Ask HN: What is the design process like at large tech companies?

25 points by adnanxsg 6 years ago | 5 comments

I am working as a freelance designer and lately I've been trying to make my process more well defined. I'd like to know what the process is for designers at large companies like Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Are there any designers who work at large tech companies who might be willing to share?

krgraver 6 years ago |

I'm not sure what it's like at super large companies, but I agree with another comment that assumes they make decisions based on micro-testing interactions with their millions of users.

At a mid-size company I worked at, we looked at metrics using analytics software (like Pendo and Full Story, not GA) and then AB tested variations to see if they moved users to our desired behavior.

adnanxsg 6 years ago |

I'm particularly interested in how you do about understanding the problem in more details, brainstorming solutions, working with your peers and getting feedback/review, and finally what the final set of deliverables are.

mattbrewsbytes 6 years ago | |

I'm guessing large companies like FAANG have massive traffic that they can use in their design process.

They probably can tweak UI/design for a tiny fraction of a percent of their user base and just use statistics on usage to drive decisions.

2rsf 6 years ago |

large companies is mostly a fiction, they are built from projects and teams where most of the design work is done at the team level or a bit more.

garrickvanburen 6 years ago |

Defining Design processes is a well trodden path for agencies.

In 20+ years, I’ve not seen a huge divergence from; discover, ideate, refine, launch.