Nick Braver

Before BRICX, I gave a whiteboarding interview at a massive company for a Sr. Product Design role. My interviewer said that it was one of the best whiteboarding sessions he has conducted. Sadly, most new designers don’t understand the goal of a whiteboarding round. I see this problem routinely when I’m hiring for new designers at Bricx. A whiteboarding round is where you & the interviewer will brainstorm about a problem trying to find a solution. I know it sounds absurd but the goal of the interviewer is actually not to see the solution, but your thought process. I’ll give you an example. You’re presented with the problem: Design a kayak rental service Firstly, ALWAYS start with ‘why’. Why are we designing this? What are we trying to accomplish? Secondly, talk about the user. What are our user personas? What are their demographics? What are their psychographics? What are their behaviors? Next, talk about things like constraints, taking assumptions, business goals, KPIs, existing research, etc. The more you clarify your thoughts & create constraints, the more specific your solution will be. The WORST thing you can do is dive right into the solution after hearing the problem. It absolutely ruins the purpose of the round. Think. Be creative & talk as much as possible with the interviewer. When you’re working as a product designer, you will be working on problems you haven’t ever worked on before. With this interview, you have to show your thought process towards tackling new problem statements. Would love to hear your thoughts on your whiteboarding session as an interviewer or interviewee :)

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Really annoyed at Figma's price gouging here. There is no reason other than greed: https://lnkd.in/gfdrEiWH Oh, and I emailed them about it and this line from their reply was particularly poignant: "Additionally the minimum for enterprise is a $5k invoice minimum. 6 enterprise seats or made up with other products." To put that in context... our monthly Adobe bill (for 8 CC, 7 PS, 6 Acrobat licenses) is ~NZ$2k... Amazing how quickly enshittification sets in... #Figma #Design #SoftwareLicensing

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Hey Designers, Just a quick reminder: your NDA isn’t just a piece of paper—it’s a legal obligation. Sharing password-protected portfolios without permission isn’t just risky, it’s illegal. Here's a hypothetical but all-too-real scenario: what if your competitor needed some insights? They reached out to designers at rival companies under the guise of potential job opportunities. As UX designers, we work on ideas and projects that may not be implemented today but in years to come. Imagine your company’s long-term strategies being exposed, some user research data shared, and performance and accessibility KPIs revealed. Sketchy, right? For Recruiters: If a candidate says their portfolio is under NDA, respect that. It shows they value confidentiality and will protect your info too. If they’re willing to break an NDA for you, what’s stopping them from doing the same to you down the line? Remember, many designers work on projects that are never meant to be displayed publicly. Let’s keep things above board and respect each other’s legal boundaries. Remember the Golden Rule: treat others as you would want to be treated. Thanks for understanding!

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We’re often taught a linear process when it comes to building software, right? Discovery → Define → Design → Release But what happens when you land a job right in the middle of that process? After countless decisions have been made? What do you do? --- I’ve seen so many new designers expect to start a job and hit the ground running. 🏇 They want to impress everyone. 🤿 They’ll jump straight into designs.  🏅 They’ll expect to contribute to meetings. 😖 Then they’re surprised when no one listens. --- Building great software is hard. We know that. Not only is the code complex. There may be tons of flows, features, screens, components, and copy to think about and keep track of. Then there are the hundreds of conversations, debates, arguments, and decisions that went into coming up with all the code, flows, features, screens, components, and copy. That’s all well and good when you were there from the beginning, but how often are we actually starting all of this from scratch? The chances are good when you land a job you’re replacing someone who recently left or you’re part of a growing team. Either way, a lot of these decisions have been made and you need to help execute. If you *really* want to help execute, you can’t start from the middle. You need to start from the start. ✅ Starting from the start is about understanding the context. ✅ It’s about breaking up bigger problems into more digestible chunks. ✅ It’s about looking back at everything you know you know. ✅ It’s about getting a better sense of what you don’t yet know. 🎯 Here are a few key takeaways: ▶️ You’re likely going to end up in the middle of a process: When you start a new job, you’re most likely going to end up on a team that has already started work. Spend the first month getting to know the people, the processes, and the overall context. ▶️ Don’t rush into it: You *could* skip the context and jump to one specific solution, but you may be totally wrong at best, or risk hurting your credibility with the team at worst. You won’t get fired for doing your due diligence. ▶️ It’s a marathon, not a sprint: You’ve often got time to take a step back and consider the larger problem. You may not have months or even weeks, but even if you’ve only got a few hours, do what you can to get the context before settling on a solution. ▶️ You won’t have all the answers: Unless you’re a software team of one, your team will have insights you aren’t aware of. They may have additional context and additional insights. Reach out to your team and see what they have to say. ▶️ Avoid confirmation bias: Chances are good you’ll have some ideas in your head. There’s nothing wrong with that. But be sure to avoid confirming your suspicions or validating your ideas simply because they’re your ideas. Be objective and open to anything. --- So the next time you’re faced with a big problem, take a step back and start from the start. #UXdesign #SoftSkills

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❓ I have a question for product designers ❓ How do you understand that you’ve reached a certain grade or level in your career, such as transitioning to a senior role? Do you rely solely on performance reviews, or are there other ways you evaluate your growth? And what if there’s no formal performance review process? I’m asking because I often get questions about assessing one’s grade or level. So, I’m curious — do you have a similar need or interest in this topic? Let me know your thoughts!

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It’s easy to get caught up in functional ratios and its often a losing battle stuck in idealisms. With that said there’s a real business risk when design and supporting teams aren’t invested in. This video does a great job explaining how efficacy and efficiency across product and development teams drop when this happens.

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Having some interesting, open conversations from Design Leaders right now who are getting burned out from trying to hire Designers right now. The demands from the business warrant the Design team growing, but the means to do so are lacking. - Over-worked and under-skilled Talent teams lacking the nuance to understand the design hire needed - Design Leader getting little to No results from internal talent team - Design Leaders attempting to use their networks and getting bombarded with inquiry, too over whelmed to look through, guilty for not responding to everyone - Company lacks infrastructure to properly handle the amount of inbound applicants; brand recognition takes a hit in the market - Design Leader still doesn't have the Design Support they need Bit of a vicious cycle. Good news though - there's solutions out there - been putting them action this year and seeing the results.

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I've noticed an interesting trend, more and more product designers are eyeing a switch to product management. I’m even hearing whispers that some companies are considering merging these roles altogether. PMs excel in driving strategy, aligning with business goals, and ensuring products succeed in the market. Designers focus on crafting exceptional user experiences and solving problems creatively. The overlap in areas like user research might explain why some designers feel ready to step into PM roles and why some PMs think they can handle design tasks. IMO keeping them separate allows both functions to excel in what they do best. What's your take?

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Design doesn't die; it puts you at the forefront. It leads you to creating unimaginable experiences and brands that people love, whether it's a startup or a scaled business. P.S: A following read after Christopher Costuna’s post.

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I want to highlight a problematic practice that's all too common in the design hiring process: - Initial call with a high-level executive like a CTO or CPO. - Assignment of a take-home project based on their product. - The internal team reviews the submission. - Occasionally, they provide feedback. - Additional 2-3 rounds of interviews. While I don't inherently oppose design tasks, there's a crucial issue here: Companies exploit designers by leveraging their skills for free on real products. In a competitive job market, this can lead to multiple candidates providing free labour for a single role. This practice disproportionately affects those with demanding personal lives, such as single parents or caregivers, who simply don't have the luxury of extra time. Design tasks should adhere to these principles: - Focus on hypothetical or unrelated products/services. - Be strictly timeboxed to respect candidates' time. - Acknowledge the limitations designers face, like the lack of access to real customer feedback. Let's advocate for a fairer, more respectful hiring process.

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Etsy was recently seen A/B testing AND eventually shipping a more visible search with the help of a higher contrast orange background button color (instead of a ghost-like icon only approach). Full screenshots: https://lnkd.in/gVJThW3W Now I don't work for Etsy (as much as I'd love to design some experiments for/with them) so we can't see the actual numbers beyond this feint probabilistic residue from the public domain. However, the amazing Andrey Andreev who runs experiments at Metro recently ran a very similar one and shared a solid result on GoodUI - with a positive impact to sales and searches. N = 896,009 SRM Check = Pass p-val on Increased Sales = 0.0139 (I know some people might like this to be even lower for a primary metric; but there is also reinforcing evidence on increased searches with an even lower p value at "ultra stat-sig" levels using Ron Kohavi's language; p < 0.00000001). I inverted the a/b test and categorized it under the Filled Vs Ghost Button pattern - further weakening the ghosts and strengthening the high contrast filled button styles on multiple metrics. https://lnkd.in/gmD8Exvc Thanks Andrey for a somewhat of an unintended replication, as I know your source of inspiration came from somewhere else on this one. :) Have you tested anything similar or different. If so, what did you discover? I'd be super curious to see more examples where increases to search have either ❌ failed or ✅ succeeded. Please share independent of outcome. ps. We also have a handful of similar "visible search" experiments where companies tested adding or hiding search: https://lnkd.in/gvWqzrK5 - further supporting this direction. [EDIT]: Note the additional confounders / variables in the Metro test - a stronger border, a change in background color of the search box as per Jakob Nielsen comment. They may be similar along the lines of the increased visibility theme - but possible additional variables nevertheless. #experimentation #ecommerce #replication #optimization #ui #ux

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🚫STOP ASKING DESIGNERS TO DO TAKE-HOME EXERCISES! PERIOD!🚫 Not sure why this is a "spicy" topic. If you require a take-home exercise, you don't know how to assess or hire design talent. Anyone asking designers to do this should be named and shamed. The only time I could *maybe* understand an exercise would be for a junior-level designer with no experience or professional work available. For designers with in-depth case studies, why do you include portfolio presentations as an interview step if you're going to give them a vague prompt to build polished screens around? IMO, this is free work. *Typically* designers have 5-7 methods to showcase that isn't homework: - Portfolios - Case study decks that dive deeper into work (utilized in the portfolio presentation stage) - Whiteboarding challenges that showcase problem-solving in real-time - Resumes that communicate impact and past work. - App critiques that help you understand how they approach IA, content hierarchy, areas of friction, UI considerations, and feature improvements. - Testimonials from colleagues they've worked with in the past. (Eng, product, stakeholders) - References who can speak directly to whatever it is you're seeking. If you combine all of those, what value does the take-home offer that the above didn't cover? People searching for jobs don't have time to do a 1-3 hour exercise for every company they talk with. Can you imagine? In today's job market? If someone is interviewing with five companies, that quickly becomes 15 hours of work. This does not include the notion that most designers don't spend the minimum recommended time and typically spend 4-8 hours rather than 1-3. **edited for the sake of positive conversation rather than ending negatively. There are designers who might not have the luxury of saying no, or worse, they don't know any better. We can't ignore the predatory nature of today's job market, which results from the disadvantages of candidates and the companies that take advantage of them. So, if you get a take-home assignment and don't have the luxury of withdrawing, message me. I'll happily schedule time with you to work through it together.

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Companies are finally seeing the value of super-senior ICs! But career ladders and expectations for staff+ designers are often unclear, leaving lots of people who reach this level feeling unsupported. To help, I took my own 14+ years of experience as an individual contributor in high-impact roles at tech companies of varying sizes and made a highly interactive course. Join us starting Feb 3: https://lnkd.in/eqg4e2vx We’ll cover: 💡 Common expectations of the staff+ designer role 💡 Effective communication with senior leaders and executives 💡 How to set and uphold boundaries to focus on high-impact work 💡 Techniques to manage up and show impact Over the span of three weeks, you'll build a network of super-senior peers and acquire tactics from me: a designer who's been through these exact challenges. Grab your spot now! P.S. Thanks, Adekunle Oduye, for the kind words!

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It's interesting to me that, while engineers are seeing a massive explosion in productivity from AI, product design has yet to see any real progress. Where are the tools from Figma/Adobe that 2-3x the output of a designer? Where is the AI-driven design system, etc.

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You make a great point about the time and energy companies ask candidates to invest. In my recent job search, some companies not only asked for exercises but also multiple types of presentations, often in person. Here’s some perspective: none of those companies ended up making a good offer. One even took me through eight interviews and three different presentation styles, only to pass in the end. Think about that for a moment. Why does this happen? As Meghan Logan aptly notes, it’s because they don’t know how to identify and interview designers. Consider what it would be like working somewhere like that. If you can afford to, steer clear of companies that operate this way. And when it happens, be ready to just say “no” and move on to the next opportunity.

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If you feel like the honesty and humanity has been drained from the design industry in recent years then consider subscribing to Blair Fraser's new substack "The imperfect designer". He will be exploring an alternative viewpoint on the design profession covering topics like self doubt, burn-out, failure and the constant struggle to achieve balance in life. Zero hustle content guaranteed 😉 https://lnkd.in/eQdrvP-Y

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I’m hiring a Mid-level Product Designer! 🎉 Here are some of the details: 👇 💼 Company: nCino, Inc. 📍 Location: Lehi, Utah 🏢 Office requirement: Onsite, Monday – Thursday. 👥 Design Team: Nearly 30 designers, mostly in Utah 🤝 Product Team: The PM and tech lead for this role are on site in Lehi, UT, and several engineers are remote 🏭 Industry: Banking, Analytics, B2B, SaaS ⚒️ Tools: Figma, User Interviews, Dovetail, Slack, Jira, etc… 💬 Manager: You'll report to me ➡️ Start date: We’re ready to go when you are! Here's what we'll offer you: ✨ 100% paid premiums for medical, dental and vision, as well as disability insurance and life insurance. ✨ 39 paid days off each year (including volunteer days and holidays). ✨ Company-funded HSA account and 401K with employee match. ✨ Employee stock purchase plan with 15% discount and look back period. ✨ 4-12 weeks of childbirth parental leave. ✨ Career growth opportunities, frequent design team trainings, design critiques, collaboration sessions, team summits, etc... ✨ A manager and team who really care about you as a person. The product space and what you’ll do: 👉 nCino is broken into several business units, including the Portfolio Analytics business unit. The Portfolio Analytics product hasn’t had a dedicated designer before, so you will work with me to lead a transformation in this product space. 👉 This transformation will include auditing a product with a legacy interface, understanding who the users are, helping redefine the information architecture and product vision, and moving it towards our “One nCino” vision, design system, and UX team best practices. 👉 Since this is an analytics product, you’ll be designing several dashboards, charts, reports, tables, navigation menus, and dense data interfaces. Here is who is not a match: ❌ Lives outside the U.S. Unfortunately, this role is only setup to hire within the U.S at this time. ❌ Unable to live or relocate near one of our headquarters in Lehi, UT ❌ Unable to come onsite Monday – Thursday. This is our company’s most recent policy. ❌ Someone who passively waits to be told what to do or needs micromanaging. ❌ Agencies, freelancers, consultants, or recruiters. Now is not the time. ⚠️ Disclaimer: Because of the overwhelming response I typically get for our open roles, I won’t have the capacity to respond to every direct message. But if you apply, I will make sure our hiring team reviews every application! If this role sounds right for you or someone you know, then tag them below or apply! Application link is in the comments 👀 #ux #design #productdesign #userexperience #hiring

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