Design Life

This episode is sponsored by Playbook, which is a collaborative platform for creatives to store, organize, and share their work. It features AI-powered search and integrates seamlessly with design tools, making it a great space to manage all your files and projects. Join the "30 Days of 30 Projects" Challenge with Playbook to elevate your creative skills and unlock your full potential!

In this live Q&A session, Femke and Charli dive into key topics for designers, including staying relevant in the industry, navigating stakeholder misalignment, making career moves, and the challenges and rewards of building a design culture as a founding designer.

0:38 Episode start and catch up

04:39 Playbook sponsorship

06:43 Q1: How do you stay cool and relevant for 9 years in the design industry?

08:30 Q2: When stakeholders are misaligned in product leadership, should a designer check in with the project manager to ensure alignment at the team level? Should designers step beyond the technical scope of their role to address misalignment?

13:22 Q3: What does it feel like to be a founding designer and how can you create a design culture?

15:48 Q4: How do you start a new role after ending on a low note at a previous company?

18:04 Q5: What’s the difference between a visual designer and a UI designer?

22:20 Q6: What were your sources of inspiration for shaping the new creative direction for Kit?

24:04 Follow up on the founding designer question

25:17 Q7: How do you view the current job market? Is it important to base career moves on company name recognition, or should you prioritize skills and experience over past employers?

30:08 Q8: How can you make your growth plan more actionable and trackable, especially when discussing career progression with your manager?

33:40 Q9: What advice do you have for someone hiring and leading a design team for the first time?

38:38 Q10: What are the main lessons you’ve learned from doing the podcast and sharing your career journey? Has the podcast contributed to your design thinking and overall creative self-development?

Big thanks to our sponsor for this episode, Playbook! Be sure to check them out and see how they can elevate your workflow

Femke’s course “Product strategy for designers”

Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at [email protected]

‍

This episode is sponsored by Playbook, which is a collaborative platform for creatives to store, organize, and share their work. It features AI-powered search and integrates seamlessly with design tools, making it a great space to manage all your files and projects. Join the "30 Days of 30 Projects" Challenge with Playbook to elevate your creative skills and unlock your full potential!

Charli and Femke explore the challenges and best practices in cross-functional collaboration, including navigating role overlaps, planning for future initiatives, understanding how other teams work, leading effective meetings, and how cross-functional feedback fits into performance reviews.

Timestamps:

0:33 Episode introduction

1:20 Playbook sponsorship

3:36 Cross-functional collaboration: who are your daily collaborators, and what roles do they play in your projects?

5:37 Navigating overlapping responsibilities: how to understand roles across disciplines

7:34 Charlie’s planning for 2025

13:38 Successful cross-functional partnerships: key elements for building strong relationships

17:06 Building context on other teams: how to start understanding their roles and processes

20:33 Approaching cross-functional meetings

24:22 The role of cross-functional feedback in performance reviews: is it valued differently than feedback from your own discipline?

27:24 Homework for listeners

28:12 Special live event announcement

Links:

Big thanks to our sponsor for this episode, Playbook! Be sure to check them out and see how they can elevate your workflow

Sign up for Charli and Femke's live event on November 1st at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm CET 

Femke’s course “Product strategy for designers”

Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at [email protected]

Femke and Charli dive into the experience of rebranding ConvertKit into Kit. Charli shares a behind-the-scenes look at launch day and the rebranding process, including what didn’t make it into the final launch but is on the roadmap, as well as key lessons learned and what could have been done differently.

Timestamps: 

0:33 - Intro & Life Update

3:32 - How did it feel when the rebrand was finally complete?

5:26 - What was the public’s reaction? Walk us through the launch day—how did it unfold?

9:33 - Reflecting on the yoga retreat...

13:06 - How did the collaborating agency contribute to the launch? Or was it the Kit team handling the rollout?

18:57 - Can you share the process behind the rebrand and the driving initiative?

21:37 - What didn’t make it into this launch but is on the to-do list?

22:00 - Lessons learned—what would you have done differently throughout the process?

Show links: 

Femke’s course “Product strategy for designers”

Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at [email protected]

Femke shares her experience navigating the challenges of parental leave, including her decision to take extended time off supported by her employer and Canadian government benefits. She reflects on the challenges of staying connected with the design industry while on parental leave and the potential motivations for returning to work earlier than planned. Femke also discusses how her perspective on work-life balance has evolved over time as she adjusts to her new routine.

Timestamps:

01:42 - Life updates from Charli and Femke
05:16 - Deciding how much time to take off and Canadian parental leave benefits
08:06 - Would you consider returning to work earlier than planned?
09:34 - Employer reactions and typical leave duration at Femke's workplace
12:41 - How Femke arranged her 18-month long maternity leave and differences in parental leave across countries
15:56 - Reflections on being out of work for an extended period
18:27 - Adjusting to maternity leave and staying disconnected from work
20:18 - Staying updated on the design industry while on leave

Links:

Femke’s course “Product strategy for designers”

Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at [email protected]

Charli and Femke talk about Charli’s recent promotion and how she approached this process. They explore the importance of taking ownership of your professional growth, including how proactively seeking feedback and showing initiative can help advance your career.

They also cover important questions like when to bring up a promotion, what the promotion process entails, and how tools like a promotion matrix and self-evaluation can help you in that process. Femke shares her past experiences with promotions, addressing the challenges of unmet expectations and what happens when someone believes they deserve a promotion but receives feedback suggesting otherwise. The episode gives advice on how to ask for a promotion, especially when you’re unsure, and how to use feedback to guide your approach.

Timestamps: 

01:00 – Charli’s update

01:52 – Femke’s update

03:36 – Overview of Charli’s promotion

05:34 – Taking ownership of your promotion

07:40 – When to bring up a promotion

08:44 – The promotion process

16:05 – Do you have to meet every criteria?

18:16 – Femke’s promotion experiences

24:24 – What if someone expects a promotion but their performance feedback suggests otherwise?

26:30 – How to approach the conversation when you’re unsure about your chances for promotion

Show Links: 

Femke’s course “Product strategy for designers”

Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at [email protected]

Charli and Femke dive into their experiences working with freelancers and agencies in their side projects and day jobs. Charli shares the decision-making process behind choosing an agency for a recent rebrand at Convert Kit, the challenges they encountered, and how involved they were in the collaboration. The hosts also offer practical advice for anyone deciding whether to keep a project in-house or outsource it to freelancers or agencies.

Show Timestamps: 

0:46 - Episode introduction

1:38 - Charli’s update

3:04 - Femke’s update

5:04 - Femke and Charli share their experiences working with freelancers and agencies in side projects and day jobs.

8:26 - Why did you choose an agency for the rebrand Instead of a freelancer?

10:56 - How did you select the right agency?

12:38 - What did the collaboration with the agency look like?

15:13 - Charli’s role and responsibility in the project

16:05 - Femke and Charli discuss the challenges they faced when working with agencies and freelancers.

17:59 - Freelancers and Initiative: what’s been your experience? How much direction do freelancers need?

20:38 - What are the best ways to work with an agency?

27:03 - Tips for deciding between outsourcing and in-house projects

Show Links: 

Femke’s course “Product strategy for designers”

Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at [email protected]

Femke and Charli dive into the exciting world of rebranding Convert Kit. We explore the origins of the rebrand, discussing whether it began with a name change or a complete repositioning. Charli explains why they decided to make the rebranding process public instead of opting for a big splashy launch.

Given the scale of the project, we delve into the various roles and responsibilities that are crucial for the rebrand’s success.  Charli shares surprising challenges they've encountered so far, as well as the reception from customers and the public.

We delve into how the rebrand will affect the product itself. Lastly, Charli shares the surprising relationship between rebranding and burnout, and gives an update on where Convert Kit stands now.

Timestamps:

01:55 Femke updates on her upcoming course cohort.

06:39 Charli discusses the "Convert Kit" rebranding journey.

08:47 How did the rebrand start? Did it begin with the name change or a complete repositioning of the brand?

13:12 Why did you choose to do the rebranding publicly this time instead of a big launch?

14:48 This is a massive project. What's Charli’s role in the rebrand?

16:28 How does Charli keep the team energized and informed during the rebranding?

17:19 What has surprised so far? Any unexpected challenges?

19:21 How have customers and the public received the rebrand?

21:13 What are Femke's thoughts on the rebrand?

22:50 How will the rebrand affect the product? Will there be new names or different positioning of the products inside “Convert Kit”?

24:16 Will we see the rebranding process from “Convert Kit” itself or through Charli’s channels?

26:06 Rebranding vs burnout: surprising insights.

28:33 Where is Convert Kit at right now?

Links:

Femke’s course “Product strategy for designers”

Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at [email protected]

‍

Femke and Charli dive deep into the topic of the business impact of design decisions. We discuss whether impact is expected in the product design world and if it is an integral part of the design process. We also cover how to measure success and incorporate metrics into the design process.

Additionally, we highlight the importance of sharing real experiences, including conflicts with PMs, design failures, and working without data. We discuss why it is important for designers to share stories of their failures and what they learned from them. We also discuss the resistance to owning failures, how to overcome it and become comfortable learning from failures.

In the end, we provide advice for designers on understanding the impact of their work and how to move up to a new seniority level.

Show Timestamps:

0:45 Episode intro and how this episode came about

1:39 Updates from Femke on her course

4:49 Updates from Charli on the conference she is attending

5:46 More on how this episode came about

8:11 What Charli expects from candidates in terms of the impact of their work on business

10:58 Discussing the impact from a product design perspective

14:49 Have you ever had to choose a design option that was visually less appealing but more effective in converting?

17:43 Femke shares a mentoring story and how to grow as a designer with a focus on impact and reflecting that in a portfolio

19:19 Discussion on resistance to owning failures and how Charli’s company helps designers become more comfortable learning from failures

20:35 Advice for designers on understanding the impact of their work and what designers can incorporate into their process in order to measure success of their design decisions better

Episode on landing a new design job in 2024

Femke’s course “Product strategy for designers”

Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at [email protected]

‍

In today’s episode, we are gonna discuss and break down the recent announcements from Figma Config 2024 conference that took place on June 26-27 in San Francisco, California. We are going to talk about Figma's UI3 redesign, new features such as Figma Slides, Code Connect, new AI features, project transfers, connected workspaces, and many more.

Show Timestamps:

0:45 Intro

01:16 Is it “cOnfig” or “confIg”?

02:04 Update to the Autolayout

04:25 Figma’s redesign - new UI3

07:19 Project transfers and connected workspaces

9:58 New AI features

15:12 AI Rename layers feature

16:28 Figma slides

17:51 Interesting fact: Femke tested Figma Slides before the official release

18:40 Femke and Charli’s impressions of Figma Slides

24:40 Multiple pages in FigJam

25:26 Dev mode update and Code Connect

28:02 Favorite feature revealed at Config?

28:42 Femke's slide deck template and Figma’s collaboration with Zach Grosser

Links:

Femke's "Project Overview DeckTemplate" in Figma Slides

Zach Grosser’s templates in Figma Slides

Femke’s course “Product strategy for designers”

Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at [email protected]

‍

Femke and Charli delve into the difficulties of managing a side project that isn't going well. Charli shares her personal experience of trying to organize a live workshop in New Zealand and not managing to attract enough participants. The hosts discuss what Charli learned from this experience and how the situation could have been handled better.

Show Timestamps:

2:03 Update from Femke’s side

4:14 Update from Charli’s side

6:23 Background of the situation

12:18 What is your reflection on this situation?

13:44 What are some lessons learned from this situation? Why do you think you did not sell as many tickets as you thought you would?

17:12 If you were to do it again, what would you do differently?

19:02 Are there any interesting reasons why the people who bought the tickets decided to do so?

21:28 Another idea for improvement

Show links:

Femke’s course “Product strategy for designers”

Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at [email protected]