Kristy Tillman
Design Director at Society of Grownups & Founder at Tomorrow Looks Bright
Discussion
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Kristy Tillman
@kristyt · Design Director
I am Kristy Tillman, Design Director at Society of Grownups, Founder of Tomorrow Looks Bright, and former Co-Founder of The Human Utility fka The Detroit Water Project and former IDEOer! I love side projects and spend a considerable amount of time thinking about designing and technology for underserved populations and design for social impact in general.
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chloé
@champagnenoona · Digital Marketing Analyst
What are the top 2-3 skills you find the most valuable in entry/junior designers? It feels like there's pressure to not only design, but front end dev, UX, animation, etc.
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Kristy Tillman
@kristyt · Design Director
@champagnenoona Hi Chloe. This is a great question. For junior designers I am looking for an aptitude in at least one design discipline. So I don't expect junior designers to code, animate, and do UX, etc. I actually don't expect that from senior designers either. But especially for junior designers I am looking for curiosity, a willingness to work your ass off, and teachability. Design fundamentals can be taught and learned so I put more emphasis on the soft skills that demonstrate your potential to grow which is something that is hard to teach.
Ali R. Tariq
@alirtariq · Product Designer, Manulife RED Lab
I love what your team has done with Society of Grownups. Was it difficult to convince the "powers that be" at Mass Mutual to put trust in the project and run it like a spin-off (with its own branding, business model, etc.)? What do you think the role of design is in pushing forward these types of bets?
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Kristy Tillman
@kristyt · Design Director
@alirtariq Hi Ali. Thank you. Our parent company has continued to demonstrate trust in our direction so no that has not been hard at all. I think the role in design in pushing forward is to continue to understand what our target user needs and making things that help them better their lives and understand their money.
#OnBleak
@workingmichael · Principal, WorkingMichael, LLC
Vignelli taught us that "if you can design one thing, you can design everything". do you feel this still applies as the discipline of design grows and spreads from physical objects to digital products?
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Kristy Tillman
@kristyt · Design Director
@workingmichael Yes. However, I think the key is learning how to learn.
#OnBleak
@workingmichael · Principal, WorkingMichael, LLC
@kristyt can you expand on this? i'm familiar with thinking about thinking (meta thinking), but what do you feel is the best way to further one's progress in learning about learning?
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Kristy Tillman
@kristyt · Design Director
@workingmichael That it's not so much that being one type or designer means you can competently go into another field of design easily, but learning the process to fluidly do so is the ticket.
Taylor Barnett
@taylor_atx · Developer + Community, Keen IO
What's a couple of things that anyone can do to design better products and platforms with underserved populations in mind?
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Kristy Tillman
@kristyt · Design Director
@taylor_atx Hi Taylor. Humanizing the folks you are designing for, challenging your assumptions about those people and their needs, engaging them in the design process and realizing they probably have a good idea on how to go about solving the problem already.
Lauren Dorman
@laurendorman · Front-End Dev & Designer, CSG
What advice would you give to someone looking to transition from a consultancy environment to a product team? Were there any challenges that you had to overcome or was it more of a natural changeover?
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Kristy Tillman
@kristyt · Design Director
@laurendorman Oh yeah going from a consultancy where you often don't execute your ideas to a product team that lives in a constant state of iteration is definitely a big change. Product teams often have more constraints than a consultancy where clients are paying you for "out of the box" ideas. You have to get real and tangible a lot more quickly on a product team. Bridging the gap is totally doable. I, however, have seen people flounder in that transition. I'd think really hard about the kind of design work you rather be working on and what you want to be learning.
Thomas Stöcklein
@tomstocklein · FoundersFundersFuture.com
What is the long-term impact you're hoping to make with Tomorrow Looks Bright? Have you considered corporate partnerships with tech companies to gather additional support for the project?
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Kristy Tillman
@kristyt · Design Director
@tomstocklein I basically want to be an expert on black creativity. I realize that is super broad but I don't want to give away too much here. Yes I have considered corporate partnerships and plan to engage some companies later in the year for specific projects. Are you offering? LOL
Thomas Stöcklein
@tomstocklein · FoundersFundersFuture.com
@kristyt That's awesome! Look forward to seeing Tomorrow Looks Bright take off! Haha, once my business is big enough, i'd definitely consider a sponsorship...
Maurice Cherry
@mauricecherry · Principal, Lunch
What are you excited about at the moment?
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Kristy Tillman
@kristyt · Design Director
@mauricecherry I am excited about the products we are working on here at Society of Grownups (can't say much more than that).I am also excited about Tomorrow Looks Bright and the direction it will head. I've finally had a bit of a eureka moment about where I want to take it.
Maurice Cherry
@mauricecherry · Principal, Lunch
What would you say have been the fundamentals of your success?
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Kristy Tillman
@kristyt · Design Director
@mauricecherry Butting in in places where my presence is unexpected and providing value to the folks there.
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Kristy Tillman
@kristyt · Design Director
@champagnenoona I did an interview about this in Black Enterprise if you want a more in depth answer. But I am super interested in how we go about making meaning and designing how other people experience the world via design so I wanted to understand what other black women were making as a form of cultural commentary. I figured if I was interested in this other people would to so I decided to send it out as a newsletter.