Making Moves: A New Chapter in My Design Career

It’s hard to believe I’ve been a “professional” designer for five years now, if I can even call it that! I’ve worked at three different companies, went through a few promotions, managed a team, and even moved across the country. I’ve grown immensely — both personally and professionally — and have learned so much about myself in the the process of it all.

Despite all the action that’s unfolded throughout my career, one thing has remained the same: I’m still designing experiences to market and sell products to customers. I’ve worked on countless campaigns, branding systems, emails, landing pages, banners, websites, ads, stickers, you name it — producing a fairly comprehensive visual portfolio and learning the ins-and-outs of marketing in the process. The past six years have brought some incredibly stressful and challenging times, but I’ve also realized that I love designing for brands.

Why do I love being a brand designer? I love the variety of things there are to work on, and have always taken pride in being a one-stop-shop for design. You never know what assets you’ll be asked for, or where you’ll see your work. The most random things I’ve designed? Branded Lego people and cornholes probably take the cake.

I love the creativity you must bring to your work. Consumers and buyers are always looking for something new, to be challenged, to see something that delights them. You’re always on the lookout for inspiration and flexing your creative muscles.

I love working with marketers (really, I do!). The marketers I’ve worked with have taught me to care about more than design. They’ve helped me understand how business works, how companies make money, and how to tell a compelling story. Some of the strongest relationships I’ve forged and many of the people I look up to are my friends in marketing.

And, I love the crunch — that last minute “I-have-an-idea-and-we-need-to-make-it-happen-NOW” crunch that most marketing teams are probably familiar with. It’s stressful and exhausting — but wildly exhilarating at the same time. You’re forced to find a way to make things happen, and when things go right it results in pure magic. I’ve done some of my best work under that crunch.

I love visual storytelling and building brands.

But as with anything, being a brand designer comes with a grain of salt.

As I spent more time in the industry, I began to see patterns in the challenges that this discipline faces. In my experience, in-house brand designers often face a disparity in how companies perceive their strategic value — manifesting itself through low resource allotments, exclusion from important conversations, and sadly, compensation. There’s a high potential for burnout as many brand designers are left to design alone or on teams too small to accommodate demand. And because in-house brand designers often report directly into the disciplines they serve (like marketing or revenue teams), career paths are frequently limited or less developed. Each of these challenges have left me feeling like a kid banging my head against a wall at some point in my career.

Even with all of that, I still love being a brand designer and it’s blessed me in so many ways — it ultimately landed me where I am as a Senior Brand Designer at HubSpot. I’ve experienced incredible momentum doing things that I love for the past five years, and to me, that’s been worth all of the challenges that come with it.

But — I’ve learned that opportunities are serendipitous, and when you have the chance to learn from the best, you’d better be ready to take it!

A few months ago, I had the incredible opportunity to join a new team and embark on a new journey in my design career.

I’m thrilled to share that I am officially joining the Product Design team at HubSpot!

As with any sort of change, I’m feeling a lot of imposter syndrome and am incredibly nervous about what’s to come. What if I’m terrible at this? What if I can’t keep up? My own thoughts swirling around my head, plus questions from my family (who always manages to keep me humble) make me doubt about whether I’m equipped to take on this role. Becoming a Product Designer has always been an idea floating around in my head, and I’ve struggled to make it happen in the past. It’s hard to get past all of the doubt that I can do this.

But I’m brimming with excitement, and that’s what’s keeping me going. There are a lot of things that I’m excited about:

I’m excited to learn more about research and testing. I’ve already incorporated some methods into my work as a brand designer, but I’m looking forward to doing this more frequently, more rigorously, and to start to build confidence in this area. I’m excited to be closer to customers and creating solutions that really empower them. HubSpot has an incredible team of Product Designers, Researchers, and Analysts, and it’s an incredible opportunity to learn from these brilliant folks.

I’m excited to work with people in different roles than I’m used to. I’ll always have a special place in my heart for marketers, but there’s so much to learn by diversifying the people you expose yourself to. I have a ton to learn about how products are built and how to truly solve for the customer.

I’m excited to work on something that customers use and love. In Marketing, sometimes we’re moving so fast that we never get to look back. We pour our effort into making a great first impression, and sometimes that’s all we get to do. Campaigns get lost in the wind of the next. The idea of building and iterating on products that people use everyday is something I’m excited to explore.

And, I’m excited to expand the breadth of my design skillset. I’ve always taken pride in being a “comb-shaped designer” — immersing myself in different design disciplines and developing deep expertise in many areas. I’m always on the hunt to learn something new. I’m hoping that Product Design will become another area of expertise in my growing skillset, and that I’ll be able to bring my expertise in other disciplines to my work on the products we build.

I know I’m no Lebron James, but I want to acknowledge that this opportunity is the culmination of so many things. Even though I’m still a designer and this pivot is small on the scale of career changes, there’s so much that’s gone into this and I couldn’t have come upon this opportunity without the guidance of so many people. I’m so grateful to be on a team who’s pushed my growth as a designer, work at a company that values growth and mobility, have a new team who’s willing to take a chance on me, and have friends and family who create clarity when I’m unsure of myself. I hope that I’ll be able to make you all proud.

So, here’s to new beginnings, small but mighty changes, and always being ready to take the opportunities that are in front of you. Let’s do this.