Designing with Humility
Filmed on October 12, 2013, at “Head Heart Hand: AIGA Design Conference”
Design is often seen as an art form and something that creates value for those who can afford it. But the promise of modern technology and social media is the democratization of access to information and the channels through which we tell our stories. So what is design’s relationship to sites like Facebook YouTube Twitter and Instagram? These massive open platforms require a great deal of effort to get right including product vision strong partnership with engineers and great execution. But they also require an intangible quality that can be much harder to come by: humility.
Margaret Gould Stewart is director of product design at Facebook Inc. leading the company’s user experience efforts to connect people to businesses and brands in powerful ways and making Facebook a highly effective marketing platform for businesses both small and large. Prior to coming to Facebook she spent three years leading UX for YouTube and two years leading search and consumer products UX at Google. Stewart has been a practitioner and manager in the field of user experience for more than 15 years. After graduating from New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program in 1995 Stewart consulted extensively with New York media companies such as The New York Times Time Warner and Scholastic helping them develop their first forays into the web. She’s held leadership roles at a variety of high-profile startups and corporations including Tripod.com which was acquired by Lycos Inc. and Wachovia. Stewart is a member of the board of Architecture for Humanity and she has served on the jury for the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards. She is a frequent speaker about design user experience creative management and the changing landscape of media.
