Big ideas don’t always need big timelines.
As the deadline crept closer, our late-night calls became increasingly frantic. There was still so much we wanted to refine, but only so much time left to do it.
More than anything, Sensora taught me how to prioritize what matters, make decisions without overthinking, and get comfortable with leaving some things imperfect. It was also a reminder of how much two people (and a few late-night coffees) can accomplish with a shared vision.
When one sense speaks,
another learns to listen.