We’re Emotive Design, AKA Mojis! Here’s what we love about Design…

Hi there from the Emotive design team, also known as the Mojis. Our name comes our Design System: Moji which means “words” (from Emoji 絵文字 , “picture words”). It’s our visual design language here at Emotive.

We’re a small, collaborative crew at a fast-moving e-commerce tech startup. We’re excited to start this blog to share our process, passions, and experiences with all of you. Some things we love besides design include: BMX, Gordon Ramsey, Japandi, crime-thrillers, high-end sneakers, and Dunkin Donuts.

Let us introduce ourselves!

ADAM
Hi, I’m Adam 👋 Product Design Manager here at Emotive. My background is in traditional graphic design — starting my career in branding, print, and web 1.0 websites (early 2000’s). I transitioned into UX roughly 9 years ago. Prior to Emotive, I’ve worked for several early-stage startups, advertising agencies, and big enterprise companies.

RACHEL
Hey, I’m Rachel! I’m a Product Designer at Emotive. I studied Advertising with a concentration in Art Direction in school. After graduating, I spent some time working as a graphic designer for an in-house marketing team, then moved to a UX Design role for a large financial company before finally joining the start-up world at Emotive. ❤️

VIRGINIA
Hi! I’m Virginia! I’m a Product Designer and also the (self-claimed) Emotive cheerleader 🤸‍♀️. In addition to my daily design activities, I am all about making Figma birthday cards, product squad logos, and custom slack emojis. I studied Japanese and Business Administration. After college, I worked in the Big 4 agencies as an auditor and then as a management consultant. Despite my very numbers-heavy background, I’ve always been a creative person. I thrive on navigating ambiguities and solving complex problems. When I learned about UX from a friend, I realized that is exactly what I wanted to do. I left my job, joined a design bootcamp, and never looked back!

CLAIRE
Hey, I’m Claire! ✨ I’m a Product Designer at Emotive. I studied Anthropology in school. After school, I lived in Madrid for a year where I taught English and did freelance UX/Graphic Design work. I loved being collaborative and solving problems using design thinking and research. I wanted to start doing UX full time after I returned from my year abroad. I worked at an access control startup as a solo product designer where I established a design system, ran two mobile apps, and redesigned their website. And now, I’m at Emotive!

RYAN
Hey, I’m Ryan! I’m part of the product design team at Emotive. In school I studied a mixture of things but leaned mostly on software engineering and graphic design. I also completed a three-month iOS bootcamp that solidified that I was not meant to be an iOS engineer haha. I have always been involved and interested in various types of design and have worked as a product designer for about 4–5 years now. I started out at a smaller outdoor running events company called Ragnar and then moved to a larger tech company called Podium.

KELVIN
Hey 👋🏼. I’m Kelvin! I’m a Product Design Intern at Emotive. I’ve been studying Marketing ever since I was 16. No really — I went to The High School of Fashion Industries, a specialized school where we had to choose majors. During my undergrad I spent a semester abroad in London, where I was interning as a Public Relations Assistant. I have always been a creative. I recently pivoted from Visual Merchandising and styling to UX earlier this year after completing a design bootcamp.

What’s your favorite thing about being a Product Designer?

ADAM
Using creative thinking skills to solve problems, and that no one project is alike. The ever-changing variety of projects keeps me on my toes, constantly learning through project failures and successes.

RACHEL
I love that it allows me to learn about other people and what they do for a living, what they’re passionate about, what bothers them. Then we get to work together to build something that makes their life easier and their work more successful. It’s very rewarding!

VIRGINIA
It’s an ambidextrous exercise for the brain. I get to flex my analytical, logical brain, but also the visual and creative side. I also love that product design is informed by both quantitative and qualitative data. I’m never bored and always learning.

CLAIRE
Collaborating across departments and with our users to understand their pain points. I love being a part of end-to-end processes and watching customers become so happy when their problems are solved!

RYAN
I really enjoy when design is leveraged as an answer to company goals and building the business. Combining the skills of different stakeholders fosters great creativity and collective problem-solving ability, so being involved in each step of the business strategy side because of my role as a designer is a great situation to be in.

KELVIN
My favorite thing about being a product designer is being able to solve a problem in many different ways. It’s not just about making things look nice. The creatives and the visuals are only half of it. I think the most rewarding thing is starting a project — watching it come to life and deliver something that people can actually use. Whether you succeed or fail, it’s a valuable learning experience.

What’s your favorite thing about the Emotive Design team?

ADAM
The level of collaboration we’ve helped foster, not just in the design team, but within the organization. We established design sprint workshops as part of our design process when our team was formed late last year and that has really taken off with our product squads. It’s amazing to see how each product designer facilitates workshops and takes ownership of the process. This same collaborative spirit is in our design team review meetings and FigJam sessions! We’re building a culture of trust between the product team and it’s a great thing to see taking shape in such a short amount of time!

RACHEL
Our design team is so talented. I love seeing all the creative solutions my teammates come up with day-to-day. We’re super collaborative and I can always count on them to push my designs to the next level.

VIRGINIA
The culture. We are all no-ego, open, and curious. I’m always learning so much about design and solving problems from my teammates — all the while having a ton of fun. Also, product thinking at Emotive is very design-led; design actually has a seat at the table. Being able to advocate for users and influence the roadmap just makes designing at Emotive so much more awesome.

CLAIRE
The best part about our team is working with such creative and talented designers. We are all so collaborative and understand how to give awesome feedback. It’s so awesome to be a part of a startup that is so design-led. I love seeing everything my team releases!

RYAN
Our team is awesome because of how helpful everyone is and the time people are willing to spend on pushing others team members’ projects forward! That mentality of being a real team is a super important culture to have at a design-oriented company.

KELVIN
While I’m still relatively new, my favorite thing about the team is the open communication. Everyone is very supportive and welcoming. We are all remote, but there’s still a sense of community and culture at Emotive.

We’d love to hear from you! What’s your favorite thing about being a Product Designer? What do you believe makes a great design team? Share with us in the comments or on twitter @EmotiveDesign. ✌️