Design x design
Thanks for checking out the first installment of our blog’s recurring series, Design x design. Members of the Pinterest design team — designers, writers, researchers and more! — will discuss their backgrounds, hopes, dreams and hot takes on line spacing. For our first installment, Skyler Rodriguez (designer, video product) interviews Hannah Scott (designer, core UI).
Hannah’s Origin Story
Skyler: First thing I want to ask is: Who are you and what do you do at Pinterest?
Hannah: I’m Hannah, a Product designer focusing on Core areas like Search and Discovery on Pinterest.
Skyler: Very cool. I love to discover. So how long have you been at Pinterest?
Hannah: I’ve been at Pinterest for seven years.
Skyler: Wow. So senior. Look at you. Going back to the beginning, when did you realize that you wanted to become a designer?
Hannah: I’ve always wanted to be in the creative world. My parents always had arts and crafts for us to do while growing up, I took graphic design in high school, and I fell in love with art early on. But at my college, there wasn’t a design degree, so I carved out a path to learn more about the design discipline and had design-related jobs at the university like designing brochures and posters in the marketing/comms department. I had internships in public relations, customer service, and human resources…which helped me realize those are jobs I didn’t want to pursue long term.
Skyler: How did you move into becoming a product designer?
Hannah: I’m grateful that I’ve been able to try so many different roles in the company — especially when I started, and it was a small company with more flexibility to move around and become a jack of all trades.
I started on the customer service team as a community specialist and product specialist. I started understanding Pinterest users’ needs and problems almost immediately as a community specialist because I was working with and speaking directly to users. I think at its core, that’s what product design is all about — understanding what the user problem is and advocating for them.
After two and a half years on the customer service team as a community specialist and a product specialist, I wanted to get back into design so I applied for a role as a design producer. I knew the role wasn’t the same as being a designer, but I’m happy I took it because I learned so many soft skills over the next two years as a producer and became an expert. As a producer, we were highly organized and knew how to navigate and build relationships with cross-functional partners. That really helped me out later on as a designer, too.
Four years into Pinterest with three roles under my belt, I still wanted to get in the weeds as a designer. I questioned whether I should apply to design school, pursue design at other companies, or stay at Pinterest. One day, my mentor/head of design ops and the head of product design at the time said to me, “Hey, why don’t you become a product designer and learn here?” Badabing, badaboom: I started out on the growth team a couple of months later.
Embrace the inner producer
Skyler: Coming from your background, would you say that you sometimes take on both the role of designer and producer?
Hannah: Totally have. The producer skill set is something that all designers should have: autonomy, ownership, organization, communications, prioritizing the focus, and making sure to have cross-functional teammates aligned. I think every designer and every producer should have a little bit of both sides in order to feel really successful.
Skyler: If you can look back to when you started as a product designer, what were some of the trials and tribulations when it came to pivoting roles on the design team?
Hannah: The first one is something I’m still working on — my design eye and point of view. I didn’t go to a traditional design school with four years dedicated to “what’s my point of view, what’s my design craft.” That’s something that I’ve been doing on the job, which I like. It’s kind of a sink or swim type of thing.
For me, when I first started out I was terrified to start showing work. Because as a community specialist and producer, yes, I was working on things, but it wasn’t to the point where I’m like, “this is directly affecting the product and directly affecting users if we ship this.” So during my first critiques, I took everything personally. I was very freaked out by all the feedback that I got because I thought it was directly linked to who I am instead of if the work was addressing the user problem. That was a hard lesson to learn, but it just took time to do crits over and over to feel comfortable.
Skyler: That’s tough. I think every designer can relate to struggling with their confidence during critique and continuing to stay motivated after negative feedback.
Hannah: Do you feel that way? I’m curious.
Skyler: Definitely when I first started here — it had been a while since I worked with such a large team. Before this, I worked in media where people didn’t know as much about design, so my feedback was light. It’s actually a lot better here, but you have to get used to it. It’s a struggle, you know?
Hannah: Yeah. And the second challenge was changing people’s perspective of who I was. The good thing about being at a company for this long is that people know who you are, so I was able to come into the product design role with relationships already established. But my relationship was established either as a producer or as a community specialist. In a meeting earlier on, people were like: “Hannah, can you take notes?” And I was very straightforward and said, “No, I’m presenting, can someone take notes for me?” Once I put my foot down and said “I’m a designer now, not a producer anymore,” it helped.
Skyler: I mean, that’s kind of like when a celebrity does something other than what made them famous. Like Fenty.
Hannah: Yeah, exactly. It’s like when Kim Kardashian wanted to be taken seriously and thought: “I’m no longer just gonna be known for Keeping Up With the Kardashians.”
Skyler: She was like, “I’m also a lawyer now.”
Hannah: Exactly. I think maybe for Kim, it’s still going to take some time to change perceptions. Like it took some time for me.
Living the dream
Skyler: Now that you’re a full-fledged product designer, is it…what you thought it was going to be like? How does this fit into your career and your future?
Hannah: I’ve talked to a lot of product designers at Pinterest, and something that’s stuck with me is that a designer doesn’t have to fit into a mold as traditionally as I thought. You have some really badass people who have come from very different disciplines, and they don’t all see themselves as just “product designers.”
I also really like the process of what a product designer does, from honing in on product thinking and vision and strategy to trying to understand how you actually build a product. But to your question about my future, and if I’m going to be a product designer for the rest of my life? No, because I think that what it means to be a designer is going to change. As we progress into other areas, and as our society changes, product designers aren’t going to be what they are today. The design role is constantly evolving.
Skyler: That makes sense. Essentially it’s not about the job title, it’s about the process of solving an existing problem that affects people.
Hannah: I’ll keep on being a product designer for a while, I have so much more to learn. Eventually, I’d love to carve a path that combines design with other interests.
The product design team has discussed in-depth about what the definition of design means. In the past year, we’ve had engineers, researchers and writers join the team and it’s been incredibly inspiring to have thought partners with different perspectives and disciplines. Collaborating with teammates from diverse backgrounds has challenged how I approach a user problem and tackle a project. The outcome is an even better solution and user experience than what I would have done on my own or with all like-minded individuals. The common thread we all share on the team is that we’re all product thinkers wanting to solve problems.
Skyler: I think that this is all really inspirational for a lot of people. I can’t tell you how many friends, coworkers and people in my life have asked me how to go about transitioning into design. Thank you for sharing all of this, Hannah!
Hannah: Of course! Thanks for letting me share my journey with you!
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Skyler Rodriguez is a designer on Pinterest’s video product. He loves plants and watches horror movies year-round.
Hannah Scott is a designer on the Pinterest Core UI team. She loves dogs, the outdoors and will eat sushi every day if it was good for her.
Photo credits to Karsten Koehn
