How to be the first designer for the first time
A brief list of expectations and starting tips for the journey ahead
Hey y’all! I’m the first designer at Stache, a 7-person team of people trying to make storage more efficient, local, and affordable. It’s been a tremendous learning experience for me these past 7 months, so to reflect on it, I attended a talk by Jenny Mullins at Galvanize SF.
Jenny was the first designer at LearnUp, a fascinating startup that works on closing the skills gap for entry-level jobs. During her time there, she integrated design into the product development cycle where there was none before.
Here, I’m summarizing her wisdom and sprinkling in advice from my own experience. Think of this article as a backpacking guide — I can tell you what to expect and how to prepare, but the real adventure happens out in the wilderness.
If you’re thinking about joining a company as its first designer for the first time, this column is for you. Enjoy!
What to expect:
- You’ll be inundated with requests, tasks, and responsibilities from all departments.
- It’s on you to integrate, or sometimes introduce, design into the product development process. This takes some persuasion.
- You’ll constantly be balancing what’s important versus what’s urgent.
- Respect, involvement, and inclusion in important conversations is something you have to earn.
Imagine this: You start working at company X as the new Lead Designer. Two weeks in, you learn during the weekly all-hands that an important product decision was made last week. You had no idea until now, and this announcement wasn’t even particularly addressed towards you. You nod your head politely, but inside you’re thinking, “why wasn’t I asked for my opinion? Why didn’t they tell me??” and down the despair hole you go.
This is because the company already has a method, structured or unstructured, of making these decisions and a few key members short-listed in their minds.
There may be a literal or proverbial water cooler where these crucial conversations happen. You must find out where they’re happening, and actively participate to make yourself one of those short-listed members. See #2 and 3 in the section below on how.
It’s also unhealthy for you and your work relationships to have a reactive mindset. In addition to the advice above, don’t be afraid of bringing up things that bother you with your team. This combination of mature conversation and active contribution will keep you involved.
What to do when you start your new job
1. Rank your priorities collaboratively
You’re probably going to be inundated with requests and tasks. You may forget things, and the people who need your help may feel sidelined or unheard. To avoid this, Jenny gave the following bits of advice:
Whenever someone needs your design help, work with that coworker to “rank” it on your to-do list.
What does this mean? It means that you and your coworker look at your to-do list (Trello, Asana, etc.) and place his/her/their request somewhere on that list together. This way, your coworker understands 1) what your most pressing responsibilities are, 2) that their request may not be as urgent as they thought it was, and 3) they walk away with a healthy timeline expectation.
If the coworker is someone in upper management, like a CEO, they’re more pressed for time. My mentor Zac Halbert suggested adjusting this method by asking a single question:
“Great idea! Would you consider it more or less important than [insert most pressing responsibility] ?”
It’s fast, respectful, and it tells your leadership what you’re working on. That last bit is important because they do not always have time to check in with you.
2. Show and tell. Don’t just “tell.”
When you’re the first and only designer at a company, you’re ultimately tasked with bringing design to that organization. Involving it in product development processes and getting buy-in from coworkers is key to you and your company’s success. So how do you convince people of your design ideas that you know will work?
Aim to show reasonably polished* mockups or prototypes every and anytime you’re introducing a new idea.
(by polished, I don’t mean pixel-perfect hi-fi mockups. Something easy on the eyes and clearly demonstrates your point will do just fine.)
Having visible artifacts of your idea will convince your audience much more resolutely than 5 minutes of talking explanation can.
3. Be an idea driver. Spark conversations.
This isn’t particularly new — we all know that being proactive is good practice for any job you take on. However, this is especially important for first designers because it is on you improve your org’s product and processes through design. By doing so, you teach your organization about the value of design and slowly integrate it into product development processes.
Here are a couple of ways to kickstart that conversation:
- Ask for one-on-one time with key decision makers to show your earnestness
- Talk to other first designers, learn how they brought large returns to their organization through design, and cite those examples to your own company
- Plan collaborative work sessions, taking stakeholders along the design thinking ride and synthesizing conclusions with them
- Cite past work experience, speaking in terms of what your stakeholders really care about
- Run small tests on your ideas and share those results
The bottom line is, and I quote Jenny,
“Be persistent, almost to the point of annoyance.”
The key differentiator between persistence and annoyance though, is being insistent while also being mindful of other peoples’ time.
Now I’ve told you a bit about what to expect and what to do when you start the job. Here are a few things you can do now to prepare:
- Ask yourself — am I ready for the responsibility and leadership? Does organizing, convincing, and leading appeal to you?
- In the hiring process, have frank conversations about your responsibilities and degree of self-agency. This ensures that everyone’s on the same page.
- Also in the hiring process, ask how they plan on integrating design into the company. This will show you if they’ve thought about the implications of hiring a first designer, and how much they’ve prepared for it.
- In the days before you start work, ask to spend a day or two at the office to see how things are run. Come up with a few simple ideas to improve their product or make their process more efficient, and share them during your first few days. It’s a great way to get started and to make your mark as a proactive contributor.
And that’s all! I hope this helps you in your preparation to becoming a first designer, whether that’s soon or several years from now. Once again, thanks to Jenny for sharing such useful insights with everyone.
Thanks to: Jenny Mullins, Zac Halbert, and Kiersten Lammerding for their advice.
Want to chat? Send a tweet or see my portfolio for contact info.
