Making the Business Case for Design Craft

Lightning Lessons

Practical skills & tools to accelerate your career

Making the Business Case for Design Craft

Hosted by Ryan Scott

390 students

What you'll learn

What is craft?

Define and share what "design craft" means so it doesn't come across as big, vague, or costly to non-designers.

Why craft isn't often a priority

Understand why companies regularly deprioritize the details designers care about

When you should—or shouldn't—push for craft

Relentlessly pushing for craft isn’t the right move. Gain credibility by knowing when to push or when to compromise.

How to advocate for craft with business language

Learn business arguments to successfully advocate for your design priorities and unlock support from key stakeholders.

Why this topic matters

Designers are judged for the quality of our work—something we sometimes have surprisingly little control over. When non-designers don’t understand the value of Design Craft, the compromises we're asked to make negatively impact our careers. In this lesson, learn the business cases for Design Craft that I've used to persuade PMs, Engineers, and C-Suite Execs to ship the design work I believed in.

You'll learn from

Ryan Scott

Design leader · Airbnb, DoorDash, Salesforce · Berkeley MBA

Ryan Scott is a multidisciplinary designer who has led cross-functional teams to launch some of today’s most recognizable products.

As an early employee at DoorDash, he spearheaded launches of live order tracking, mobile group orders, remote driver training, and the food photography program. Ryan's work dramatically impacted Airbnb, where he influenced most parts of the product through major redesigns of checkout flow, messaging platform, search platform, & mobile website.

After earning his MBA from U.C. Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Ryan now trains designers on the business skills to get ahead in their careers.

Previously at