Dive Club 🤿

Imagine you’re asked to lead the design of a new project. It’s complex, open-ended, and full of interconnected problems…How do you attack that ambiguity and get momentum quickly?This episode is an attempt to answer that question by unpacking tactics used by designers like:Jenny Wen (Original designer of Figjam): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/jenny-wenMichael Wandelmaier (Former head of design at Metalab): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/michael-wandelmaierAlex Cornell (Director of Design at Meta AI): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/alex-cornellRich Arnold (Design leader at Vine, IG, and Coinbase): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/rich-arnoldAndrei Herasimchuk (first designer at Adobe and Figma): Episode coming soonJenny Wen’s Eigenquestions Figjam template

2024 was the year the Perplexity brand took over the design community. And a big reason why is because of Phi Hoang.So this week’s episode is a deep dive into brand experience design and creativity with AI tools. We get an inside look at:Phi’s creative process with MidjourneyWhy Perplexity thinks of the brand in “seasons”Phi’s tool stack for creating marketing videos with AIBehind-the-scenes of how Phi stumped the founder of MidjourneyWhy Perplexity cares about creative consistency > visual consistencya lot morePhi referenced the episode with Henry Modisett the Head of Design at PerplexityMike Smith from Smith & Diction is who Phi collaborated with on the initial brand identityPhi uses Midjourney for image creationHe also mentioned Runway, Luma, and Krea for video work.

It doesn’t matter how good your designs are if they never get built. So this episode breaks down specific tactics you can use to become a better storyteller and get people excited to build your ideas. Michael Wandelmaier (former Head of Design at Metalab): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/michael-wandelmaier Gavin Nelson (designing the Linear mobile app): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/gavin-nelson Ian Wharton (storytelling coach): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/ian-wharton Kathy Zheng (head of design at Optimism): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/kathy-zheng Yuan Wang (head of design at Maven): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/yuan-wang Alex Cornell (design lead for Gen AI at Meta): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/alex-cornell Noam Segal (senior research leader): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/noam-segal Femke (design lead at Gusto): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/femke Gabe Valdivia (independent designer): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/gabe-valdivia Dive is where the best designers never stop learning 🤿 🌐 dive.club 🐦 twitter.com/joindiveclub

A little over a year ago, Joey Banks and I were DM’ing each other in Slack about leaving our W-2 jobs and going independent.So this week’s episode is a reflection on his journey working for himself and it’s as human and relatable as any conversation I’ve ever had on this show. We go deep into:Managing your pipeline of clientsCreating a personal knowledge system in NotionFinding companionship as an independent designerStructuring your schedule and maintaining momentumCommunicating your services and pricing yourself effectivelyDealing with uncertainty and all of the unknowns in your first yeara lot moreGet a special offer on Joey’s “Level Up with Figma” courseJoey’s Baseline website and newsletterPaul Millerd’s “Pathless Path” book and his episode on Lenny’s podcastJoey mentioned Oliur’s episode as one of his favorite YouTube creatorsHe also mentioned Stephen Robles YouTube channel