In this episode of Design Office Hours, I speak with Tim Hulford, designer, leader, and former Director of Industrial Design, VR Accessories at Meta.

We talk about:

• Navigating early design roles and finding your footing under pressure
• Building and leading design inside engineering-heavy environments like Intuitive
• The transition from engineering-led to design-led organizations—and what that actually changes
• How to sustain motivation during long product cycles or after a project is sunset
• What shifts when you lead in times of crisis, not calm

Tim shares lessons from building surgical robots at Intuitive, leading Portal at Meta, and navigating career challenges and transformations along the way.

Tim's Website: https://timhulford.com
Tim's Book recommendations:
/ The Vignelli Canon
/ Sketching User Experiences by Bill Buxton
/ Super Normal by Naoto Fukasawa and Jasper Morrison

If you're interested in design leadership, career resilience, and the realities of working inside complex companies—this one's for you.

Listen now and send in your take.

Got a question or a topic for a future episode?

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