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Andy Vitale - Scaling Your Design Organisation

Jun 24, 2024

Andy Vitale, Chief Design Officer at Constant Contact, discusses scaling design organizations, leadership challenges, and the impact of Grey's Anatomy on design. The podcast delves into nurturing talent, building relationships in design teams, and the evolution of design leadership roles in organizations. It also highlights the importance of asking questions, shifting perspectives, and embracing humility in professional settings.

01:05:39

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Episode guests

Andy Vitale

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Highlights

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Strategic five-year planning ensures lasting success and growth for design organizations.

Valuable feedback and constructive criticism drive personal and professional growth in design leadership.

Creating a culture of experimentation and learning from mistakes fosters resilience and continuous improvement within design teams.

Deep dives

Andy Vitale's Diverse Leadership Experience

Andy Vitale, Chief Design Officer at Constant Contact, possesses a wealth of experience in leading design teams across various organizations. From growing Rocket Companies' design team into a multi-disciplinary organization to mentoring designers at Kent State University, Andy demonstrates expertise in scaling design teams and fostering future design professionals' growth through engaging conversations and educational initiatives.

Design Solves Problems Through Collaboration

01:35

Design's Role in Driving Business Outcomes

01:27

Building a Design Community for Scale and Impact

01:54

Cherish Mistakes and Learn from Them

01:34

Intro

2min

Global Speaking Engagements and Sneaker Collection Talk

4min

Exploring the World of Lucha Libre and Personal Wrestling Experiences

2min

Career Transition and Anthrax Attack

7min

Nurturing Talent and Building Relationships in Design Organizations

16min

Evolution of Design Leadership Roles in Organizations

25min

Importance of Asking Questions and Shifting Perspectives in Professional Settings

9min

Andy Vitale shares his experiences as an executive design leader, how he’s successfully scaled several design orgs, and why a career in pro wrestling wasn’t for him.

Highlights include:

Why do you create a five year plan for the design orgs you lead?
How has Grey’s Anatomy informed the design of your design organisations?
Why go to the trouble of helping someone who’s struggling in an interview?
How do you navigate the expectations of being the most senior design leader?
How do you feel you’ve enabled people on your team to speak to you as an equal?

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Who is Andy Vitale?

Andy is the Chief Design Officer of Constant Contact, an automation platform that helps small businesses to simplify and amplify their digital marketing. In this crucial role, Andy is responsible for providing executive leadership for the design organisation.

A master when it comes to scaling design teams, while at Rocket Companies Andy grew the design team into a multidisciplinary organisation with over 170 people working across design, research and brand.

Aside from his busy day job, Andy is also helping to shape the thinking of future user experience professionals, through his work as an adjunct professor for Kent State University’s Masters of Science in User Experience Design programme.

Andy is the co-host of the Surfacing Podcast where, alongside Lisa Welchman, he engages designers, technologists, and business leaders in inspiring conversations.

He is a member of the Fast Company Executive Board, an Adobe Education Leader, and - believe it or not - he still finds time to mentor designers on ADPList.

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Find Andy here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyvitale/
Website: https://www.andyvitale.com/
Medium: https://medium.com/@andyvitale
X: https://twitter.com/andyvitale

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