In my current role, I've moved from doing design work myself to leading the design team. I focus on empowering them by providing clear direction while giving them space to be creative. I still get to keep my hands dirty a bit with some design tasks, but my main focus now is on the team.

My Role

  • As the lead of the design team, I presented several times to inform and raise awareness.
  • I was also responsible for creating guidelines and content to be shared, empowering other team members to do the same.

    • Results

  • Established critique channels and meetings for designers from various squads to share their work with the rest of the team.
  • Led the company to recognize the value of the design system, resulting in one fully dedicated day per week for it.
  • Maintained a high retention rate within the team of 14, with team members staying for over 3 years on average and experiencing career growth.

    • Over the course of my career, I've had the opportunity to present to various audiences.

    Ranging from highly technical discussions to more general presentations, I have found that the challenge lies in making our work as designers both understandable and engaging for those not directly involved in our field. One such presentation revolved around the implementation of AI in our product and how it can improve our design work.

    Implementing a design system was a significant milestone for our team. I Had the privilege to explain its benefits to the entire company. With hundreds of employees who aren't directly involved in design, the challenge was to keep it simple and engaging, making everyone realize that they benefit from this powerful tool even without realizing it.

    Presenting to my team allows me to be more technical and specialized. The key here is to address red flags or new processes while maintaining an open discussion.

    By experience I can tell that people tend to discuss more when stimulated visually, I’ve found that a good slide or a practical and entertaining presentation can be highly beneficial.

    Another part of my role involves defining interview processes, conducting interviews with new candidates, and routine one-on-one meetings with all members of my team. This also includes regular touchpoints with other parts of the company.

    One significant achievement was a workshop I organized with the head of the front-end developers.

    We identified ways to improve collaboration between designers and engineers, leading to the development of Figma plugins that have sped up our handoff process, versioning, localization, and more.

    As a result of these efforts, I have successfully established critique channels and meetings for designers from various squads to share their work with the rest of the team.

    This led the company to recognize the value of the design system, resulting in a fully dedicated day per week for it. Furthermore, the team retention rate has remained high, with team members staying for over three years on average and experiencing career growth.