Amazon Design’s Post

Pottery serves as more than a hobby for Rob Strong, the Director of Futures Design for Amazon's Devices and Design Group. The communal environment of Pottery Northwest in Seattle offers him a space for reflection and creativity, fostering a sense of community that he brings to his role at Amazon. Take a look at Rob's journey to see how he nurtures passion to inspire his work: https://lnkd.in/gtnijhuP #Amazon #design

Amazon UX Design Manager Kasia Wasko has worked in User Experience Design for over 15 years. Recently, she internally transferred from Search and Conversational AI design to lead a design team at IMDb, driving impact to fans and industry professional alike. We spoke with her about how she continues her growth as a design leader and people manager in a new space. 🎤 How have you grown at Amazon? In my time at Amazon, I have owned and developed CX solutions for A to Z, Job Creator, Alexa Shopping List and Search. Amazon has challenged me to think big, develop trust and stronger partnerships across organizations, and seek opportunities to deliver an ideal customer experience. My intent as a design leader is to cultivate a team of advocates that elevate the craft, take ownership and continue to innovate towards an ideal customer experience. 🎤 What is the biggest design challenge you face in IMDb? There has been a lot of change in Hollywood since the pandemic - at IMDb, we seek to evolve and innovate with the needs of our business, our customers and the industry. While we learn how to best serve a global community of entertainment fans, creators, and professionals, we have a great opportunity to use new technology to innovate in a rapidly evolving space. IMDb has been implementing personalization, driving stronger relevance in the customer experience as an entertainment guide. We are making it easy for our customers to share opinions on their passions and connect with like-minded fans to discover the next entertainment. 🎤 What do you love about your team? I deeply appreciate the passion and enthusiasm within every designer to make a positive impact to our customer’s day to day lives. The IMDb team is thoughtful and curious in their approach to customer problems, and equally, they support one another in challenges that arise. 🎤 Tell us a fact that isn’t on your LinkedIn profile! While I grew up in the States, my parents both emigrated to California from Poland in the mid 1980’s. I learned English as a second language, and I grew up speaking Polish as my first language with my family. Growing up, I spent most summers with family in Poland, and I would return to the US for the school year. Navigating a multi-cultural world has given me a deep appreciation for the differences that shape our view of the world, our perspective and our approach. As a design leader, I intentionally seek to support a team culture that celebrates inclusivity and diversity. 🎤 What do you do after work? I enjoy hiking through the woods, and exploring the beaches around the Pacific Northwest with my dog, Sabina. I explore breaks and surf with friends, and of course, I enjoy checking out local music around Seattle. During my surf adventures, I will always sketch the beaches, woods, animals, and botanicals around me. #Amazon #design

♻️ Designing for the future!

Katy Hamill refers to herself as a “chaos wrangler”. She works at Amazon as a Senior Program Manager on the AWS Customer Experience Operations (CX Ops) team, where she creates project processes, policies, and structures with clear timelines, goals, roles, and communication. She resolves issues, streamlines workflows, and aligns everyone for efficient work. Check out her story! 🎤 How do you express yourself at #Amazon? I co-lead a chapter of the Inclusion Ambassador Program, which empowers Amazonians to champion an inclusive workplace for all. I LOVE people, and am always working to be more open, welcoming, and loving to those around me (and myself). I see inclusion work as an extension of that. I firmly believe diversity of thought is essential for impactful work, and I love that this program gives me a chance to promote that. 🎤 How did you get involved with design? HA! I have never been one to take a direct route in life; I love the journey more than the destination. I come from a family of creatives and makers going back a few generations. I tried to go to school for an art degree, but couldn’t figure out how to turn what I loved doing (creating, making) into a paying career that would support the life I wanted. After 12 years, 2 community colleges, and 3 universities (for real!), I finally graduated from UT Austin with a degree in International Relations, focusing on media, culture, and the arts, with a minor in Turkish culture and history. I spent years working in the international cultural exchange industry, running programs for foreign university students to come to the U.S. for temporary summer jobs and internships. I took a COVID break to work at a friend’s furniture restoration shop, where I solved less abstract, more structural problems to bring gorgeous antiques back to life. Then a brief stint at an Austin-based cybersecurity startup, before AWS Design found me, and it all sort of came together: people, inclusion, tech, and creative problem solving. 🎤 Tell us something that isn’t on your LinkedIn profile! My partner and I are rebuilding a 1993 Harley Sportster, nicknamed Pamela, which will be my first motorcycle. She’s currently a pile of engine and frame parts in the garage, but she'll look completely different when we're done. 🎤What do you do after work? I enjoy making things, playing with my plants, kayaking, spending time with my teenager, walking in nature, caring for chickens, watching movies, taking road trips, and trying new things. I'm also in my fourth year of crocheting a popcorn garland for our large Christmas tree—had I known the time commitment, I doubt I'd have started! But I also enjoy the tediousness. 🎤 How do your passions align with your job? I organize everything: refrigerators and cabinets, the garage, neighborhood events, volunteer activities, our gigantic collection of tools, multi-country vacations. I love creating systems for how things work together, which translates well to design operations.

Brian Barclay's background is deeply influenced by his family's design heritage, shaping his innovative approach to tackling complex user problems with empathy and creativity in his role as Head of Design and Research at Amazon. He focuses on items that challenge conventional delivery and local commerce solutions. We spoke with Brian about his work at Amazon and his passion after work—a brewery that started from humble homebrew beginnings to become a celebrated local establishment. This venture is not just a hobby but an extension of his design philosophy, where immediate feedback and iterative design are in constant play. Check out the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/gTXQhirh #Amazon #design

Amazon Design is hiring! Check out these spotlight roles on our career page: 🔎 Sr. UX Designer, Energy and Sustainability Devices - The Amazon Devices & Services organization is looking for a mission-driven Sr. UX Designer to be a key contributor to the design of new-to-world products to help us deliver a product portfolio for a zero-carbon future. Apply here: https://bit.ly/4b6C2ed 🔎 UX Writer - The Vehicle Sales team is building a new research, discovery, and shopping products that can connect customers to their car of choice. We’re looking for an experienced UX Writer who is a fierce advocate for the customer—distilling complex problems into simple, savvy communications.  Apply here: https://bit.ly/3VvW6lB 🔎 Principal UX Designer, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), Identity and Personalization - The AGI Identity and Personalization team is seeking a Principal UX Designer to drive and deliver LLM driven, personalized conversational assistant customer experiences, creating innovative conversation and UX designs for personalized conversational assistants at scale. Apply here: https://bit.ly/3Vcta0r 🔎 Visual Designer - We are looking for a talented visual designer who wants to be a key contributor to the launch of an exciting new shopping experience. In this role, you will generate industry-leading brand and design experiences to drive traffic, awareness, and engagement. Apply here: https://bit.ly/4bE8sO5 🔎 Principal UX Researcher, Futures Insights - The Amazon Device and Services Design Group (DDG) is seeking an exceptional Principal UX Researcher to join our Futures Insights research team responsible for establishing foundational insights on human needs, motivations, and trends to inform mid-to-long term strategic planning. Apply here: https://bit.ly/4c9VN5c ___ Join us in creating experiences that delight and empower our customers. Discover all our open roles here, and feel free to share this with your network if you know someone who might be interested! https://bit.ly/3yiXNK3 #design #hiring #Amazon

Aravind Ravi is a Senior UX designer at Amazon Web Services. We discussed how his passion for coding and experiences in software development led him to UX design, his career lessons on embracing discomfort and seeking feedback for growth, and his post-work hobbies that enhance his UX skills. Check it out! 🎤 How did your background lead you to design? My journey into UX was a bit of an accident. As a kid, I loved coding and saw it as my future. I built my first website at 10 and tinkered with C++ to make classic games like Snake and Sudoku. This naturally led me into software development, working with Mainframe, Mobile, and Web technologies. During my job as a Front-end developer, I found myself designing interfaces by trial and error, without a designated designer on the team. I then stumbled upon the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), which combined my interests in Design, Psychology, and Technology, sparking my curiosity to explore further. This led me to pursue a Master's degree in Human Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington, marking the beginning of my journey in UX. 🎤 What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned in your career? Early in my career, my introverted nature was a significant hurdle. If I had known the depth of negotiation and storytelling involved in design, I might have hesitated to pursue UX. However, navigating ambiguity, bringing order to chaos, and advocating for design visions honed my creative skills to start embracing these challenges. Stepping out of our comfort zones allows us to uncover hidden strengths and improve in areas we thought were beyond our reach. I once joined a team of talented Visual Designers as the sole UX Designer. While I initially felt out of place, being in an environment with a high bar helped me learn quickly by observing others. These experiences taught me a vital lesson: actively seek opportunities that push you beyond your comfort zone and surround yourself with those who offer candid feedback, even if it's not what you want to hear. Embracing discomfort and constructive criticism has been instrumental in my success on the AWS Startups team, where innovation and problem-solving reign supreme. 🎤 What do you do after work? I find intellectual stimulation in various hobbies like soccer, rock climbing, chess, composing music, and reading philosophy.Among these, I highly recommend chess to designers looking to enhance problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Chess trains the mind to choose the right opening, quickly analyze board positions, mentally backtrack lines, and evaluate how things might turn out depending on the move you make. UX Design is often a game of Chess - making the right move at the right time is crucial to avoid being checkmated by conflicting user needs, business goals, or technical limitations. Anticipating scenarios and staying ahead strategically and tactically is key in navigating the complexities of product design. #Amazon #design

Emilia Naberezny is a Senior UX Designer at Amazon. She works on internal tools to improve the employee experience. Check out her story! 🎤 What is the biggest design challenge you face in your space? We have a lot of internal customers who have different use cases and needs. Our challenge is to make sure our design solutions work for everyone. Having open lines with our customers and creating trust is important to making sure everyone is happy and having the best experience using our tools. 🎤 How did your background lead you to design? I went to Parsons School of Design in New York City for graphic design. After working in the field for 5 years I discovered UX/UI. As a graphic designer you ship something you’ve designed and you never fully know how impactful it was. As a digital designer, you have tools and tracking mechanisms to help understand how many people interacted and areas of improvement. Nothing is ever done, it is an iteration and I love that! 🎤 What do you love about your team? I love that everyone is a problem solver. I know I can bring a problem to them and if I am struggling or torn on an approach, I can lean on them to help navigate to the best solution. 🎤 How does Amazon surprise you? I am blown away by all of the design teams at Amazon working on unique problems. Whether it be a virtual reality shopping experience, an internal design system or a tool that can help managers and employees have better and more engaging interactions. 🎤 What have you learned from working here? Customer obsession is real. Before joining Amazon, I considered myself as a representative of the customer, but after joining I realized how I could push that even further. Earning trust amongst my colleagues and taking the time to understand the customer problem leads to a more impactful solution. 🎤 How do you generate creative ideas? This usually happens when I can’t sleep at night. I have two young kids and a puppy, so I find myself awake a lot at night. My best ideas come when I can’t get back to sleep. 🎤 Tell us a fun fact about you that isn’t on your LinkedIn profile! I was born and raised in NYC and my family has been in NYC since the late 1800s. 🎤 What do you do after work? I have two young kids, so all of my time outside of work is spent with them. Recently my daughter has gotten into learning about Ancient Egypt and we visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Seeing her face when she saw a real mummy in person was priceless. 🎤 What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned in your career? Always ask questions. Even if you think it’s a dumb question, chances are someone else also has the same one. 🎤 What advice do you have for designers? Trust your instinct. You are someone who interacts with physical and digital experiences all day long. Even if you don’t know how to solve a problem, think about how you would feel if you were in the customer’s shoes. #Amazon #design

Today, in honor Global Accessibility Awareness Day, we interviewed Elodie Fichet, Ph.D. - head of brand accessibility for Amazon Devices & Services. She focuses on raising awareness about our devices' accessibility features, creating accessible and inclusive content with an authentic representation of people with disabilities. 🎤 Why did you join Amazon? I found this job by chance, and it's a perfect match for my skills, passions, and values. With a background in marketing communications and accessibility, I feel fortunate to work in a role where I can make a meaningful impact. Seeing the positive effect my work has on customers with disabilities, alongside working with empathetic teams, makes my job both fulfilling and enjoyable. 🎤 What do you love about your team? They are curious and willing to learn more about topics they don’t understand in depth, like authentic and thoughtful disability representation. Amazon is fast-paced and sometimes stressful because you want to deliver bar raising work, which means pushing boundaries; but my team sticks together to get it done—all with humor and humanity, which definitely makes everything easier. 🎤 What has Amazon taught you? I have learned a ton at Amazon. Part of my background is in academia (I earned a Ph.D. and taught for a few years), so I was already familiar with discipline and demand for excellence. Amazon taught me how to bring that to the corporate world in ways that are just as bar raising but also embedded in tangible or immediate results. 🎤 Tell us about a project you were involved in! In late 2022, we re-launched amazon.com/accessibility and created several videos, including the Amazon Accessibility anthem. Our goal was to raise awareness about our accessibility offerings, engage with the disability community, and showcase how our devices can make an impact in people’s lives by making things a little easier, helping people be more connected, more entertained, and more independent. I was the lead for that project—from working on the stories we wanted to tell with creatives, to being on set, to working with PR on dissemination. It was definitely my baby and one of the reasons why I wanted to join Amazon. 🎤 What do you do after work? I love spending time with my dog, cat, and husband. Especially if it involves outdoor activities, like hiking (we’re training our kitten to be an adventure cat). I also read a lot. I read 85 books last year and my goal is 100 this year. 🎤 How do you define creativity? What recharges it? To me, creativity is freedom. Unimpeded thought. It’s a way to recharge and to feel connected to myself and to what’s around me, too. “Unplugging” recharges my creativity. Staying away from my phone and letting my thoughts wonder. 🎤 What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned? Don’t be afraid to go for it - whatever “it” is. New career, new location, new direction. Just go for it... better to have remorse than regret. #Amazon #Design #Accessibility #GAAD2024