Figma is still the centre of most product and brand UI work. AI did not replace it — it stuck plugins and side-agents onto it. The win is a boring workflow you repeat, not twenty half-installed plugins.
A stack that stays out of the way
- Native Figma AI / rename & content helpers — kill placeholder busywork in wireframes.
- Icon and illustration libraries you already license — do not regenerate icons you can place in two clicks.
- A chat model (Claude or ChatGPT) for user-flow outlines and microcopy drafts pasted into the file.
- An image model for throwaway mood frames — never as the final brand asset without a system.
- Mobbin or Dribbble open beside Figma — structure from Mobbin, polish cues from Dribbble.
A weekly ritual that compounds
Monday: outline flows in chat, drop frames in Figma. Mid-week: pull 3 real-app references from Mobbin for the sticky screens. Friday: generate only the missing visual variants, then lock components. Clients feel the consistency; you feel the hours back.
Plugins should disappear into the file. If you are demoing the plugin, it is not saving time yet.
