INDUSTRIAL DESIGN: nobody teaches you how to be a good design leader

A lot of designers move into leadership because they were good at the work. They had the skills, taste, judgment, and pattern recognition that made people trust them with harder problems.

Then the job changes while the work keeps moving. Suddenly the role is less about what you can make, and more about how the team operates, how critique happens, how quality gets defined, and how much trust design earns.

I have been doing more work in this space recently. Helping design leads make that transition with structure. Most do not need abstract leadership theory, they need practical ways to run the work, communicate decisions, build trust, and stop carrying design alone.

Design leadership is still design work. The material just changes from sketches, models, and prototypes into people, rhythm, judgment, and systems.

If this is a transition you or someone on your team is working through, I’m always open to a conversation.