In most corporations, though Design departments may exist, they are the black sheep of the family and as such, can become the hot potato on an org chart.

Years ago when I moved into my corporate design leadership roles I had so many eye-opening epiphanies I'd wish I'd known when I was still in design firms. So I thought I'd share the highlights of a longer article of mine: A View From the Other Side: 10 things I wish I’d known when I was still on the agency side.

There are 5 particularly common issues I keep hearing about from company leaders and though they feel insurmountable, they are absolutely solvable.  Here are the issues, how they manifest in the workplace and some suggestions on how I’ve tackled each in my experience.

I've been talking with a lot of design leaders lately, and there's a pattern I'm seeing (or should I say a paralysis) that I find worrying related to AI. 

Yesterday we posted about how draining it is to do the work and fix a place at the same time.

Here's the part that makes it worse: most leaders can feel that something's off, but can't quite name it. So issues go unaddressed, and everyone assumes the dreaded 'it's just how things are here'!

We posed a question asking to reflect about whether your products truly reflect your brand, or just apply its color palette.

👉 Here's part 2: How you actually build a system that answers that with a YES!

Quick Tip: A few questions to ask before I kicking off any design review.

Why. It’s the most powerful tool in my arsenal and my secret to ultimately solving what’s wrong.