#2: Uber’s Director of Design, Didier Hilhorst, on what it took to redesign a global product
Have you ever considered getting a degree in economics to kickstart your design career? Probably not, but it might not be a bad idea.
In our second interview, Didier Hilhorst, Design Director at Uber, shares how his graduate degree in economics helps mold him as a designer and, in turn, shape how he and his team redesigned Uber from the ground up.
Some of the major themes
Economics and design — It’s not every day economics and design overlap with one another. But for Didier, they do. He explains how elements usually not thought of as a design tool, such as price, can be used as part of the product experience, not just an afterthought.
Rebuilding Uber — Starting a redesign from scratch with a product as large as Uber is no easy task. To help facilitate better communication between designers and engineers, Didier explains how Uber built an internal website to help design at scale.
Efficient communication — Echoing sentiments from last week’s episode, Didier reiterates the importance for effective collaboration, citing the value of trust within a team and the ability to fight together.
Thanks to our partners
IBM
IBM’s mission is simple: put the user at the center of our products. If you are a passionate problem-solver, able to empathize with users and turn that empathy into design insight, we want you to join us in creating exceptional experiences that span our vast product portfolio.
InVision
InVision is the world’s leading product design platform, powering the future of digital product design through our deep understanding of the dynamics of collaboration. Teams that build digital products are at a serious advantage when they use InVision’s suite of prototyping tools. They’re a great way of getting everyone on board.
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Searle Video
Searle Video is a creative studio based out of Portland, Oregon. They’ve helped the creative community tell stories for over 10 years. They’ve done advertisements, behind the scenes stories, and documentaries for companies like Slack, Intel, Adobe, Google and the XOXO festival.
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