Onboarding of a New Product Designer: How to Make It Comfortable and Effective

Oftentimes, the onboarding of a new team member lacks structure, proceeding chaotically and hastily. Resources are lost, and it is unclear who to contact for various questions. As a result, a new designer will have knowledge gaps that, in turn, will affect the quality of work and hinder their confidence in the product.

During my career, I have been onboarded to different projects and have also been in charge of the onboarding process for other designers. Here, I list the points that I believe are important for making this process successful.

This article serves as a brief guide for the designer onboarding process and is divided into four parts. The first part explains the best practices for storing information before initiating onboarding. The second part covers how to present information about the company and the product. The third part focuses on design resources and provides specific details relevant to designers. In the fourth part, I share personal life hacks and general recommendations for organizing onboarding in a warm and effective manner.

Organization of the Resources: Life Hacks Derived From My Experience

First of all, all necessary resources have to be stored in one place and be easily accessible. This can be a Confluence page, Notion page, Figma file, or Miro board. My personal favorite is the Confluence page. Confluence is compatible with many other tools like Figma, Miro, Sketch, Google services, etc.

It allows you to go through all the documents without losing context which especially matters given how overwhelmed any specialist starting a new position is.

I also recommend structuring the information in a storytelling format and organizing it into clear blocks:

• About the company: Provide a background on the company’s history, mission, and values.

• General information about the product: Give an overview of the product, its purpose, and key features.

• Useful information about the users: Share insights on the target users, their needs, and behaviors.

• Working process in your company: Explain the overall workflow and company culture.

• Designing process in the team: Detail the team’s design methodologies, tools, and collaboration practices.

• Goals and current tasks of your team: Outline the team’s objectives and ongoing projects.

  
  

You can start with general information and gradually move to specific details. This approach works well throughout the entire onboarding process and within each category. Generally, these blocks can be categorized into two main areas: business and design.

If you prepare an efficient foundation for onboarding, it will save you time and effort in the long run when working with a new team member.

Company and Product Resources

About the Company: Company Culture, Mission, and Strategy

Everyone feels a bit anxious about starting a new job, and a well-structured onboarding process can help navigate the challenges of the first day. Before diving into projects, it is important to introduce the company. This part of onboarding should cover everything related to the company, including its culture, principles, mission, and strategy. This information is essential for all employees, not just designers.

This includes:

• Positioning: How the company positions itself in the market.

• Target audience: Who the company’s products or services are aimed at.

• Company goals: The long-term objectives the company aims to achieve.

  
  

These details can be provided by a People Partner or a Talent Manager. Understanding company culture and targets will help new designers think about their projects from a long-term perspective and motivate them to deliver results if the company culture and ambitions align with their own.

The Product Demo

Next, think about how to introduce the product to a new designer. In my experience, a demo-like approach is the most effective way to familiarize newcomers with the product. For the initial product demo, it's more efficient if the sales team organizes it and presents it in the same manner as they do for clients. This approach helps a designer see the product through the eyes of the user and form the right first impression.

Test Instance and Personal Project

It’s very important for designers to have their own environment to experiment without the fear of making mistakes. However, even with all the necessary resources, a designer might not fully understand the user's problems until they experience them firsthand.

I usually assign a task that motivates the designer to research the product thoroughly. For example, our product allows users to create hierarchies from Jira issues and develop Gantt charts. I ask the designer to create a personal project that interests them, such as cake baking or party organization, structure it, and plan it using a Gantt chart.

If your product is for 3D modeling, a new designer can create their own interior design. If it's a marketplace, you can ask them to compile a basket of goods for a particular scenario of their choice.

Competitor List

Product designers don't work in isolation; they frequently collaborate with other teams, such as product managers or product owners. While you will need to introduce them to each other, it can be useful to start by familiarizing them with the product's competitors. Product managers or product owners typically have extensive knowledge about competitors, and sharing this information with the designer is beneficial.

The best approach is providing access to the test accounts where a new designer can try the computing product, if they are available. But sometimes, it’s difficult or expensive to get them so the screenshots, screencasts, YouTube video tutorials, or documentation links are also quite useful.

Other Product Resources

Along with general information about the company, competitors, and the product demo, consider having them review relevant documentation, support requests, and analytics to give them a well-rounded understanding, like:

• Documentation: Comprehensive guides and manuals for using the product.
• Support requests and user reviews: Feedback and issues reported by users.
• Analytics: Data from tools like Amplitude, Google Analytics, and UserTesting.

It allows a new team member to understand the roots of the ongoing initiatives, connect them with the users, and find explanations of the existing solutions.

Design and Working Process Resources

After a new designer familiarizes himself with the company and the product, it will be helpful to explain how a design team works and the design process is organized in general.

Design System and Mockups Storage Structure

If you have a design system, this is an excellent starting point for onboarding in the design area. If not, you can show the mockups with the latest versions of the interface. Each company has its own way of storing mockups. It’s important to explain the logic behind folder organization, file naming conventions, and the rules for internal implementation.

Design Process

The design process can involve many steps and different people. For example, you might require a design review from another designer before presenting it to the stakeholders. The stakeholders themselves can vary depending on the project and the importance of the task.

Here, you can also show your task tracking system and how it’s organized.

Goals and Current Issues of the Design Team

It includes an overview and current progress of ongoing initiatives, the tasks in the short and medium term like sprint, fix version, quarter, etc. It’s important to highlight a connection between the company goals which were mentioned before, and design teamwork and objectives.

Expectations and First Tasks

If specific expectations from a newcomer have already been formulated or there is a scope of tasks that are planned to be assigned to him or her, then you can also share it when he or she has already more or less got the bearings in the new environment. It’s perfect if it’s matching with the team goals, then everything will be sorted out for a person, and he will be able to better understand his role.

It would also be reasonable to say here how the performance will be evaluated and when the first review is planned to be held. In my experience, a high contribution is not expected in the first month even from a Senior, or even the first three to six months if the product is deep and complex.

General Recommendations

Onboarding Buddy

New designers may be shy when communicating with a manager and might hesitate to ask too many questions. It’s often easier for them to seek help from someone on the team. Therefore, the onboarding buddy should be an open and friendly person, and not too overloaded, of course.

Dosing of Information

The amount of information you can provide to a new designer in their first days can be overwhelming, so it’s important to avoid overloading them. It is better to present new information in small, manageable chunks, and it’s important to repeat it several times. Theory should be combined with practice.

For example, after explaining a part of the product, provide a small task — this does not need to be a real task, but rather a small improvement exercise.

Distribution of Information Among Different People

Firstly, this approach helps prevent overloading a single person. Secondly, it’s beneficial for new designers to get to know everyone on the team. Not only can design teammates participate, but also other teams such as engineers, QA, and support.

Conclusion

Effective onboarding takes time, especially when dealing with complex products. It cannot be completed in just a week - learning is an ongoing process throughout the whole tenure. Therefore, onboarding requires patience and a well-structured approach. Tight deadlines and high expectations can stress all participants involved, potentially hindering the onboarding process.

However, when a new member of a design team feels supported and becomes genuinely interested in the product, it creates a positive environment conducive to learning and growth. This supportive atmosphere fosters enthusiasm and engagement, which significantly increases the chances of productive collaboration.

As a result, the entire team benefits from enhanced development and improved performance in the future.