Though the book I co-wrote is titled Org Design for Design Orgs, and, sure, it addresses broader design concerns (communication design, service design, hardware and industrial design, environmental design), it’s focused on a kind of design org, specifically digital product/UX design orgs reflecting the bulk of the experience Kristin and I have. 

As such, I’ve been surprised, and humbled, when I meet Brand Design leaders who have read the book and found it helpful in thinking about how they shape their teams. What I’ve found is that, as these teams grow, their leaders not only struggle with many of the same challenges product/UX design leaders face, their distinct organizational context leads to a whole bunch of different problems.

Yesterday, I had the honor of facilitating a public conversation titled “Org Design for Brand Design Orgs,” featuring Li-Anne Dias (Director of Brand Design at Handshake), Erin Pinkley (VP, Creative at Zendesk), and Jessica Rosenberg (Director of Brand Design at Webflow). The idea for the event came about when Li-Anne reached out to me with a lot of thoughts on applying the lessons from the book to her work, and so I connected her with Erin and Jess, both of whom I’d had the fortune of supporting in the past. Li-Anne prepared a presentation to kick things off, and I facilitated the conversation between the three of them, as well as bringing in questions from the audience. This all took place over Zoom, so we recorded it, and I have shared it on my just-launched YouTube channel:

Over these 75 minutes, we cover a lot of ground, but what we also realized is that this is a conversation that is just beginning. Each of us would love to continue the discussion, so if you’ve got ideas on where to do so, let us know!