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Design/UX Team Structure

over 9 years ago from Matt Felten, Design System Lead at YouCaring

  • Matt FeltenMatt Felten, over 9 years ago

    Really interesting Ryan. Having design as an "internal agency" seems the most logical to me, although that's pretty much what I'm used to. An agency structure.

    I was also reading about a "hub and spoke" approach, where designers are actually divided out into respective teams and integrated closer to the actual work they're doing.

    That said, I don't think, even with hiring one more designer, we'd be able to do that, so I'm probably putting the cart in front of the horse here.

    1 point
    • Ryan McLaughlinRyan McLaughlin, over 9 years ago

      I'm not a fan of the hub and spoke approach to be honest.

      • I think you get more stylistic deviation creeping in an organization laid out that way, especially as you grow. Lots more pressure on the director to manage that.

      • You have to consider budgeting disparity. If your designers all need a new version of software, but the designer in Marketing doesn't have the budget, then what? You'd still have to ensure your design team got their own budget.

      • What if the Sales team does really well and celebrates by taking the team out to an outing? The one designer goes and the other designers are kinda left out. You lose a lot of the "team" vibe IMO.

      It probably can work, but if the ultimate goal is consistency and quality of work from the designers, I think as a director it's better to keep everyone close to the nest.

      1 point