Designers we hire

There is no surefire formula on what makes a great designer, and my (Diego) own views of the types of designers I enjoy working with are highly skewed because of my career path.

Some bullet point thoughts on an ideal designer:

• Someone who is a fantastic writer
• A 'traditional' graphic or brand designer who would like to flex in product design
  • This was me while working at COLLINS, and I'm glad my career path took me to product design through the agency world. For the record, I didn't do any interface design at COLLINS, but traditional design teaches you one to be more creative and open-minded about what an interface might look like. I've seen too many nearly-identical product design portfolios. Traditional graphic designers know how to start from zero really well.
• A reductivist
  • At this point in our company's growth, reductivism is key in our product design and communications, because it makes our work and thinking the sole focus of what we're creating. It doesn't matter how sexy the landing page if the idea is no good. So, a designer who can be highly reductive is key to making our communications and experiences lucid.
  • I fully acknowledge that a reductivist might be a direct contradiction to the above criteria, but there is a balance.
• Creative outside of design
  • Designers have an amazing privilege: we get to be inspired by all things. Once we know the digital tools, we can go out into the world and collect mental material that can influence our work and hopefully spark something innovative. No designer that ever works at NATION should be single-mindedly obsessed with typefaces without an equal or similar appreciation for other endeavors, whether those be artistic, architectural, cultural, or technical. Good designers are capable. Great designers are synthesizers.