Hasta La Ideas

Photographs by Tom Rohrer, senior interaction designer at frog

One year after Facebook granted Design Mind an inside peek, Facebook’s director of design opens up on the company’s latest goals and strategies.

Silicon Valley is undergoing a design renaissance. In an age when just about anyone with a computer and an idea can create an app, companies are asking themselves, “What is the secret to success?”

The tech community used to think it was about the back end, so it focused on efficient code bases and faster software. These will always be very important, but technology companies are beginning to realize that winning customer hearts is as important as winning their minds and that success lies in those little moments of delight when a product doesn’t just meet expectations, it exceeds them. This is the province of designers—and it’s why we’re now taking center stage.

Facebook was one of the first companies to place a premium on design. When I say this, people sometimes raise a skeptical eyebrow at me. Facebook, a design company? Let me explain.

Facebook was built on the idea of putting people at the center of everything, of human-to-human interaction. We call this principle “social design,” and it’s the heart of everything we do here.

Computers are getting smaller and smaller; now they fit in our pockets, and we bring them everywhere. And this shift to mobile presents new design challenges for Facebook. But I believe that we’re well positioned, because for the three and a half years I’ve been with the company we’ve focused relentlessly on moving fast and always being ahead of the curve.

First, we’re very transparent. This is a vital part of how the design team works—and the whole of Facebook. In an industry where companies live and die by their ability to move fast and be creative, we think keeping a culture of complete openness is essential.

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