Design Gurus Summit: Q&A with Meredith Black, Head of Design Operations, Pinterest
Meredith Black is the Head of Design Operations at Pinterest where she’s pioneered the Design Program Management organization, growing it from one to 11 design program managers in three years. Within Design and Research, she’s also responsible for operations, recruiting, resourcing and risk management. Prior to Pinterest, Meredith worked at design firms Hot Studio (acquired by Facebook) and IDEO. Her love for design runs deep. Real deep. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and their very spoiled dog, Bella
She will be speaking at the Uncharted Minds Design Gurus Summit on September 19th. Click here to get 20% off tickets to the event.

Q. When you were growing up, were you always interested in art and design?
A. Always. I was born into a design family! My mother worked at Leo Burnett in Chicago, went to school for graphic design and worked in agencies most of her life. As a result, she exposed me to advertising, design, art, museums and everything in between. I’ve always had a creative side, but I also had a serious side where I was obsessed with process, numbers, and organization. For better or for worse, I’ve always been a little ‘nerdy’ that way.
Q. What were some early influences on your career choice?
A. To be honest, I thought I was going to go a different route with my career.Early on I learned that nothing is set in stone, it’s ok to take risks, and you have to give things a shot, or at least consider them. If I hadn’t done that over the years, I may have missed out on life changing moments.
Q. What did you study in college?
A. Get ready for this. While I loved being creative, I also really had this passion for working for the FBI. In college at the University of Colorado, I studied Criminology and did a few internships, including one with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. My dream was to become an FBI agent, find missing children, and have a bloodhound named Gunter who would help me find them.
Q. What did your parents do?
A. See the first question!
Q. Tell me about your first creative job.
A. While I was applying to government jobs (a very slow process) such as the FBI and the CIA, I still needed a day job. I had recently moved to California and was looking for entry-level jobs in Marin County. I came across a pretty interesting listing on Craigslist to work for an international book printer that printed coffee table, photography, and architecture books for all the major publishers in the world.
Once I was hired, I was tasked to work with book publishers, designers, and printing factories all over Asia to manage the production of these amazing books. This was the job that gave me insight into what it was truly like to work with designers and creative people on a daily basis, and I absolutely loved it. I had the opportunity to mix creativity with learning about business and it simply made me tick.
As a result, I began to pursue jobs and move around the creative industry. After I landed the job with IDEO and then Hot Studio my desire to move into a government job wasn’t there anymore.
Q. What were some early lessons you learned about creativity?
A. Working at IDEO, the first thing I learned is that everyone is a designer. Everyone can be creative, and everyone has the ability to think outside the box. I learned that creativity can come from anyone, not just “creative types”.
Another early lesson in creativity was that it is ok to fail. Failing fast, learning from failures and then iterating quickly can lead to great success. You don’t have to get it right the first time around, and it’s rarely done that way. So enjoy the creative process and don’t rush the end result.

Q. Tell me about your role with Pinterest?
A. While I’ve been at Pinterest there has never been a dull moment. I am technically responsible for managing the design program management team, running operations, resourcing, recruiting, budget management and inspiring the team. However, on a normal day, I do all of the above and also attend design working sessions, meet with designers about their career paths, talk about feelings and work cross functionally to make sure they are bringing design into their conversations.
Q. Tell me about your approach to hiring? What do you look for in candidates?
A. The first thing we look for when hiring for the design team, whether it be a Product Designer, Prototyper, Researcher, or Program Manager, is that they use the product. The only way there will be empathy for putting our pinners first is if the people designing the product actually understand how the product works and can identify ways to make it better.
Another approach is looking for people who love getting lost in the weeds of designing and are comfortable, if not thrive, with ambiguity. Pinterest is a hyper growth start-up and things change a lot. It’s important that we hire people who can navigate change and find ways to move the company forward. Sometimes there is comfort in change, and I look for people who can see the upside to that.
Lastly, we look for people who are passionate about both the Pinner experience and the business experience. While Pinterest is aesthetically beautiful, it also needs to be understood. We expect our designers (and everyone at the company) to put our Pinners and business first while making the product. While designing for flashy and pretty might be exciting, if it doesn’t work or a feature is constantly crashing, not only will no one will use the product they actually wouldn’t able to.
Q. What do you do for creative inspiration? How do stay motivated and inspired?
A. I use Pinterest of course! Pinterest is a place where you can discover what you love and then go out and do it. As a result, I actually leveraged Pinterest a few years ago to learn how to make dog collars. I was buying a new collar for my dog every quarter (because she needs to stay fashionable) and Pinterest taught me how to make them. Now I have my own Etsy shop and am making other people happy with my craft.
I also love reading. I love reading about design, tech, and architecture. I love learning about how certain areas of design can actually be leveraged and used in other fields. As Charles and Ray Eames say “Eventually everything connects”.
Q. What career advice would you give to young people today?
A. Be open to opportunities. When I was first out of college, I thought that because I had a degree that I was going land my dream job. You need to start out somewhere, and don’t pass on opportunities that could lead to larger ones in the future. If I hadn’t taken job with the international book printer for pennies on the dollar, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Q. Hardest part of being the Head of Design Operations for Pinterest?
A. Predicting what needs to happen ten steps before it actually happens. I have to keep everything in perspective and do what’s best for the team and for the organization. The company is growing so quickly that I need to make sure the Product Design and Research teams are staffed properly with the right talent and have the right amount of support in a constantly changing environment. It is definitely a challenging job but I thrive on it not being easy (or thinking ahead and making plans).
Q. Favorite part of being the Head of Design Operations for Pinterest?
A: There are so many things I love about being in my role. Having a seat at the table, pioneering this role within the tech world, helping to build a world class design team. Most importantly, working for a company and product that I absolutely love.
