Welcome back to another episode of FLUX. Today we are joined by Claudio, who is currently the UX Director at The Trade Desk, growing a very talented team of designers.

Kristie

Tell us a bit about yourself, how you got into design, and your current position.

Claudio

So, when I started, I wanted to follow in my brother's footsteps, who is a Creative Director back in Brazil. At the time, I was trying to make my way and got inspired by him. It felt like a good fit for me and so I started in Marketing, working for a Brazilian type of 'Yellow Pages' for five years and then decided to move to the United States. My journey continued here where I came to study and I gravitated between multiple areas, I've worked for agencies, startups to large corporations, and have always been very curious about all the facets of design. And now, I've ended up in design leadership roles, managing and growing teams.

Kristie

Throughout your career, what are some of the toughest challenges you've faced?

Claudio

The main common challenge I've seen is how design has evolved throughout the years, specifically product design, digital design really evolved the craft of technology. Personally, my main challenge has been navigating corporate environments, educating stakeholders in transforming organisations from within and educating them about the power of design and what it can do for a company. All my battles are mostly political I would say; navigating corporate, replacing design to succeed within companies and managing reorders, teams and leaders. Changing the view on what design can do moving from pushing pixels to strategic. So, a lot of my role has to do with education and transformation now.

Kristie

And previously, how have you successfully built out design success within a business? It's a big question.

Claudio

We'd have to up pack that in a few hours.

Look, design is really a service craft for the customers, the users in the company, right? So, we have multiple directives and different agendas coming from different sides. Being able to be flexible and reconcile those to deliver value is the outcome that design really tries to get to. I think when we were specifically UX, you can get into dangerous waters where you think that one discipline can take the brunt of the full user experience. Titles can be a little bit misleading. I think of the entire company needs to embrace ‘user experience’ and really focus on being able to be ‘in service of’ our partners, technology partners, or stakeholders or users and bridging those gaps. Making sure that we have strong alliances in leadership around the company.

It makes things easier; it makes you more valuable. I had a leader that would say, “Okay, we finally got you a seat at the table, but if you don't bring the value, you're not going to be invited back.”

Have clear goals that you want to accomplish and be able to align those to a greater good and a shared sense of purpose. Then, it’s easier to bridge those gaps and easier to increase the value of design within an organisation which is not normally easy.

Kristie

You've touched on it, but how do you keep your team focused on the same goal, especially through change?

Claudio

When you're starting a chapter of crafting that 'shared sense of purpose' and a 'NorthStar' that we as a team designed, and other teams are trying to get to.

Strategic foundations are the fundamental elements that we need to have. We have long term goals, medium long-term goals, short term and we will feel the ebbs and flows of change. We need to be agile to be able to pivot fast if we need to, and we need a constant reminder of what are we doing and why. As leaders, we need to make sure that the team clearly understands that so they can execute at an optimal pace and optimal delivery. Our job is making sure we have clarity of vision and that it's well understood by everyone that's working in the team. It's not as easy as it seems, because change and other factors can get in the way, those external variables. You always need to focus on resetting, repurposing, and go again.

I suppose it is about consistency and continuously reminding your team of the 'NorthStar'.

You must really believe in the vision and have relentless reminders that we're on the right track, even when you take one or two steps back. If the compass is pointing in the right direction, you can deal with the setbacks and shakeups knowing the overall direction is towards progress.

Kristie

You've grown design teams at Walt Disney, GoPro and now The Trade Desk. Are there any specific characteristics you look for in a designer?

Claudio

The common thread between all these teams, are people that are curious and that want to grow. It sounds cliche, but the growth mindset to want to learn more, grow their craft, grow their leadership skills, their influence, intrinsic motivation is the core. Also, the soft skills, especially the ability to rationalise design decision and to present design. But more than that, Kristie, is the ability to really navigate the cross functional relationships with other partners and really understand the water. We as designers are there to contribute and we are passionate by nature, but young designers can get defeated or easily disturbed by the corporate turmoil, especially within a big organisation with multiple engineering and product teams. So, ability to stay calm and really collaborate for the greater good and influence is key. It's how we can honestly make change in our organisation.

Kristie

And do you have a design philosophy that you live by?

Claudio

The philosophy that I live by it's based on what we're discussing. How we are apart of this bigger system and how can we be valuable, how can we help all the teams to collaborate better. As designers we're equipped to do this fantastic job of bridging, aligning and visualising outcomes and making all teams see the vision.

Kristie

Looking at the future of design, is there anything specifically that excites you?

Claudio

I think, Artificial Intelligence. There is transformational technology coming in, that will impact the future of design. In projects that we're currently discussing, is how design will really evolve, and looking at what the future of design, UX and product design in general is. Looking at what can be systematised and automate, how we can be more productive, and creative out of this. So I'm very excited.

I don't see it as a as a threat for design, I think that we can get to get to places that we haven't been before, and ability to really give people superpowers. At the same time, using technology to your advantage as a designer and using the new tools that are evolving fast. The question is, how can a designer become of a change agent in the company to report how we design the organisations better and how we collaborate better? The role of design can change into not only to design products, but really design services, organisations, teams, and all of that.

Kristie

Well, if you look at what design was 50 years ago versus now, it's very very different. Print design was a big focus and now we're designing technology is.

Claudio

Yes, designers really can solve bigger problems in society. So, I think the value of design can grow and then you have several companies trying to tackle social issues through design thinking and design problem solving. So, how can we use the methodology to further the society. It's super exciting, I think from a product perspective, yes, pushing the boundaries between media and channels and platforms. It can be scary because change is happening at a very fast pace. Keeping up is tough, if you have a life outside of work, but at the same time it's an extremely exciting time to be in design.

Kristie

The best piece of advice you've been given?

Claudio

A mentor that told me to reduce the noise and to pick the battles that you want to fight.

Kristie

What would you tell your younger self?

Claudio

Stay curious, keep pushing and just go explore.

Kristie

Well Carols, thank you so much for joining us today - some real wisdom given throughout so thank you for sharing.

Claudio

Absolutely, Kristie, thanks for having me. It was great chatting with you.