The journey starts just after midnight when Izzy slipped free of her collar and sprinted away, and ends at 7am with a phone call and a huge sigh of relief… — This story was originally written and shared on Facebook on September 1st, 2020 at 8pm the evening after the event itself. Writing and sharing it was a helpful and necessary part of processing the trauma. …

A deep dive into our day-to-day: meeting cadences, rituals, and anything that helps our design team stay connected and efficient. — | This article is cross-posted from the Figma Blog A few weeks ago during a webinar on remote critiques, I shared a glimpse into our product design team’s process here at Figma, and subsequently linked to the deck on the Figma Community. …

Learn about our six unique methods for design critique, along with some tips and best practices for running them effectively. — This article is cross-posted from the Figma Blog Design critiques are a key part of just about every design culture, and one of the few consistent rituals design teams share. Done well, they can leverage the unique superpowers of your team members to raise the collective quality of each individual’s…

An inside look into who we are and how we got here — We couldn’t be more proud to announce 4 new designers — Tori Hinn, Lucyné Babayan, Bradee Evans, and Marcin Wichary — to the Figma Design team! Just under a year ago, we only had one full-time core product designer and a few of us chipping in part-time toward feature work…

An attempt at refining my thoughts and values in the open — Early into working together, my first manager at Google shared with me his “User Manual” — a short guide he wrote about himself to put all his cards on the table and help people understand him. For example, his written communication was often very terse and succinct. Out of context…

I often get asked by friends, family, and acquaintances for advice on where to look to learn about design (what I do for a living). …

Why I’m Joining Figma — After almost 2 years in New York, I am excited to be moving back to San Francisco to manage the design team at Figma. I couldn’t be more thrilled for my new home, where I’ll be working with an incredibly talented team building the future of collaborative design tools. In…

This month is my 2nd year anniversary becoming a product design manager. I’m still new to it. I didn’t go to school for management. I simply became a manager when I was campaigning to get more design help on the project I was working on. …

Tips for new designers entering the industry — Last week, I did my best to give advice to 24 strangers in a series of 30 minute one-on-one sessions over 4 days. It was one of the most fun / unique / rewarding / stressful / exciting / weird experiences I’ve had in a long time. …