Summary
When design teams start to grow within hyper-growth startups, there is often a natural fear that the design culture will change as a result. It doesn’t have to. By encouraging best practices on recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and interviewing for “culture fit” you can benefit from a more diverse and culture rich team. Join Meredith Black for a talk on the vision and values of scaling the design culture at Pinterest while also designing for 175 million users.
Key Insights
-
•
Pinterest’s co-founder Evan Sharp, a designer, ensures design has a strong seat at the company’s decision table.
-
•
The design team at Pinterest grew over 650% in three years, from 10 to 75 members, emphasizing diverse global representation.
-
•
Cross-functional teams combining designers, engineers, and product managers work collaboratively on roadmap and launch decisions.
-
•
Internal events like NITCON inspire employees with classes, keynotes, and social activities, supporting culture and learning.
-
•
Non-glamorous tasks such as design standard updates are gamified using events like Bash Bingo Days to maintain motivation.
-
•
The Workshop program acts as an innovation incubator where designers collaborate away from their desks to solve product problems.
-
•
Hiring focuses on portfolio presentation, deep product knowledge (both strengths and flaws), and cultural fit prioritizing humility.
-
•
Program managers (called producers) buffer designers from meeting overload and distractions, improving focus and productivity.
-
•
Diversity is a key pillar, with one in three designers from international backgrounds, to better understand users worldwide.
-
•
Maintaining culture at scale involves deliberate slow hiring, integrating diverse skill sets, and evolving shared learning programs.
Notable Quotes
"Design always has a seat at the table at Pinterest because our co-founder is a designer."
"We call our collaborative decision-making process knitting — it’s one of our core values."
"Burnout isn’t caused by working too much; it happens when people aren’t stimulated."
"When hiring, we want candidates who know the product well — both what works and what doesn’t."
"We will not hire an asshole. Culture trumps even exceptional talent."
"The Workshop is an outlet for innovation, pushing designers out of their day-to-day to solve problems quickly."
"Fika is our weekly tradition where designers share projects inspired from Pins over coffee and dessert."
"One in three designers on our team is from another country — diversity improves relevance for our global users."
"Instead of flashy outings, the team prefers simple park days with rosé, blankets, and games that build trust."
"Hiring is hard, but firing the wrong person is harder — so we must be thoughtful and deliberate."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"I grew restless within the walls of architecture and wanted to apply design principles more broadly."
Steve ChaparroBringing Into Alignment Brand, Culture and Space
August 13, 2020
"The creation of trust and collaboration environment has a different timescale than communication tools themselves."
Elizabeth ChurchillExploring Cadence: You, Your Team, and Your Enterprise
June 8, 2017
"We can damage relationships or apply tactics appropriate for protest environments when co-creation was necessary."
Sha HwangThe First Fifty Years of Civic Design
November 16, 2022
"Build relationships before you need them. You can’t create them when the house is on fire."
Corey Nelson Amy SanteeLayoffs
November 15, 2022
"Personas and journey maps usually live in different places, conflicting and hard to maintain—ROCKS aims to fix that."
Noz UrbinaRapid AI-powered UX (RAUX): A framework for empowering human designers
May 1, 2025
"You have to socialize service design within organizations considering their dominant logic — whether engineering, clinical, or commercial."
Lavrans Løvlie Ben ReasonAsk me anything – Authors of Service Design: From Insight to Implementation
November 19, 2025
"I feel good about the work I do, but my company doesn't ship good work."
Peter MerholzThe 2025 State of UX/Design Organizational Health
November 12, 2025
"Belonging means understanding the shape, size, and cause of your community and your unique purpose in it."
Daniel GloydWarming the User Experience: Lessons from America's first and most radical human-centered designers
May 9, 2024
"Be authentic in your portfolio and speak to your unique experiences and values."
Louis RosenfeldCoffee with Lou
January 11, 2024
