https://www.abstract.com/blog/design-leadership-skills
In an increasingly collaborative design world, hard and fast rules don't necessarily apply. But traits like emotional intelligence, future-obsession, and ability to trust rise to the top.
Inspiring, confident, and creative are all traits you’d likely expect of strong design leaders, and these qualities are absolutely necessary. But how do they inspire with confidence and creativity? With experience, hard work, and talent, for sure — but it goes beyond that.
As Jared Spool of Center Centre-UIE points out, design leadership is not design management. “Management is essential for a design team to succeed,” he writes. “But it’s not design leadership. Design leaders are stewards of a design effort.”
We’re hearing a lot lately about how some of the best design leaders don’t necessarily have a traditional top-down leadership style. It’s a more collaborative approach, explains Anthony Armendariz, Head of Design at Funsize, the company he runs with his wife Natalie Armendariz. “My most important function is serving and growing designers,” he says of leading his Austin design studio for clients ranging from Adobe to Volvo. “I feel strongly that it’s our job as design leaders to be obsessed with developing and creating the next generation of amazing designers and design leaders.”
My most important function is serving and growing designers.
Anthony Armendariz | Head of Design at Funsize
Linda Eliasen, Head of Design at Help Scout, echoes Anthony’s sentiment. “There’s alwaysroom to improve our collaboration, documentation, and communication — not only as individuals but as a team,” she says.
After tapping quite a few brains in the design community, we’ve summarized eight critical skills and abilities of design leaders. Do you agree? Designers and principal designers, what's your take? Share your thoughts by tagging @goabstract on Twitter.
Trust is easier said than done when it comes to scaling a design team, but it is possible if you trust your ability to hire good people and clearly define problems. Because design leaders cannot afford to micro-manage, they must establish smooth processes, which include providing your team with tools, resources, problem-solving techniques, and support they need to do their best work.
We should never prescribe solutions, unless the thing you want is a very specific illustration of a cat holding a wrench.
Linda Eliasen | Head of Design at HelpScout
“Designers are smart — we hire them because they solve problems,” Linda says. “We should never prescribe solutions to them, unless the thing you want is a very specific illustration of a cat holding a wrench, but aside from that, trust them to solve the brief.”
Once Linda briefs her team, she stands back as much as possible, allowing designers to breathe. She says she’s usually amazed at designers’ work and how much better it is than what was “inside her head.” Linda suggests getting to a place where you can say this honestly to your team: “I appreciate your brain and your craft. I’m getting you involved with this problem early, before I’ve figured out all of the details myself, because I trust that you are the one who is going to solve it.”
Abstract Co-Founders Kevin Smith and Josh Brewer are open about sharing the company’s startup story and pointing out that Abstract began with big ideas and some really big questions. They also welcome team members of all levels to help solve big problems — and then listen to their ideas. During a weekly All Hands meeting, Kevin asked, “What happens if we connect the dots of our product in new ways?" He followed up with an email to say more about the “invitation to dream,” which resulted in a number of creative ideas.
