A Practical Guide to Onboarding Designers
Getting new designers productive on a product, its users and its design system.
Priya Raghunathan
Why does it matter?
Designers can produce work quickly without understanding the domain, and that work has to be redone.
What are the numbers?
- Domain knowledge product context takes longer to learn than tools
- Design system new designers need to know what exists
- Research archive past findings prevent repeated questions
- Shadowing support and sales calls build user understanding
What should I do?
- Introduce the design system and its rules early
- Share the research archive
- Have new designers observe support or sales calls
- Assign a first project with a mentor
- Review early work against system standards
What should I avoid?
Avoid:
- New designers given a brief on day one
- Design system discovered after work starts
- Research archives nobody points to
- No route to ask questions
When should I get help?
Short answer Bring in help when new designers take months to contribute.
Where this comes from
- Nielsen Norman Group — Design systems
- Figma Help Center — Guide to libraries
The figures and practices above come from the sources listed.
Working on something like this?
We take on UI & UX Design work for teams who want it done once, properly. Tell us what you are building and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right studio for it. Start a project.
Where to go next
Spotted something wrong? Report an error on this page. We correct on the page and say what changed.
