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 hello@designlife.fm

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