Summary
We're always looking to create a high level of design literacy across our organizations, but how do this in a way that creates its own momentum? Wendy Johansson, global product experience leader at Amazon, will share her tried and true methods in scaling design education within orgs of all sizes as a means of scaling design.
Key Insights
-
•
Scaling design starts with educating internal design teams deeply in human-centered design principles.
-
•
Cross-functional design fluency is critical because different teams have distinct mental models and goals.
-
•
Executives and stakeholders require tailored education to understand design’s lifecycle and value.
-
•
Service design blueprints help visualize organizational touchpoints and reveal gaps in design influence.
-
•
Design education maturity progresses through survival, defense (ROI proof), and operationalization phases.
-
•
Cohort-based design communities enable collective momentum, peer support, and continuous learning.
-
•
Integrating design education into existing org learning channels boosts reach and sustainability.
-
•
Supporting non-designers’ creative confidence requires opportunities to practice and celebration of wins.
-
•
Helping generalists specialize requires understanding their skills, interests, and learning preferences.
-
•
Design education is a tool for ungatekeeping design and fostering inclusion across all roles.
Notable Quotes
"If you’re human, you’re creative, and everyone in proximity of design has a creative opinion."
"One-by-one design education doesn’t scale, you have to think about the whole organizational journey."
"Service design blueprints visualize organizational processes to optimize how businesses deliver UX and CX."
"Design education is ungatekeeping design — it’s inclusion and bringing everyone along the journey."
"Design teams often have impact, but not influence, until they map their organizational touchpoints."
"Proof that we matter is the first phase where designers fight to be recognized and included early."
"Showing the ROI of design helps defend design’s value and unlocks growth but is not always secure."
"Cohort-based communities let people level up together instead of learning in isolation."
"Generalists in early startups get to test all skills, then leaders should help them find a specialization they enjoy."
"Treat everyone like a designer and invite them to make things; design is not a siloed, unquantifiable skill."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"When teams lose a sense of agency, they act strange, cutting corners and racing to get something out the door."
Standardizing Product Merits for Leaders, Designers, and Everyone
June 15, 2018
"You can mine metadata from your platform to spot emerging patterns and commoditize new components."
Simon WardleyMaps and Topographical Intelligence (Videoconference)
January 31, 2019
"If you’re in tech, you are in social change, whether you realize it or not."
Sandra CamachoCreating More Bias-Proof Designs
January 22, 2025
"I felt on edge around Jeff and physically depleted after our interactions."
Darian DavisLessons from a Toxic Work Relationship
January 8, 2024
"Providing more holistic recommendations helped us gain more trust and buy-in from stakeholders, increasing UX maturity."
Fisayo Osilaja[Demo] The AI edge: From researcher to strategist
June 4, 2024
"There is a common thread in craft: dignity, purpose, utility, and beauty."
Uday GajendarThe Wicked Craft of Enterprise UX
May 13, 2015
"No official kickoff was held, which meant shifting expectations and lack of alignment."
Davis Neable Guy SegalHow to Drive a Design Project When you Don’t Have a Design Team
June 10, 2021
"Launching a design system is not a sprint, there’s no end, it’s always a continuous process."
Eniola OluwoleLessons From the DesignOps Journey of the World's Largest Travel Site
October 24, 2019
"Finding a single source of truth for design documents and artifacts is extremely hard because most tools operate in silos."
Aurobinda Pradhan Shashank DeshpandeIntroduction to Collaborative DesignOps using Cubyts
September 9, 2022
