Hustle: Insert Country Here: Design Teams Without Limits (Michael Holzer, Google Payments)

Juliana Vislova is the VP of Design at Mercury, an all-in-one banking platform for startups. A former linguistics major, Juliana is career switcher who spent time as an art director for a digital marketing agency before her design career. After moving to the U.S., she stumbled upon product design and immediately loved its intersection of pscyhology, art, storytelling and problem-solving. Her design path has taken her from the founding designer at Mercury to now leading a team of 20. In this episode we cover: Career SwitchingBurnoutPersonal agency in workGiving up control and trusting othersMeetings as workAnd more!Visit the Funsize websiteSubscribe to The Funsize Digest

During our party for SXSW 2022, we interviewed designers and tech workers to understand how their careers were affected by the pandemic and what it means for their futures. We'd like to extend a huge thanks to Johnny Abowd, Carlos Menchaca, Dina Williams, Ali Metall, AC Cowart, Steven Parvaresh, Rick Messer, Isabelle Encela, Steven Ray and Katy Beightol for sharing their perspectives on this unique episode. In this episode we cover:How people's work was affected by the pandemicThe differences in team dynamics created over the last two yearsWhere designers see their careers headed nextAnd more!Visit the Funsize websiteSubscribe to The Funsize Digest

Brian Peterson is a a multidisciplinary creator supporting, connecting, and empowering organizations through strategic design. Brian’s background is in fine arts with a brief stint in animation/illustration. His path to design has taken him through freelance visual design, to a founding team startup, to the design studio at Funsize. Currently, he leads design teams at Affirm, where he works to bring honest financial products to the world.Brian is a strong believer in collaboration and he sees design as a vehicle for connecting people and transforming organizations. When not thinking about design management, operations, methodologies, etc., Brian likes to build worlds through drawing.In this episode we cover:Design managementIndividual contributorsGrowthManagementDesign operationsLeveling upAnd more!Visit the Funsize websiteSubscribe to The Funsize Digest

Kevin Hawkins is the director of product design at BookClub—an online platform that brings authors and readers together. He is also an award-winning, multi-disciplinary design leader and educator with over 12 years of experience building communities and launching products.Kevin is a self-taught front-end developer and started his career doing freelance web design for local businesses and science NGOs in his home town: Washington D.C. He transitioned to his first full-time job in UX at 16. Since then, he's been a UX leader for Booking.com, PwC, EY, Gap Inc., and more. Kevin now resides in Amsterdam where he teaches UX and directs the production and launch of innovative products. In his spare time, he likes to travel, learn new perspectives, and desires to be challenged while doing good work. In this episode we cover:Outcome vs. intentWorkaholism Cultural inspiration20% timeSofas  & interior designHyggeAnd more!Visit the Funsize websiteSubscribe to The Funsize Digest 

Michael Holzer is the director of UX at Google Payments and has been at Google for over eight years. He is a passionate, entrepreneurial design leader currently focused on building and operating large-scale creative teams working on new mediums and technologies.Michael grew up in Silicon Valley and started his career studying mechanical engineering and industrial design by prototyping bicycle helmets for Bell Sports. After dropping out, he pivoted to designing irrigation systems for a landscape architecture firm and soon found himself exploring and learning more about web design while working on the company's first website.When not "working" in the traditional sense, Michael is passionate about biking and building his athletic cred.In this episode we cover:Technology & securityPOS systemsGovernment incentivesSociety at largeBuilding teamsAutonomous teamsAnd more!Visit the Funsize websiteSubscribe to The Funsize Digest

Alli Metall is a husband, father, and designer living in Reykjavík, Iceland. He was born in Húsavík, Iceland--a small town on the northern coast (also famed as the setting of Netflix's Eurovision Song Contest). He began his career playing guitar in death metal and jazz bands and soon combined his interests in music and computer games to a career in design. After a brief agency stint as an intern in New York City, he returned home to work at a game company, a fin-tech startup, and an airline. Nowadays, Alli is the owner, founder, and creator of his own studio: Metall.Alli shares his fears (running out of $$$) and dreams (surfing in Hawaii before turning 80) and what he's seen as the silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic.In this episode we cover:Job  switchingAgency formationEgo vs. teamworkThe pandemic & the future of workDesigning for screensWhat we're looking forward toAnd more!Visit the Funsize websiteSubscribe to The Funsize Digest 

Aaron “Ron” Irizarry, is the Sr. Director, Servicing Platforms Design at Capital One. He loves all things user experience, problem-solving, and design process. Having worked for Fox/IGN, HP, Nasdaq, and now Capital One, Aaron loves sinking his teeth into complex problems. In addition to his day job, Aaron speaks at events and provides training for companies on design team structure, communication, and collaboration. He is also the co-author of Discussing Design.Most importantly, Aaron is a master of the BBQ arts, a lover and player of heavy metal music, and a lifelong Dodgers fan.In this episode we cover:Design systemsThe critiquing processCollaboration between levelsFacilitation techniques and frameworksEstablishing ground rulesIdentifying emotional responsesFeedback vs. critiqueVisit the Funsize websiteSubscribe to The Funsize Digest

In this first episode with Tony Sanchez as an official co-host, we were honored to be joined by a design legend. Toke Nygaard is the Chief Creative Officer at Zendesk. With more than 20 years of experience designing digital experiences, Toke Nygaard oversees Zendesk’s brand and product UX/UI. In this role, he is constantly developing and building the Zendesk brand with his global team of passionate creatives, keeping the product experience true to its origins of being simple and easy to use. Before joining Zendesk, Toke was a founding partner of one of the largest pioneering design communities, K10k. He was also the founder and creative director at Cuban Council, a digital-design company, where he helped design the original Facebook identity, and worked with a range of clients from Tyra Banks and Francis Coppola, to Apple and NASA. Previously, he worked for Danish web-design frontrunner Araneum and later helped start the Oven Digital offices in London. Outside of the office, Toke enjoys spending quality time with his family and is a table tennis [email protected] this episode we cover:The intersection of design and artFantasy illustrationsVisual design educationMoving from a startup to IPOTransitioning from designer to managerIn-house vs. agencyBalancing quality and productionAnd more!Visit the Funsize websiteSubscribe to The Funsize Digest

For the last episode recorded in 2020, we flip the spotlight onto our founders, Anthony and Natalie Armendariz, to walk us through the challenging, chaotic and — at times — exciting journey that was 2020. In a year that provided surprises and obstacles for just about every human being on the planet, we wanted to tell our agency's part of the story. We hope you enjoy.We cover:Our mindset going into 2020Business and culture goals entering 2020Q1 happenings at the beginning of the pandemicSurprising new client relationships in 2020How/why did Funsize actually grow in 2020?The "staff augmentation" niche during the pandemicThe pandemic's effect on team cultureTeam perspectives during the pandemicExpectations when starting Funsize years agoThe launch of Funsize Ventures and what it meansWork differences between designers and developersWhat will 2021 bring? Visit the Funsize websiteSubscribe to The Funsize Digest  

Ted Boda is currently a Product Design Manager on the Well-Being team at Instagram. He is also a former Director of Design at Udacity, former Senior Designer at Nest Labs, former Lead Mobile Designer at Netflix and a former Lead UI Designer for Keynote at Apple (where, interestingly enough, he worked on some of the slides used for Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth). With all that experience to draw on, we loved having Ted on the show — for a second time — to hear what he's been up to and gain some insight into how design management is done at one of the largest social media platforms on earth. We cover:Guesswork at the beginning of design leadershipDesign leadership at InstagramDesign tools at Instagram and FacebookThe Well-being team at Instagram and what they doWhat an average week looks like for Ted.His "cameo" on NetflixQualities to look for in Design ManagersTed's childhood interests