Ep 37: Forming a Design Leadership Mindset w/ Blake Everingham
Sep 12, 2023
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Blake Everingham, design leader with experience in user research and design mindset, discusses his fitness app side project, gorilla strategy for user research, lessons learned in startups and enterprises, and how to begin chiseling away at the design leadership mindset.
Experience and confidence are key factors in becoming a great design leader, allowing them to provide valuable insights and navigate the political landscape.
Working in a high-pressure environment can drive designers to exceed their own expectations and deliver exceptional results.
Design leaders should prioritize guiding and mentoring their team members, drawing on their own experience to provide valuable feedback and foster growth.
Deep dives
The Importance of Experience and Confidence in Design Leadership
Experience and confidence are key factors in becoming a great design leader. Through years of working in the industry, gaining expertise, and pushing boundaries, a designer can develop the necessary confidence to lead and provide valuable insights. This includes being able to offer solutions, push designers to excel, and navigate the political landscape. Additionally, a design leader should have the ability to sell ideas to executive-level stakeholders, acting as an ambassador for their team and leveraging their own experience to gain support and drive projects forward.
The Value of Pressure and Insecurity in Producing Great Work
Working in a high-pressure environment can drive designers to produce their best work. While excessive pressure can be detrimental to mental health, a certain level of pressure can push designers to exceed their own expectations and deliver exceptional results. Insecurity, while it may seem counterintuitive, can also be valuable as it motivates designers to continuously improve and strive for perfection. Experienced designers who have faced these challenges can help nurture the mindset needed to thrive in intense work environments.
Guiding and Mentoring Designers to Excel
Design leaders should prioritize guiding and mentoring their team members to help them grow as designers. By drawing on their own experience, design leaders can provide valuable feedback, push designers to step outside their comfort zones, and encourage them to exceed their own limits. Acting as a mentor, design leaders can help designers navigate challenges, gain confidence, and develop their skillsets. By creating a supportive environment and fostering growth, design leaders can empower their team to achieve their fullest potential.
The Importance of Designing Something Great in a Startup
In a startup, the challenge for designers is to let go of their usual design process and instincts to focus on designing something quick and great. This can feel like an attack on their skills and expertise, but it is necessary in the startup environment. The startup context requires designers to take a calculated approach, acknowledging that they may have to discard their usual methods and tools to quickly design and iterate. While it can be difficult to transition between these two approaches, it is an essential skill for designers in a startup.
The Significance of Quality and Passion in Design
Design has shaped the way the individual reflects on the quality of products and experiences in their daily life. The heightened awareness of design leads to a preference for well-crafted and thoughtfully designed items. Moreover, design has influenced the individual's professional mindset, emphasizing the importance of passion and care in their work. The individual realizes that they are personally motivated to work on projects that they are passionate about and surrounded by others who share the same level of dedication. They desire to be part of environments where designers care deeply, iterate tirelessly, and pursue excellence in order to build beautiful and high-quality solutions.
In this episode, Blake Everingham returns to the pod with some more design drip. Topics include his fitness app side project, his gorilla strategy for user research, what he learned using his instincts at a startup vs. enterprise, and of course how to begin chiseling away at the design leadership mindset.
