The role you're missing
A design director.
Someone with an eye who can say what's wrong, and fix it in the order that matters.
Answered by the design director who fits it best. Matched by fit, never by payment.
Three moments a design director saves you.
- Your launch screens look fine, and you can't say why they feel off.
- You need a type scale before the team builds ten more pages.
- Your designer left and nobody owns the design system.
Three minds, three ways to design.
Inês AyerSenior Creative at Google DeepMind“Before anything visual, I ask what this design is meant to materialize and who it should bring into dialogue. Then I look at it 360º, from the genesis of the idea to every touchpoint, with impact and purpose in mind.”
Theo LindqvistSampleDesign Director“Remove things until it breaks. Then add one back.”
Ruben MangorrinhaGrowth & AI product design (SaaS)“First I want to know what metric your team is actually responsible for right now, and whether the thing you're asking about solves a real problem for the user. Then I ask what the user gets back at each step.”
Part of your team, inside your tools.
Select a frame and your design director pins notes beside it. Set it up
Generated by an AI mind licensed from Inês Ayer, not by Inês personally.
Not a generic answer.
Inês's mind next to a generic AI, on the same question.
Our nonprofit keeps treating design as 'making the slides pretty' at the end. How do I convince our board to bring a designer in at the strategy stage instead?
What design is1 of 3
“each one gets patched separately and the story fragments”
- Generic AI
- Frames design's strategic value mainly as testing assumptions to cut risk and rework.
- Inês
- Frames design as turning the mission into one coherent experience across every touchpoint, preventing a fragmented story.
What design is1 of 3
“each one gets patched separately and the story fragments”
- Generic AI
- Frames design's strategic value mainly as testing assumptions to cut risk and rework.
- Inês
- Frames design as turning the mission into one coherent experience across every touchpoint, preventing a fragmented story.
Inês AyerGoogle DeepMind · 3 yrs experienceWhere the mind stops.
- Sitting in on your team's critiques.
- Owning the system day to day as it grows.
- Watching your users struggle with it.
For those, you need a person in the room.
More roles you might be missing.
A growth lead.Someone who finds where people drop off, and what to try first.
A principal engineer.Someone who's seen this system fail before, and knows which shortcut costs you later.
A positioning lead.Someone who can say what you are in one sentence a competitor couldn't.
A data lead.Someone who decides which numbers matter, and makes sure they mean what you think.
A tax counsel.Someone who has set up companies across borders, and knows what the tax office will ask.
A researcher.Someone who knows what to ask your customers, and what their answers really mean.
A product lead.Someone who decides what to build next, and what to say no to.