Steal from the Best:

How to Build High Impact Design Teams

Reinvigorate your team instead of reinventing the wheel.

Build diversity, drive strategic thinking and more. Learn from Creative Directors and Design Leaders who've overcome challenges, beat burnout and empowered their teams. Curious? We thought so.

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Your Roadmap to Navigating Design Leadership

Whether it’s doing design work remotely or battling burnout from tight turnarounds, navigating the unique challenges faced in creative leadership can be tricky. Luckily, you don’t have to solve these problems alone. From hiring and sparking inspiration, to effective team structures and must-have tools, this guide is jam packed with advice.

5 In-Depth Interviews

Hear honest stories and advice from some of the brightest creative leaders

Actionable Frameworks

Gain access to tried and true design and creative leadership models

Additional Resources

Extend your learning with takeaways and further readings after each chapter

Build Your Vision, Borrow Their Experience

Read the guide

Creating Diverse Teams with Samantha Berg

As the Head of Design at Chime, Samantha has found the value in diversity on her team. By bringing together people from a variety of backgrounds, skillsets, identities and working styles she’s able to draw from a wide range of perspectives, and more thoroughly address user problems.

Creative Leadership Models with Adam Morgan

As the award-winning Executive Creative Director for Adobe, Adam knows a thing or two about creative leadership. Adam talked to us about how to structure an effective design team, and the tech that can enable it. He also shares his philosophy growing designers in their role and career, and how to foster innovation through ownership.

Fighting Burnout and Inspiring Creativity with Ching Hsieh

Ching is the Sr. Staff Product Designer at Included Health and she spoke to us about battling that ever present enemy of a productive design team – burnout. It sounds simple, but “doing less” can often prevent burnout and ultimately increase quality and output. She also believes that management shouldn’t be the only path to design leadership.

Turning Task Takers into Strategists with Shachar Aylon

Shachar, previously the Executive Creative Director at Picsart, believes it’s absolutely necessary for his design team to experience new challenges to get inspired and grow as creatives. He shares how to go about promoting strategy and encourage experimentation, ultimately taking designers from task-takers to strategists.

Designing in a Remote World with Vuokko Aro

Vuokko is the VP of Design at Monzo, and – like most teams – is having to navigate the new challenges (and benefits) of an all remote world. She believes that with the right tools and processes, there are advantages to remote collaboration that can help level-up your design team.

Learn From the Best and Brightest in Design

“Creative people have an opportunity to step up and lead. Take ownership of creative strategy and lead with other divisions or clients. Don’t hide behind an account person or project manager but be the face of trusted creativity.”

Adam MorganExecutive Creative Director, Adobe

“Look for a qualified candidate who doesn’t necessarily fit the stereotypical 'experience' - like big name companies or schools - but has a spark your team is missing. A background you don’t share, an education none of your team has, or a working style that isn’t common to the rest of the squad."

Samantha BergHead of Design, Chime

"In the design world, you’re either on the management track, or you’re on the IC track. The reality is that as an IC designer, there comes a time when you're nearing the top rung, and you look up — do you keep climbing onto that management ladder (which is actually stacked on top of the IC one)?"

Ching HsiehSr. Staff Product Designer, Included Health

“As long as we clearly articulate what success looks like, there is freedom within every project to approach challenges in unique ways. Every person has their own working style and a different approach to creative problem solving.”

Shachar AylonExecutive Creative Director, Ex-Picsart

"Design is in a unique position to make ideas tangible, and to then lead a discussion on whether the direction is right or not. After that we go back and forth, working our way towards the correct solution together."

Vuokko AroVP of Design, Monzo

Steal from the Best:

How to Build High Impact Design Teams

Building and sustaining a high-impact design team is no easy task, which is why we made this guide. Access it for free to start leading your design team to a better future.