Julius Tarng is the ultimate generalist designer. He started the design tools team at Facebook where he made a massive impact on products like Origami. He then freelanced as a design engineer for companies like Felt, Anthropic, and even prototyped some of the early AI features for the Arc browser. Now he’s in his first-ever engineering role at Linear. So this conversation is a deep dive into what it looks like for designers to approach their work with an engineering mindset. We talk about Julius...
May 30, 2024•50 min•Ep. 54
When it comes to design founder stories, Raphael Schaad ’s is one of the best. So this episode is the first-ever telling of how Raphael designed and built Cron (which became Notion Calendar). We talk about: Sketching on paper vs. sketching in code Why shipping quality software is like camping How Raphael identified the MVP of the problem What it was like building Cron in YC during COVID Why you should design dialogues as first-class citizens Why Raphael didn’t invest much in the Cron landing pag...
May 23, 2024•48 min•Ep. 53
Alex Schleifer was the long-time Chief Design Officer at Airbnb where he grew the team from ~35 to over 600 people. So this conversation is an inside look at what makes design at Airbnb so special. We discuss: How to create a culture of decisiveness Why great design leaders are like chefs How to succeed in executive CRITs at Airbnb How designers should prepare for an AI future What it means to operate with a “first team” mindset What it takes to achieve Airbnb’s level of craft at scale Which ele...
May 16, 2024•48 min•Ep. 52
Noam Segal has led research at companies like Meta, Airbnb, Wealthfront, Twitter, and most recently Upwork. He also teaches the #1 user research course on Maven . So this episode is a masterclass in user research. We discuss: How to conduct better interviews The keys to an effective research plan How to become a masterful research storyteller How AI is creating a new wave of research tools When to rely on qualitative vs. quantitative tactics The modern user research tools you need to know about ...
May 09, 2024•56 min•Ep. 51
Helen Tran was an early designer at Shopify and is now leading product design at AngelList. But in between those two roles she also ran her own startup for three years. So the goal of this conversation is to figure out how that period of time impacted her design practice so we can all learn how to design with a founder’s mindset. In this episode we discuss: - How Helen is approaching design leadership differently this time around - How Helen constructors hypotheses to influence product strategy ...
May 01, 2024•46 min•Ep. 50
Today we're talking with designer and entrepreneur, Hunter Hammonds, who has grown 5 different agencies to millions in revenue in less than a year. So in this episode we walk through the different stages of building an independent design business—starting from positioning yourself as a solopreneur all the way to scaling operations to 7 figures. We get into the weeds about: - Hunter’s framework for selling yourself on a landing page - The tactics OffMenu uses to convert more leads to customers - ...
Apr 25, 2024•54 min•Ep. 49
Ready for a masterclass in positioning? Nick Pattison has been working for himself for well over 10 years... but recently he's laser-focused on running 1-week brand sprints (and it's working). So this episode is a deep dive into his new freelance playbook: - The automations that allow him to focus on sales and creative direction - Lessons learned from running 25+ brand sprints at $15k each - How Nick focuses on growing his creative muscles - His strategies for presenting work to clients - Why he...
Apr 24, 2024•42 min•Ep. 48
This episode is the ultimate design founder story. Dennis shares all of the ups and downs along his journey to build Amie—a new productivity tool that captures your emails, calendar, and to-dos in a single beautiful product. Some of the highlights: - Where Dennis draws inspiration - The traits Dennis looked for in early hires - What Dennis looks for in design candidates - The backstory behind Amie’s viral website launch - How Dennis balances his intuition with product feedback - How Dennis think...
Apr 18, 2024•48 min•Ep. 47
Over the last few months, design engineering has by far been the #1 most requested topic. So I wanted to get the inside scoop from the team at Vercel to learn more. In this episode we get to hear from: 1. Glenn Hitchcock - https://twitter.com/glennui (Director of design engineering) 2. John Pham - https://twitter.com/JohnPhamous (Lead design engineer) The goal of this conversation is to help people understand the role that design engineers play and to outline a path you can take to develop some ...
Apr 11, 2024•42 min•Ep. 46
Since the beginning of my design career, I’ve looked up to Metalab. So this interview is a special one because we get to learn from their Head of Design, Michael Wandelmeier. We go deep into how design works at Metalab and talk about specific strategies around: - Mike’s go-to storytelling tactics - The importance of opinionated design - When they ignore constraints on a project - The unique way they map out user journeys - Tips for driving alignment on complex projects - How they use the “ridicu...
Apr 04, 2024•54 min•Ep. 45
One of the tools I'm most interested in right now is Relume. 200k+ people are using it to design and build websites faster with AI. They have a massive set of Figma/Webflow components which allows them to take a unique approach that “respects the process” of web design. In this bonus episode, their co-founder Adam gives us an end-to-end demo where he sitemaps, wireframes, designs, and builds a full website in ~30 min. We then get into the weeds about: - How the web design process will evolve wit...
Apr 03, 2024•29 min•Ep. 44
Rich Arnold was the Head of Design at Vine, a design lead on the early Instagram Stories team, and now he works as a design manager at Coinbase. So this episode goes deep into: - How Rich grew as a storyteller at IG - Why we cant let data be the designer - The importance of “zooming out” in your work - How to grow your creative problem solving muscles - What it takes to design successful consumer products - Ian Spalter (Old Head of Design at Instagram) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianspalter/ -...
Mar 27, 2024•38 min•Ep. 43
If you’ve dabbled in design systems then you’re no doubt familiar with Brad Frost and atomic design. He’s laid the foundation for design systems teams around the world. So in this discussion we talk about the types of challenges he faces at Big Medium and how he’s envisioning the future of design systems: Why we should build a universal design system How Brad is using AI to elevate design systems How design systems designers can succeed in an AI world The highest leverage activities for DS desig...
Mar 21, 2024•51 min•Ep. 42
One of the most requested guests has been Gabe Valdivia. He was an early designer at Facebook, a designer manager at Google, and has led design for different startups over the years most recently as the head of design for Patreon. But in the last year he's made the jump to start his own practice and position himself as a fractional design partner for early stage teams. So a lot of this conversation gets into the weeds about what it's like to design 0 to 1 experiences. We talk about tactics for s...
Mar 14, 2024•45 min•Ep. 41
As soon as I read No More Boring Apps I was hooked. Andy Allen immediately became one of my design heroes and now I use his Not Boring apps daily. So this conversation is a behind-the-scenes of his journey, an analysis of the state of software design, and a glimpse of where we’re headed next as an industry. Some highlights: - The design tools Andy is most excited about - Andy’s advice for people wanting to learn 3D - The differences between good and great design - The 4 things needed for design ...
Mar 07, 2024•48 min•Ep. 40
In this episode we get to hear from Jenny Wen who is the person who originally designed and brought Figjam to market. This conversation is full of inslights like: How Jenny attacks ambiguity early in the design process What we can learn from Figjam’s product strategy Jenny’s framework for adding delight to a product How to create visuals that stand out in a sea of confetti animations Strategies for facilitating live workshops in Figjam What Jenny looks for in design candidates Jenny’s vision for...
Feb 29, 2024•41 min•Ep. 39
This episode expands on 8 key insights that I took away from interviewing designers like Soleio, Kevin Twohy, Molly Hellmuth, Soren Iverson, etc. 1. A unique way to stand out as a design candidate 2. How to grow as a vision caster 3. The question every freelancer should ask clients 4. The curse of knowledge in web design 5. When systems thinking is most important 6. Strategies for Figma variables 7. The Craft Flywheel 8. How to know which details matter Dive is where the best designers never sto...
Feb 22, 2024•24 min
Soleio made a name for himself as the 2nd design hire at Facebook and eventually went on to lead design at Dropbox. Now he invests in extraordinary software startups like Figma, Framer, Vercel, Perplexity, Replit, Universe, tldraw, and dozens more worldwide. So in this discussion we go deep into: - The fascinating story behind project Motion - How Soleio’s skillset evolved during his time at Facebook - When it makes sense to invest in craft (and when it doesn’t) - what Soleio looks for when hiri...
Feb 14, 2024•53 min•Ep. 38
Galileo recently broke design twitter with the launch of their new generative AI tool for builders. So in this episode we talk with their co-founder and lead designer, Helen Zhou about: - Her journey as a design founder - Why user research for AI tooling is unique - How AI will change the day-to-day role of a designer - Her response to concerns about LLMs and creativity - The potential breakthrough use case for UI generation Dive is where the best designers never stop learning 🤿 🌐 dive.club 🐦...
Feb 13, 2024•31 min
Webflow has had as big an impact on design as any company over the last decade. So this episode is an inside look at their design culture, rituals, and key insights from their Head of Design, Kevin Wong. Here’s a preview of some of the ideas we cover: - How Webflow executed a massive rebrand leading up to their conference - The different types of prototypes for driving alignment - The role of design systems in their latest visual refresh - How designers can handle situations where stakeholders d...
Feb 08, 2024•41 min•Ep. 37
In this episode we get to hear from Ryo Lu who was one of the very first designers at Notion. This conversation is an inside look at the Notion design process, how they think about product, and a lot more: - How Notion approached the user research process for AI - Strategies for improving your systems thinking - How design at Notion sources feedback on meaty problems - How Notion thinks about their design system - What Ryo is looking for in your portfolio - How to operate outside the traditional...
Feb 01, 2024•32 min•Ep. 36
In this episode we’re talking with Molly Hellmuth who is the creator of UI Prep where she has an incredible newsletter, design system, and course where she’s taught hundreds of designers all over the world. This discussion gets into the nerdier side of Figma 🤓 We talk all about: - When it does and doesn’t make sense to adopt variables - How to make sure you don’t invest in a Figma strategy that you later regret - Molly’s favorite Figma plugins for design systems - How she’s building components ...
Jan 25, 2024•46 min•Ep. 35
There’s a new design super team emerging at Clerk and in this episode we get a behind-the-scenes from the leader, Derek Briggs. We get into the weeds about: - How Derek assembled an A-list team from scratch - Why Derek pushed for a dedicated UI engineering team - How Clerk is approaching their massive redesign - Why Derek doesn’t believe in design deadlines - The business case for prioritizing quality - Derek’s #1 piece of advice for younger designers - + a lot more Dive is where the best design...
Jan 18, 2024•41 min•Ep. 34
In this episode we get to learn from Tommy Geoco who has launched countless projects, sold a startup, and built an audience of almost a million designers online. This conversation has everything—here’s a little taste of what you can expect: - The wild story behind Tommy selling his first company - Why design tools matter more than ever - How to become better at selling yourself - Tons of strategies for your next side project - Tommy’s mental model for learning as a self-taught designer - Why Tom...
Jan 10, 2024•52 min•Ep. 33
This episode looks at Kevin Twohy’s 10+ year journey going from solo freelancer to independent design studio. We cover a LOT including: - Strategies for cold outreach and pricing - Tips for getting aligned quickly with clients - How Kevin gets plugged into a new team - Why Kevin has started positioning himself as a studio - A better way to take equity in client projects - Why you should be wary of starting a productized agency - + a lot more Dive is where the best designers never stop learning �...
Jan 04, 2024•50 min•Ep. 32
Lauren LoPrete shares lessons from her experience leading design systems at Dropbox and now at Cash App. We talk about: - What design systems actually look like at scale - Why she’s approaching documentation differently at Cash - Her experience in the Figma variables beta - Why Lauren is so excited about string variables - Traits of successful DS designers that we don’t talk about enough - + a lot more Dive is where the best designers never stop learning 🤿 🌐 dive.club 🐦 twitter.com/joindivecl...
Jan 03, 2024•39 min•Ep. 31
Kate Syuma was the 3rd designer at Miro and went on to become the Head of Growth Design during her 6+ years at the company. This episode is a masterclass in designing for business impact. We discuss: - Her process for identifying the aha moment in your product - How Kate overcame imposter syndrome in her first year - Ways designers can ask better data questions - Insights from researching onboarding at 80+ companies - The importance of designing for emotion vs. solving problems - + a lot more If...
Dec 27, 2023•44 min•Ep. 30
If you’ve opened Twitter in the last year then you’re definitely familiar with Soren Iverson’s satirical designs like Uber Hotbox and the iMessage typing indicator . So in this episode we get an inside look at his process and lessons he’s learned throughout his career: How he overcomes creative blocks Strategies for being consistent What it was like collaborating with Duolingo How to jumpstart your network online Tactics for growing your product sense Why Soren is learning to code...
Dec 21, 2023•37 min•Ep. 29
In this episode, Kathryn Gonzalez walks us through how she built the DoorDash design language as the first designer and frontend engineer. We talk about what it's like designing for a 3-sided marketplace, how to figure out the right level of craft for your product, and get an inside look at how DoorDash structures their design system. Kathryn spent almost 7 years at DoorDash and eventually became the Head of Design Infrastructure so this episode is chalk full of wisdom ✨
Dec 14, 2023•46 min•Ep. 28
This Deep Dive is a special one because we get to hear from Niko Klein and Garrett Miller from the prototyping team at Figma. We get a behind-the-scenes look at everything that led up to the advanced prototyping release at Config 2023 as well as: How Niko collaborates with engineering The prototyping feature they didn’t think they would release How they balanced power and simplicity while designing the expression builder Traits of a prototyping culture Strategies for prototype fidelity The futur...
Dec 07, 2023•49 min•Ep. 27
