Don Eschenauer

Over the last 10+ years, I’ve been fortunate enough to be in design leadership roles, where I’ve been able to build and shape design teams — and it’s honestly been one of the most rewarding parts of my career. Throughout that time, the role of a designer has evolved, but what hasn’t changed is a designer’s ability to take all business requirements and shape them in ways that are beneficial for the human experience as well as the business.

Not only have I been able to work with companies to ensure design has a place at the table but I’ve been able to help create an environment for designers to learn and grow in their own careers and specialties. In addition to fostering a team and making sure they have the support they need, my goal is to always make sure the right team makeup is in place so we can effectively accomplish business goals in ways that don’t create burnout. Building a practice that allows experimentation and exploration helps unearth new ideas and foster creative collaboration to unlock a team’s potential.

Rooted in a background of making things (art, music, furniture) having the right tools was important. I believe tools should be easy for anyone to use. Especially tools we use in our everyday lives. And the benefit should be evident.

The projects I’m most proud of have impacted someone by saving time, providing something they need, and/or enhancing their life in some way. They easily found a great recipe to make for dinner, when in a time crunch. They followed their favorite sport with reliable real-time stats. They were inspired to do great work in an awesome, tech-enabled space that took distraction out of the way. They got a great education and hopefully made the job of the teacher a little bit easier and much more effective for every student.

I approach leading teams as I do my design work: I am all in. I trust team members to do their work, but I am always there to guide or help solve a problem when needed. I’m inclusive of all backgrounds, experiences, and ideas. I’m protective of the craft of design in all specialties. Intentional. Considered. The details matter. I’m a strategic systems thinker in much the same way parts of a product are connected; the people who work on products need to be connected and work in concert. I like to keep things moving along. I think that comes from my background as a drummer where the job is to keep the song and all the players moving forward. To that end, part of bringing joy to work is celebrating accomplishments. Big. Small. Even if it was something to go back and iterate on, celebrate the learning.