In the past few months, I’ve been mentoring a designer currently working at a BIG tech company in the Bay Area (a really big one that I won’t mention, of course). Over the course of our sessions, I could get some insights into this company’s design processes. Some things sounded like yellow flags to me, a few were orange and several were red flags (like crazy workload, internal Game of Thronesesque fights between managers, etc).
One of the most concerning ones, in my opinion, was when my mentee asked me “Is it normal that I always design alone? Do you ever work in a team?”. The question is legit, as this is the mentee’s first design job, but I was very surprised to hear something like that, coming from someone working at a company with tens (if not more) of designers and not from a designer in a startup where the design dept. consists of a single person.
My answer was “No, it’s definitely not normal!”. Product design is, in most cases, a team effort, especially when you’re working on very complex products as this designer is doing. In my memory, I can’t recall a single time when we got to the end of a project with a solution that came from one person only, without it being, at some point of the process, influenced by some other designer’s feedback, contribution or idea.
Usually, designers in a team split the tasks so that each one is accountable for a portion of the product design and there are moments in your day when you design alone and you totally need that. You can’t keep on brainstorming or designing by committee. It wouldn’t be efficient. But then, once you’re done with your idea, you want to get your teammates' opinions and feedback. Even before that, actually, you often need to pick someone else’s brain when you get stuck.
It’s pretty typical that after a while you’re banging your head on the wall of a problem, you want to have a fresh set of eyes and a bunch of new neurons to help you find a solution. This mentee of mine doesn’t have that! And the cherry on top: the manager requires them to come up with different solutions for these very complex problems. Without anyone to share and talk to.
This is the worst situation to be in as a junior designer, in my opinion. I don’t think the pressure of having all on your shoulder will make you mature (as a designer) faster, rather it’ll crash you.
How can someone learn and grow without having someone senior to go to and ask for advice? How can you get some relief from the stress of continuously having to come up with solutions and having them judged all the time (this is the designer’s life, basically), without peers that can take some of that weight off your back? How do you learn collaboration and compromising?
This is especially odd in this specific context, as we’re talking about a junior designer, with no prior experience of real work. This designer is doing good because of their skills and, most of all, incredible motivation. But still, not the best environment for someone to grow.
Can a junior product designer become a good designer in an environment like this? Maybe, but I can see their struggle, their need for someone to share their ideas with. Someone to look at and someone to talk to.
Product designers are generalists, as I explained in another article. But that doesn’t mean they’re a one-man band always designing solo. Being a generalist doesn’t mean being great at everything. It means knowing enough of everything and having some core skills where you are stronger. That’s why the best product design teams are the ones where every designer can tackle most tasks, but they excel at something that compensates the other team members’ weaknesses. This way, not only the final outcome will be great, but each designer can learn from the others and grow their skillset.
How such a big company doesn’t understand that is beyond me.
