On Ask Us Anything, BOH editor in chief Kaitlin Petersen taps former Trade Tales guests to answer real, confidential designer questions, offering a safe space to discuss business challenges. Have a question of your own to ask? Send an email to start the conversation.
This week, Washington, D.C.–based Zoë Feldman answers a question from a fellow designer about an employee who is nearly a perfect fit for the firm—except for one key thing: their sense of style. This designer doesn’t necessarily think that their employee has bad taste,but the work doesn’t match with the firm’s aesthetic or what its clients really want. Now they’re wondering how to prevent this kind of discrepancy from happening again.
Feldman jumps in with advice on how to hire for aesthetic alignment, the metrics she uses to measure an employee’s progress at her firm, and how a team member with their own style can sometimes save a firm from adopting a formulaic look.
Crucial insight: When asked about their own taste in design, any hiring candidate could easily rattle off a few key words gleaned from the firm’s website and social media—but what’s the best way to see if those terms actually describe their sense of style? For Feldman, it involves putting potential team members through an “aesthetic stress test” during the interview and evaluation process. “We might ask them to put together a board, or I’ll talk to them about their influences: what artists they love, or fashion designers, or what they read, what they listen to, [where they] travel,” says Feldman. “I’m looking to see if they are deeply artistic. We’re not generally looking for derivative design, so we’re not interested in someone who just loves Pinterest and Instagram. We want someone who’s more steeped in it. … I’m not saying, ‘This is my look, and if you can’t do this look, it’s not going to work here.’ I’m looking for people who have their own interpretation of my work, and it will seamlessly work inside of my work, but they will put their own spin on it. That’s exciting to me.”
Key quote: “The most important qualities we want our team, our designers, to be evaluated for is a combination of: Are they moving their projects along? Are their projects making money? Are they paying attention to their use of time, and are they paying attention to the process?” says Feldman. “We’re looking at new business and networking; we’re looking at how much of their work is photographable. Are they producing work that our marketing team is excited by? Are they being passionate about their design? And are they able to lead the client versus the client leading us?”
This episode was sponsored by Four Hands and Crypton. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
