Building and Elevating a Design Team

Overview

The Motley Fool, a financial services company, provides investment advice and products to empower individual investors. This case study examines the process of building a high-performing design team tasked with delivering innovative UX and UI solutions for priority projects. The goal was to create a cohesive, agile team capable of elevating design across all company initiatives, improving outcomes, and strategically integrating design within the organization.

Problem Statement

Previously, design resources were scattered across departments, resulting in inconsistent user experiences and diminishing design's potential for strategic impact. Without a dedicated design team, there was no cohesive culture or shared vision for UX and UI standards. This project aimed to rebuild a design team that could bring a consistent, high-quality design approach to priority initiatives, foster collaboration, and directly support company goals.

Users & Audience

Primary users of this initiative included Product, Marketing, and Engineering departments that required a dependable, unified design resource. Key stakeholders also comprised VPs, C-level executives, and project managers who relied on design to drive business outcomes. Ultimately, Motley Fool's customers benefited from enhanced user experiences across products, leading to improved engagement and retention.

Roles & Responsibilities

As Design Director, I collaborated with the CTO, Product, Tech, and Project Management teams to create a fully functioning design team. My responsibilities included:

• Building the Team: Defined hiring criteria, crafted job descriptions, and led recruitment, focusing on skills diversity and alignment with company values.
• Establishing Design Principles: Collaborated with a core group of designers and researchers to create principles guiding the team's work and cultural values.
• Defining Design Metrics: Developed both business and team-oriented metrics to measure design's impact on user engagement, renewals, and internal morale.
• Setting Up Standards and Workflows: Created design standards to ensure consistency, scalability, and quality across projects.
• Team Culture and Engagement: Fostered a supportive, creative environment through onboarding, regular check-ins, mentorship, and team-building activities.

Scope & Constraints

Building this team required strategic hiring within a limited timeframe and budget, balancing skills diversity with the company's immediate needs. The team adapted to a remote and hybrid work environment to meet high design demands across multiple projects. Demonstrating design's value to executives through measurable impact was crucial for securing ongoing support.

Process & What You Did

1. Recruitment & HiringI leveraged my background in UX, Product Design, and leadership to assemble a well-rounded team. I wrote job descriptions for roles such as Senior UX Designers, Product Designers, and Researchers, partnering with the head of Technical Recruiting to post roles in targeted design networks. To find top talent, I promoted openings across my social media networks and created a design exercise for candidate evaluation.
2. Onboarding & TrainingI developed a robust onboarding program, including a custom-designed site with resources such as company expectations, internal buzzwords, milestones, and key contacts. I set up mentorship structures and encouraged continuous learning to enable new hires to make rapid contributions.
3. Establishing Design PrinciplesI led a core group in defining design principles that shaped team culture and aligned with business needs. Through brainstorming sessions and surveys, we determined the fundamental principles that would guide our team's work, which I then submitted for approval to the CTO and CEO.
4. Defining Design MetricsI established two key types of metrics: business-oriented metrics focused on user retention and engagement, and internal metrics from engagement surveys to monitor team morale. These metrics helped gauge the effectiveness of the UX and UI designs in enhancing the customer experience and maintaining high team engagement.
5. Cross-Functional Collaboration & Design StandardsI proposed a hybrid organizational model, where the design team functioned as a horizontal group delivering across project verticals. I fostered relationships with Product, Engineering, and Marketing teams to integrate design strategically into key projects, with regular review sessions and collaborative workshops to align initiatives with business goals.
6. Performance & Engagement CultureI instituted regular check-ins, feedback loops, and bi-weekly retros to support team development. I organized monthly team-building activities, including custom-designed virtual games, to build trust and camaraderie. This culture-focused approach resulted in record-high team engagement scores, exceeding company benchmarks by 19%.

Outcomes & Lessons Learned

The design team quickly became vital to high-priority projects, directly contributing to product enhancements and a cohesive user experience that aligned with strategic objectives. Establishing design standards significantly reduced project feedback cycles, improving turnaround times. Through mentoring and development, several team members advanced into leadership roles, illustrating the team's success in fostering growth and retention.

Reflecting on this experience, I learned the importance of establishing cross-departmental workshops early on to expedite alignment with broader company goals. The project reinforced the value of investing in a collaborative, culture-driven approach to building a design team that can adapt and scale with the organization's evolving needs.

Impact

The rebuilt design team became a cornerstone of Motley Fool's product development, contributing to major projects such as reimagining the product suite and creating a custom Design System. By fostering a strong culture, developing clear standards, and focusing on impact-driven metrics, the team achieved significant results. With a diverse group of designers and a high-engagement culture, the team delivered tangible improvements across Motley Fool's digital ecosystem, with engagement scores surpassing company benchmarks by 19% and design's strategic role firmly established within the organization.