What Do You Look For in a Designer? : Chelsea Vandiver, Ziba

1. What do you look for when hiring a designer?

Craft: Does their work demonstrate an eye for design and the ability to produce great work within the realities of manufacturing and budget constraints?

Design Thinking: Can they think broadly? Do they have an awareness of design's role within the context of business and culture?

Cultural Fit: Can they work in a rigorous multidisciplinary collaborative environment?

2. Is there a particular "tell" that signals a good or bad fit?

Craft and design thinking are competencies that can be easily assessed by viewing a designer's portfolio and listening to them present their work.

Cultural Fit is more difficult to gauge. The most telling signal of a potential good fit is an engaging dialogue. If a candidate does not demonstrate a genuine curiosity in the work that we do here, it's typically a red flag.

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Questions for Aaron Hayes of Courage Bicycle Mfg.

Close readers of the captions on Core77 photo galleries may already be familiar with Courage Bicycle Manufacturing from the North American Handmade Bicycle Show spread from earlier this year. Although only mentioned in one frame, Courage made a good-sized splash at NAHBS, taking the coveted Best New Builder award for their clean, subtly retro, fastidiously detailed works of rolling art. Like a lot of custom frame shops, though, Courage is really just one guy: Aaron Hayes, a 33-year-old Portlander, who is of exceptional interest to Creative Seeds because he's also an Industrial Designer.

There's plenty of precedent for this sort of shift. Designers who do studio work--especially in consultancies--rarely stay there for an entire career, often moving on to start their own companies after a few years. The hectic pace of the studio environment is a frequent explanation, as is a desire to see a more solid relationship between the design process and the finished product. For those reasons, moving into a field like custom fabrication can make perfect sense for an experienced designer, though the furniture builder with an ID degree is perhaps a more familiar example.

Aaron's particular choice--frame-building, a highly specialized discipline--combined with his rapid success in the endeavor makes for an interesting spin on the "what else can you do with a design degree?" story, and he was kind enough to answer a few questions via email earlier this week.

There seems to be an unusual fondness for bikes among designer-types, and Industrial Designers in particular. Why do you think that might be?
I think that stems from many designer types wrenching on their bikes as kids. I fondly remember completely disassembling my first real road bike, and struggling to get it back together. It taught me a lot about how stuff works.

Before founding Courage, you worked as an Industrial Designer here in Portland. Can you give us a quick timeline: school, work, and freelance?
I graduated from ASU with a BS in Design in 2000, then moved to Portland to work at Ziba. I'd interned there for a year in school, so I had the luxury of a job waiting for me. Ziba was like a kind of graduate school--we worked hard and lived the "designer" life-- but I got burned out after 3 years of late nights and uber-cool t-shirts.

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Questions for Jordan Nollman of Sprout Studios

Even by the strictest reckoning, Jordan Nollman has had a spectacular career as an industrial designer, evidenced by a quick look through his website, which features successful products for Virgin Atlantic, Bose, Dell, Burton Snowboards, Polaroid, Nokia, Nike, and dozens of others. After six years on the staff of San Francisco-based Astro Studios, Jordan recently decided to leave, focusing on his personal design firm Sprout Studio, and expanding a long-term role designing personal grooming and related products for Clio Designs.

Over the past decade, you've designed product, environment and packaging for IDEO, Ziba, Razorfish, Astro, Altitude, Eleven...an astonishing array of high-profile consultancies, but you decided to pack it up and work independently. What makes working for yourself more appealing than for some of the world's top firms?
For me it's a personality thing, and it's about having more freedom. Working independently, I can really drive projects, whereas when you consult for large client firms there are all sorts of other factors. You can work for a year or more on a one or two million dollar project, and it'll get killed before release. Or the division that was supporting it gets cut. All sorts of things.

At the end of the day, you want to get some stuff made, and working at a consultancy for larger clients that's often not the case. Working independently for Clio, on the other hand, I had seven different products go to market in six years, and that was just through freelancing on the side. It's exciting, getting to see your design get made, and the cycle tends to be faster with smaller companies. I designed an iPhone case for Press8 Collective, for example, and it got made in two weeks.

How do you find clients as an independent?
I've got a really good network. Back in school I really latched onto anyone I could, to the point that a lot of my clients now are actually referrals from other designers. Working for Astro in San Francisco was a real network-expanding experience as well; it's like venture capital central there, and I'd get a call every other day from someone who was cashing out from the tech industry and wanted to develop a product of some sort.

You were in the Bay Area for 6 years. Why the move back to Boston?
Three main reasons. First, Clio made me a fantastic offer, essentially making me their chief creative designer if I'd come out here. Second, I have a daughter now, and my whole family's in Boston, and it's important to have that around. But on top of that, the design culture in Boston has really come up recently. Maybe it's the fascination of the Big Dig, or all the schools, but there are a huge number of design firms here, and the IDSA Boston chapter is maybe the only really strong chapter I've seen. I love San Francisco, and may go back eventually, but it's super-saturated with designers...I had a lot of peers there, but here in Boston, I've got a lot of mentors.

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What Do You Look For in a Designer? : Alexander Romer / Collectif EXYZT

1. What do you look for when hiring a designer?
I've mostly worked in and with collectives, so any designer hired would need to be comfortable in this kind of work group--which sometimes means making a lot of fuss about nothing, and sometimes a big mess. Nonetheless, I think the only way to keep a collective working and healthy in the long term is for each designer to be quite individual and autonomous, and have her own opinion. The result is more a kind of synergy of individuals who share their ideas, rather than just some honey made by a bunch of mindless worker bees.

Whoever I hire would need to make space for others; interpret and advance an initial idea, and also, of course, take pleasure in developing projects with others. But probably the most important trait would have to be patience: a collective decision is often followed by the disappearance of some of the members...

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What Do You Look For in a Designer? : Jason Bacon, UNKL / Big-Giant

1. What do you look for when hiring a designer?
Balance and diversity. Obviously the work has to be great, but so often we meet designers who are very one-dimensional, and don't have the ability to talk about their work or sell themselves. In the end, being a designer is about selling your ideas, whether you are selling your ideas to clients, your peers internally, or to a creative director.

If I had to pick between someone who is an unbelievable designer but can't interact with people or talk about their work, and a designer who is good, but incredible with people and can sell, I'd pick the latter. In the end the work needs to be absolutely solid; however in a studio our size we need a highly versatile staff, and because we spend so much time together, chemistry is very high on the list.

2. Is there a particular "tell" that signals a good or bad fit?
I think the biggest tell for a bad fit is when a designer piles on a ton of excuses while running us through their work, or frames up a project with a comment about how bad or difficult the client was, or how stupid the project itself was. It happens a lot more than it should. I think you can identify challenges within a project, but good designers know how to turn negatives into positives. Sometimes limitations can be a blessing, and showing you have the ability to turn a less than ideal situation into a success is very valuable. We often see people showing work that they don't believe in, only because it was produced. I'm impressed with people who show that work and then follow it up with what their ideas are.

As for a good fit, I love it when people show us personal work. I enjoy seeing who they are as a designer beyond work, and how passionate they are about a creative endeavor that is simply a labor of love. It shows me that they are more than a nine to five designer. We always say that if you are truly a designer it's who you are, not what you do.

Our studio encourages all of our designers to take time at work to create for themselves. It keeps everyone fresh and ultimately it shows up in the work. Some of the coolest work I've seen has been personal. They had a great idea and created something completely amazing because they had to get it out of their head, and it takes a different level of dedication to follow through on a personal project.

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What Do You Look For in a Designer? : Nicolas Roope, Poke

1. What do you look for when hiring a designer?
I look for existing talent and ability--the kind on the surface and in evidence in an imaginatively presented portfolio or site. I'm looking for confidence mixed with an openness. There's nothing worse than someone who either rolls over too easily or won't budge at all.

Then I'm looking a bit deeper to figure what latent potential lays beneath. We're always looking for people with the potential to become exceptional but who may not necessarily be there quite yet. Clues lay in attitude and the way someone talks about anything--not just their work. The thing I see in exceptional people is a kind of hunger, an ambition that is still tempered by a humbleness that gives them the space to learn.

2. Is there a particular "tell" that signals a good or bad fit?
I like odd people. There's no rule. For me you can only be too cool or slick, never too uncool. And it's not about the right type; it's really more about fundamental qualities and someone's energy and enthusiasm.

3. What is your best interview "horror story"?
This is technically not my story, but a colleague's at Poke. A friend at a rival agency was raving about a designer that they said, for purely financial reasons, they couldn't hire themselves, so passed them on to us for consideration. We eagerly approached them and organised an interview. He came in, opened his book and nearly burned our eyes out. It was horrific, and we had been royally duped. Of course you can't boot someone out of an interview on the grounds of offensive work, and certainly it wasn't his fault that he was there. So we sat it out, trying not to hurt his feelings. I'm tempted to expose the culprit, but he's now in a high position and don't think it would do his reputation much good...but YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!! (If you are the designer I'm very sorry he put you through it.)

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What do you look for in a designer? : Yang Kim, Creative Director, People Design

1. What do you look for when hiring a designer?
First, they need to have a really strong portfolio and be able to talk about their projects beyond a prepared script. We look for original ideas, finished, professional looking work, and good type skills. Good type skills matter to me. They speak to me about sensitivity to details. Our designers need to have good communication skills, both for internal collaboration and for client presentations. Can they talk about their projects, and process their thoughts and responses on their feet? Are they interesting when they do?

The most important thing I look for is their attitude. Are they motivated to work, to learn something, to take criticism, to assist? When they talk about their work, is their focus entirely on their own ideas and contributions, or do they talk about the viewer/reader/user/audience? About their colleagues? About the goals of the project? I especially want to hear sensitivity to the audience.

And then I check out their shoes, of course. But shoes can be fixed.

2. Is there a particular "tell" that signals a good or bad fit?
If they start asking about who they will be working for, what types of projects they would be working on, when will they get a project of their own to work on, or what will their title be, then we know that they might not have the right attitude.

Oh, and dusty boards! At least make sure your work samples are clean.

3. What is your best interview "horror story"?
This isn't really horrifying. What's horrifying is how typical it is. We interviewed a junior designer who came highly recommended. We were all impressed with her, her portfolio, and her speaking skills. She was a fun, easy-going, motivated to do good work, ready to learn—everything we were looking for. We practically hired her on the spot.

When we started talking about money, it was as if I was talking to a different person. She was asking for a figure that a designer of 4-6 years experience might make, yet she only had 2 years of experience as a print designer. Her duties so far were in assisting on projects, babysitting a "pro bono" project, pitch/concept sketches, and no production or photoshoot experience.

Continue reading "What do you look for in a designer? : Yang Kim, Creative Director, People Design" »

What do you look for in a designer? : Ann Willoughby, Willoughby Design Group

1. What do you look for when hiring a designer?
We are celebrating our 30th anniversary next year. In the early days I tended to hire people who had similar skills and personality traits that reflected my view of the world. I focused more on raw talent and how the person fit in within our culture. Fortunately, most everyone we hired earlier on had the skills to attract and advance long-term business for us.

Business and design have changed significantly since 1978, so today we look for specific knowledge rather than general skills. We hire people who can think, are curious and passionate about pushing beyond obvious solutions. We do not hire prima donnas. Period. But we subscribe to David Kelly's T approach: Big picture thinker (arm of the T) with deep knowledge in one area (stem of the T). We look for self-starters. Willoughby tends to hire younger, highly motivated talented designers with a degree of maturity. Because they come without preconceived ideas about working in a firm, we can help them develop their unique talents.

2. Is there a particular "tell" that signals a good or bad fit?
We usually have prospective designers meet with several people, and if there is an "issue" (good or bad) someone is usually tuned in. We call references and sometimes we use personality tests for certain leadership positions. Dress and presentation skills are important in the first interview; it's the total package. Bad shoes are not a good sign--depending on one's definition of bad--so stick with clean and well groomed. Fit is a peculiar notion because it is not always obvious from an interview. Companies are organic social organizations, and some people thrive in one environment and fail in another for mysterious reasons.

Once a designer or intern is hired, fit is much more apparent. We expect designers to build relationships internally and externally by paying attention to what is in the best interest of our clients' and our business. The ability to listen and ask cogent questions is usually a sign of a successful hire. Talented designers who are able to form genuine bonds and trusting relationships with clients and coworkers usually stay with us for years.

Writing and communication skills are certainly important. Because our designers have client contact, we rely on their ability to give clear, accurate feedback to clients and to our internal management team. For example, we encourage weekly updates, and we want to know when a project is succeeding and when improvement is needed in real time. A designer who is able to offer insight in a professional and encouraging manner gains enormous respect from the client and the team. It is easy to see when a designer is putting her or his agenda ahead of the company or client's needs. When a client comes to me with a complaint before the designer has alerted me, it is usually clear that there is a hidden agenda on the designer's end or she is not in sync with her client. In either case, this is a sign of someone who is not willing to take responsibility for their actions.

3. What is your best interview "horror story"?
Horror stories, let's see. This is a too-good-to-be true story about an interview that went beautifully.

Continue reading "What do you look for in a designer? : Ann Willoughby, Willoughby Design Group" »

What do you look for in a designer? : Peter Merholz, Adaptive Path

1. What do you look for when hiring a designer?
Three things come to mind:
1. Skills. Obviously, the candidate has to top quality design skills. I want to see a portfolio, not just of finished product, but of the creative process. We know that final designs are the result of a lot of decisions made by various people. What did you do in the process?

2. Ability to present and communicate. I work in a professional services firm. It's not enough to have amazing design skills, only to have no ability to articulate the rationale behind the design. We want our work to see the light of day, to have an impact on people's lives, and in order for this to happen, we have to communicate meaningfully about the design.

3. A passion not for design, but for the effects of design. We don't want people interested in design for design's sake. We look for people who have passion for the impact that design can have on the world.

2. Is there a particular "tell" that signals a good or bad fit?
Good fits:
- Willingness to get up to a whiteboard and start drawing
- Challenge an assertion I've made
- Respond to my question not with an answer, but with an intelligent insightful question of their own

Bad fits:
- Didn't bring examples of work product (portfolio, sketches, whatever). I can't tell you how many people have shown up empty-handed
- Spend all their time talking, and don't ask me any questions; Unprofessional appearance (we're a services firm; save the wifebeater and flip-flops for the weekend)
- You can't interestingly answer the question, "What pisses you off?"

3. What is your best interview "horror story"?
No answer here. That's a good thing, right?

4. What is the single most valuable piece of advice you could give to those on the hunt?
Be honest. Don't try to sell yourself to a particular organization. Be the most you can be, warts and all.

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Peter Merholz is President and one of the founders of Adaptive Path. For more than six years, Peter has been instrumental in developing Adaptive Path's ability to provide world-class consulting, training and public events. He is an internationally recognized thought leader on user experience. He's keynoted such conferences as the IA Summit; About, With, and For and SIGCHI.nl. His blogs and his essays demonstrate his foresight on issues of information architecture, organizational change and product strategy.

What do you look for in a designer? : Yves Béhar and Josh Morenstein, Fuseproject

1. What do you look for when hiring a designer?
YVES: At fuseproject, I leave the responsibility of a first interview to the design director Josh Morenstein and some the senior designers and creative leaders. For me it is critical that the team feels right about a new designer coming in, from both an ability standpoint, and a personality standpoint.

When I come in on the second interview, I assume the team feels strongly that the person is a good designer, and that the skills are impressive. My personal interest is to find somebody who will bring something new to the mix--this is critical as the team is very diverse. That unique trait can be a skill that clearly jumps out of the portfolio, a willingness to explore and experiment in areas we are not participating in yet but would like to, an area of personal interest and insight which could translate into an interesting design approach.

JOSH: We're very hands on here: sketching, sewing, building...much of our design work takes experimentation. I'm always looking out for a portfolio that exhibits this type of interest or capacity. Also, I'm drawn to dynamic people--the ability to communicate not just visually but verbally is key.

2. Is there a particular "tell" that signals a good or bad fit?
YVES: This might be useful: Somebody showing up in a 3-piece suit and tie...somebody showing up in flip-flops...somewhere in the middle is right.

JOSH: I especially look for people who wear a 3 piece suit with flip-flops.

3. What is your best interview horror story?
YVES: One guy showed up with 3 of fuseproject's portfolio products perfectly replicated in 3-D, it was so accurate, even though it was modeled after images. At first I was scared...and then we hired him because of the valuable 3-D skill!

JOSH: Most interviews are pretty 'normal.' That said, I remember early in my career when I went in for an interview late one afternoon. They hired me on the spot and 'asked' if I could work that day. My first day turned into my first morning. I left that interview at 5am the next day.

4. What is the single most valuable piece of advice you could give to those on the hunt?
YVES: Have a point of view that translates into your work. Engage into a dialogue, not a diatribe.

JOSH: Be able to talk about and show excitement for your work; If you're not excited about it, we probably won't be either.

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Yves Béhar is the founder of fuseproject, an integrated design agency dedicated to the development of the emotional experience of brands through story-telling. The diverse experience and mediums practiced by the fuseproject design teams span products, environments, graphics, packaging, apparel and strategy. Béhar’s designs and creative positioning is contributing to areas as diverse as technology, furniture, sports, lifestyle and fashion, for clients such as Herman Miller, MINI, Nike, Cassina, Microsoft, Hussein Chalayan, Swarovski, Birkenstock, Toshiba, Sony, One Laptop Per Child, Target and Coca Cola.

Josh Morenstein is the design director of fuseproject, heading up the design studio and playing an active role in the creative direction of all projects. His category leading work for clients such as Lufthansa, Palm, Nokia, Epson, and Puma have established him as an expert in the marrying of form with function, and of brand with product. A second generation Industrial Designer, Josh has held senior positions at Frog Design and New Deal Design.

What do you look for in a designer? : Paul Budnitz, founder, Kidrobot

1. What do you look for when hiring a designer?
Everybody who works at this company needs to function part time either as a designer, or at the very least as a critic that can help us to make creative decisions. Part of our creative process includes grabbing people who come from different places and figuring out whether or not a new design is undeniably excellent. My job is knowing who is needed for each project. I hire people that have passion for creating beautiful things, that are willing to be flexible and get themselves and their own egos out of the way when necessary. And that have a sense that Kidrobot is all about collaboration and making many decisions very fast under pressure. I have a tendency to kill projects that just aren't working, and that can happen after a lot of time and energy has been invested in them. We don't have time for people that are putting themselves first.

2. Is there a particular "tell" that signals a good or bad fit?
Some people have no common sense--you can send them out to buy a tube of toothpaste and they'll make a mess out of it. Others you can just say, "our t-shirts aren't working, the colors are too dull," and they'll come back with a dozen options, half of which are useful.

Near as I can figure common sense is something that you either have, or don't. I don't have the experience of people developing common sense over time.

I have no patience for people who attach their egos to everything they do; those people tend not to be creative thinkers. I'd rather hire someone with little experience, but with talent, energy, and an open mind than a veteran who can't get out of the box.

3. What is your best interview "horror story"?
I don't have any horror stories, because if an interview isn't working after about 5 minutes I politely thank the candidate for taking the time to meet with me, and just tell them that it isn't going to work and move on.

I come to interviews with a sense of gratitude--this person is taking their time to talk to me. From that position it is easy to get out of the room quickly if that is what is needed.

4. What is the single most valuable piece of advice you could give to those on the hunt?
I had a candidate come to me, and she said, "I have been bussing tables for the past 12 months because I was waiting for the perfect job. I'm here because I want to work for you more than anything and if I don't work for you, I'd rather go back to work at the restaurant until something else comes up that's worth my time." I hired her almost three years ago and she's worked her way pretty high up in our company now.

My advice is, show up and be genuinely passionate about the job if it's one you really want. If you're ambivalent, and you can afford to, wait for the right thing to come along.

The best simple advice I can give is, SHOW UP EARLY. I never consider a candidate that is even five minutes late.

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Paul Budnitz is the founder of Kidrobot, makers and retailers of limited-edition toys and apparel. Fusing graffiti, fine art, industrial design, graphic design, illustration and music, Budnitz has turned his obsessions into an art, with three stores/galleries and numerous collaborations with artists of all disciplines. The designer-as-entrepreneur reflects both the enterprising nature of designers looking toward the future and society's ever-increasing fascination with play.

What do you look for in a designer? : Stefan Sagmeister, Sagmeister Inc.

Ok, here some quick answers, all bone and no meat.

1. What do you look for when hiring a designer?
It's about 50/50: Half is the portfolio, half is the personality. I don't wanna work with talented assholes. Considering my studio is so small, I am looking for people who are good at things I am bad at. In the portfolio, like everybody else I presume, I look for good concepts well executed.

2. Is there a particular "tell" that signals a good or bad fit?
Enthusiasm for design and all things design and all things non-design.

3. What is your best interview "horror story"?
I don't have horror stories. One woman took several calls on her cell during the interview and I had to tell her that this is not within regular behavior.

4. What is the single most valuable piece of advice you could give to those on the hunt?
Send something unique and personal to the studio you are applying to when setting up the interview. Letters addressed to "dear Madam/Sir" go into the garbage.

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Stefan Sagmeister, a native of Austria, received his MFA in graphic design from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and, as a Fulbright Scholar, a master's degree from Pratt Institute in New York. He formed the New York-based Sagmeister Inc. in 1993 and has designed graphics and packaging for clients such as the Rolling Stones, David Byrne, Lou Reed, Aerosmith and Pat Metheny. He is the recipient of many awards, including a Grammy, and lectures widely on design.