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’ve nearly bought products in my sleep because I memorized the key presses from consistent checkout flows."
Sam ProulxOnline Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience
June 7, 2023
"Transparency is one of our key values, so everyone in the studio was involved in building and maintaining the evaluation system."
Ignacio MartinezFair and Effective Designer Evaluation
September 25, 2024
"Transformation is new ways of thinking and eventually doing; we won’t have all the answers at the start and that’s okay."
Sarah Kinkade Mariana Ortiz-ReyesDesign Management Models in the Face of Transformation
June 8, 2022
"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
"We’re moving from theory of change to theory of service: starting with what people actually need before creating anything."
Patrick BoehlerFishing for Real Needs: Reimagining Journalism Needs with AI
June 10, 2025
"With proper prompting, AI can get you really close to a deliverable summary, much closer than expected."
Andy Barraclough Betsy NelsonFrom Costly Complexity to Efficient Insights: Why UX Teams Are Switching To Voxpopme
September 23, 2024
"We should reconsider the savior complex designers sometimes have — we’re not all powerful."
Alexandra SchmidtWhy Ethics Can't Save Tech
November 18, 2022
"A lot of DevOps is about empathy — doing our piece but thinking about the larger connection."
Louis RosenfeldDiscussion: What Operations can teach DesignOps
November 6, 2017
"Carbon is just the starting point for what can be imagined. We're hired for our expertise to adapt, not just follow directions."
Mitchell BernsteinOrganizing Chaos: How IBM is Defining Design Systems with Sketch for an Ever-Changing AI Landscape
September 29, 2021
