Former Chief Design Officer at Airbnb, Alex Schleifer, discusses creating a culture of decisiveness, leadership in design, preparing for an AI future, achieving craft at scale, and instilling Airbnb's culture in your team. He also touches on the importance of tools in design, storytelling potential in games, and his journey post-Airbnb.
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Quick takeaways
Building a design culture at scale involves a focus on hiring, refining practices, and fostering talent growth.
Emphasizing craft, intentionality, and decisiveness in design processes leads to impactful decision-making culture.
Integration of motion design tools like Jitter and emphasizing individual contributions in leadership enhance design quality.
Deep dives
Using Video to Showcase Work and Jitter for Motion Design
The trend of using video to highlight designs is highlighted as a way to add premium quality, with a tool like Jitter simplifying motion design work. Jitter, akin to Figma but for motion design, streamlines the process and offers templates for easy usage.
Building a Design Culture at Airbnb
Former Chief Design Officer at Airbnb, Alex Schleifer, discusses developing a design culture at scale. He shares insights on hiring criteria, interaction with co-founder Brian Chesky, and leading the design team's growth from 35 to 650 members.
Hiring and Recruiting Strategies at Airbnb
Schleifer details their recruiting team's integration with the company culture, emphasizing the importance of close involvement in the hiring process. The focus on raw talent identification and hosting events to attract potential hires contributes to successful scaling of the design team.
Evolving Approach to Hiring Designers Over Six Years
Schleifer reflects on the evolution of hiring practices during his tenure at Airbnb. Initially adopting best practices from other companies, the shift towards discerning talent based on technical proficiency, creativity, and systemic design understanding indicates a refined hiring strategy over time.
Culture of Craft, Decision-Making, and Leadership in Design
Schleifer emphasizes the significance of maintaining craft, intentionality, and decisiveness in design processes. Encouraging a flat organization structure with a focus on individual contributions and leadership capable of operational involvement ensures a more efficient and impactful decision-making culture.
Alex Schleifer was the long-time Chief Design Officer at Airbnb where he grew the team from ~35 to over 600 people. So this conversation is an inside look at what makes design at Airbnb so special. We discuss:
How to create a culture of decisiveness
Why great design leaders are like chefs
How to succeed in executive CRITs at Airbnb
How designers should prepare for an AI future
What it means to operate with a “first team” mindset
What it takes to achieve Airbnb’s level of craft at scale
Which elements of the Airbnb culture you can instill for your team