Conversation with Shan Feng, a lawyer turned product designer
Welcome to another edition of Design Voices, where we invite industry leaders and experts at Carta to share their insights and experiences on the world of design.
Today, we are excited to feature Shan Feng, a senior product designer on the corporations team at Carta. Her background in law is one of her superpowers, and we admire how articulate and thoughtful she is whenever we hear her present her work. Let’s learn more about her journey and process!
Tell us what you do at Carta and how you got here
I’m Shan, a senior product designer working on our fundraising products. I’ve been at Carta since March 2022. Before Carta, I worked at a mortgage fintech startup. I’ve been in fintech for 3 and a half years and I like it a lot. I have a non-traditional path to design. I went to law school. After taking the bar and getting my California attorney license I switched careers to become a product designer.
What made you want to switch from law to product design?
I studied business and marketing in undergrad. I didn’t get a job offer my senior year. On a whim I took the LSAT and went to law school.
One month into law school, I started to feel like the odd one out. The law is built on rigid rules. Changing those rules is arduous. The profession is also adversarial by nature–one party wins and the other loses. I’m a big picture thinker who likes to question what exists to imagine what it could be. I’m also an agreeable person. I was the opposite of the type who succeeds as a lawyer.
With this in mind, I started to think, “How do I get out of this?” I started to research my plan B. At the time Steve Jobs had just passed away and his Stanford commencement speech was viral.
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” — Steve Jobs
This quote resonated with me. I started to ask myself this question–If money didn’t matter, what would I do with my time? It was to work on creative projects that solved interesting problems. It’s what I liked to do as a child. With that in mind, I considered alternate paths in visual design or psychology, but neither felt quite enough.
I discovered UX design at a legal internship at Mozilla after my second year in law school. I worked with the legal counsel to build an educational tool for startups around data privacy law. I interviewed users, synthesized insights, crafted a strategy based on the insights, created wireframes and made a prototype. I spent my legal internship as a de facto product designer and I loved every moment of it. I remember thinking, if they didn’t pay me I’d still want to do this. It felt natural. I found my ikigai. (Ikigai is a Japanese concept that means “a motivating force; something or someone that gives a person a sense of purpose or a reason for living.”)
I finished law school and took the bar to consummate this journey. I received my attorney license and bid the law goodbye.
How did you make the transition?
After law school I had no resources to take a bootcamp or graduate program. I self-studied through books and several online courses. I networked at design events and sent LinkedIn messages to people who transitioned from other careers to design. Many graciously offered helpful advice.
I decided to create a minimum viable portfolio with 3 case studies and apply to internships and entry level roles. I looked at over 50 portfolios of entry level designers to understand the expected quality of work. I brushed up on visual design and put my Mozilla work into a case study. I also added two self-initiated projects. I made the first version of my portfolio on powerpoint. I asked seasoned designers for feedback and iterated on my portfolio. After a few portfolio revisions I started getting interviews. After each unsuccessful interview, I’d ask the company for feedback on what I could improve on. Then I would work on those areas. After 2 months, I got a paid contract role at a boutique design agency. It was the best learn-by-doing experience I could ask for. Three months later I got a role at a pre-seed startup as their only designer. I learned the essential UX skills that year and started calling myself a designer.
What brought you to designing for fintech?
A few years ago, I applied for a mortgage loan online. I expected some archaic UI from the 90s but I was delighted by how simple the process was. That intuitive experience not only made the mortgage application easy, but almost fun. The fintech industry has some of the most complex workflows and many are outdated, so it has a lot of potential for digital transformation.
After witnessing the power of good design as a user, I wanted to help create that impact. That led to my previous role at a mortgage and digital lending startup.
Once I entered fintech, I discovered that I had an unfair advantage. Fintech products are inseparable from compliance and the law. Having a legal background helps me understand the intricacies of the offline processes, which often involve lawyers, and empowers me to make better design decisions when we bring the offline processes into digital workflows.
How do you apply your legal background designing at Carta?
My background helps me comfortably articulate the rationale behind my design decisions. In law school we are trained to construct arguments based on a logical reasoning formula (IRAC). We start with the issue or the problem, then the governing rule. Next, we apply the rule to facts of the case and provide an analysis considering arguments from both sides. Last, we arrive at a conclusion.
I use variations of this formula as a designer. I can define the issue or the problem clearly. I then bring in relevant “rules” or design frameworks and principles. In the creative process, I explore different solutions and evaluate why one is favorable over others. When I present to stakeholders, I can speak about the pros and cons for each design decision and how I explored different solutions and made tradeoffs. When I present the final solution, I can defend it from different angles and perspectives.
Another area that’s been helpful is understanding contract law. Legal documents and contracts are the foundation of equity. For example, when a company starts granting their employees options. They issue an option agreement, which is a legal contract. When a startup raises money, they often issue SAFEs (Simplified Agreement for Future Equity), which is another contract. I understand how contract negotiation works and how terms are agreed upon. And I use these insights when I make design decisions around contract-related workflows.
Last but not least, many Carta users are law firms. Being able to speak their language and understand their process is incredibly helpful when I work on products for these users. I previously worked on our equity financing (deal closings) offering, which is a 0–1 product that captures an extremely complex legal process into our workflow. Understanding the nuances of how lawyers work through deals and transactional paperwork helped me fill in the gaps and make strategic design decisions amid the ambiguity of building a new product.
What advice would you give to someone transitioning into design from a different career?
Career transitions are tough. It takes courage to go through it. If you are in the process of transitioning, props to you. Here are some of my portfolio and interview tips for designers who are starting out.
Consider the users of your portfolio. There are 2 components to a portfolio: visuals that draw a recruiter’s attention (who spend 60 seconds scanning your work) and case studies with compelling storytelling that catch your hiring manager’s eyes. A successful portfolio has both. Make sure you consider both audiences.
Understand what the expectations are. Look at portfolios of designers who have the role you are applying for. This helps you gauge the quality of work that’s expected in that position so you can calibrate your portfolio.
Know your strengths and showcase them. Most designers have T-shaped skills and it’s okay to not excel in every single domain within the user experience umbrella. If you have a strong visual design background, make sure to show that in your portfolio. It’s better to show a few areas that are your strengths than presenting yourself as a generalist.
Highlight your transferable skills. User experience is an interdisciplinary field. Most transitioning designers have some transferable skills useful in the UX process. Point those out on your resume. For example, when I switched into design, I highlighted my legal research experience. I also noted that my trial law experience taught me to mitigate bias in questioning witnesses and how I apply that to user interviews.
Design is a learn-by-doing subject. Work on side projects and redesign apps you use often. Ask designers to give you feedback. You become a better designer through practice and iterations.
Thanks for reading this edition of Design Voices! This article has been conducted and edited by Shan Feng, Chloe Thai, and Joseph Alessio. You can also follow us on Instagram and read our other articles here.
