Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

35 years of product design wisdom from Apple, Disney, Pinterest and beyond | Bob Baxley

1336 snips
Jun 12, 2025
In this engaging discussion, Bob Baxley, a seasoned design leader who has worked at Apple, Pinterest, and Yahoo, shares his insights on the moral obligation of creators to prioritize user-friendly designs. He explains why smaller teams yield better products, revealing the 'Beatles principle' of effective collaboration. Baxley emphasizes the importance of understanding design tenets versus principles, the counterintuitive approach to prototyping, and his experiences navigating corporate cultures. His stories of innovation and empathy in design are both enlightening and inspiring.
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Bouncing Off Pinterest Culture

  • Bob Baxley had a challenging experience at Pinterest because he didn't adapt from Apple's intense direct culture.
  • He advises holding onto core values but adapting behaviors to fit new company cultures.
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Join Companies That Value Design

  • When interviewing, ask founders about their genuine commitment to design's value.
  • Join companies where design is embedded deeply in the culture from the start, not grafted on later.
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Design As Future Imagination

  • Design is imagining a future and making it real, an intentional mindset beyond visual appearance.
  • Not all companies think in a design mindset, affecting how they compete via design.
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