First Designer In isn’t yet another design book, it’s a hyper-practical guide to all the non-design work the role entails.
What’s In the Book
The book’s broken down into three sections, plus an addendum. Here’s exactly what’s in each:
Section 1Making Space For Design
Setting Design up for healthy success.
Minimum Viable Design TeamTwo types of design teamsSix design skills of a generalistDesign business metricsDesign's place in the companyDrafting a master plan
Section 2The First Five Weeks
An action packed plan to get on-boarded.
Audit of the current stateIdentify the real stakeholdersSet fundamental expectationsTake benchmark measurementsSet up proto-personasDeliver. Deliver. Deliver.
Section 3Looking Forward
These topics fill entire books. We’ll focus solely on bootstrapping them into existence.
Seed a design systemGetting a components library builtSeed research operationsMeasure design org maturityPrepare yourself to hire a team
BonusSwipe Files & Resources
Downloadable files, free forever for folks who’ve purchased the book.
The Action Plan (Summary)Readiness (Checklist)Design Levels Matrix (Spreadsheet)Research Projects vs. User Studies (Swipe File)Reading list of all the books and articles cited (Link List)
Who Needs This Book
Designers
If you’ve landed a gig as a solo designer, and have the sinking feeling there’s more to it than you realized, this book is definitely for you.
Founders
If you’re making the first design hire, parts of this book are for you—the entire Section One and Hiring a Team.
VCs, et al
If you've got a portfolio of early-stage companies struggling to hire their first designer, this book is for them (probably not you).
About Me
I’ve made a career of being the first designer hire, then building up a team from scratch.
In over a dozen years in the business, I’ve founded two of my own companies, sold one, been the first hire at multiple startups, and worked in large multinational companies.
I’ve worked on products ranging from SMB to enterprise; delivered via SaaS, distributed via channel partners, or embedded in physical appliances. I’m part of the 500 startups network, member of the UXPA, and an active mentor in the UX design community.
There’s a wealth of knowledge locked away in our industry. It needs to be shared back to the community.
Why Now?
At least once a week, a fresh-faced designer will pop into a forum and cheerily ask for pointers on being a solo UX practitioner. They are met with links to a few articles and a list of books about design craft or design management. Nothing, however, is available that can prepare them for the harsh reality of being the first design hire tasked with creating a brand new design function within a company—until now.
I wrote First Designer In to fill that gap. This isn’t design book; it’s a hyper-practical guide to all the non-design work the role entails.
