Scaling Design Beyond Designers
Summary
Scaling design is hard. Scaling design across an established enterprise with more than a century of history and a global workforce of over 70,000 non-designers is even harder. To scale design at that level, you need to anchor people’s identity in design: that’s the power of community. Communities bring people together around a shared vision and purpose. By embracing community, you can create more scalable, human-centered experiences regardless of your industry, location, or design expertise. I’m excited to share what I’ve learned building and scaling ExxonMobil’s Design Community and share how you can do the same.
Key Insights
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Over 90% of ExxonMobil's design community members are non-designers, emphasizing that design mindset can be scaled beyond traditional roles.
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Creating a user-centered design 101 class was key to introducing non-designers at ExxonMobil to human-centered design principles.
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Framing design distinctly from technical engineering helped clarify its value and purpose in a traditional enterprise.
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Lona Moore views her role as a 'design tour guide,' enabling rather than directing, and guiding people through design journeys without formal authority.
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Local design chapters across over 30 countries are largely self-sustaining and led by passionate non-designers who also become trainers and champions.
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Playful activities like role-playing games foster psychological safety and creativity, linking fun directly to business value by sparking new thinking.
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Leadership endorsement and quantifying design’s impact in business terms were critical to gaining enterprise-wide buy-in.
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The community uses rituals and social experiences to reinforce shared values and create a human-centered culture across organizational boundaries.
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Scaling design requires planting long-term goals alongside short-term wins and focusing on measurable progress and feedback.
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Evolving the design community manager role to reflect growing responsibilities helped formalize design career paths and increase strategic impact.
Notable Quotes
"Design at ExxonMobil isn’t just what designers do; it’s about changing the way people think and solve problems through a human-centered lens."
"I like to think of myself as a DJ at a party, amplifying the power of design so more people can dance to the future."
"We framed it as user-centered design because we needed to distinguish it from technical engineering design."
"Creating an environment where people feel safe to try design helps build enthusiasm and psychological safety."
"You don’t have to be a designer to participate; over 90% of our community are not design professionals."
"Many design champions started as non-designers and transitioned into design careers after becoming community leads."
"Leadership knew design transformation would be hard, which is why my role was created to help guide that change."
"Scaling design in an enterprise is like having more feet in the car — it gets you there faster."
"Rituals symbolize community identity and shared values, helping scale human-centered habits across boundaries."
"We constantly collect feedback to improve our community and design practice because iteration is key to impact."
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