Andy Zhang - From early Figma to design engineer at Windsurf
Dive Club 🤿15 Elo 2025

Andy Zhang - From early Figma to design engineer at Windsurf

This week's episode is with Andy Zhang who was the lead design engineer at Windsurf. So we're going to shine a light on all of the ways you can make an impact as a design engineer including:

  • Owning more of the frontend polish
  • Thinking through design patterns and packaging features
  • Bridging the gap between technical features and intuitive UX
  • Saying “no” to features to preserve the simplicity of the system

He also shares some great stories and advice including:

  • What it was like working as an intern at Figma with <10 people
  • How designers can start to get more comfortable with code
  • How he taps into his experience as a PM at Uber while selecting the right design process
  • a lot more

Jaksot(185)

4 brand strategy tips from Smith & Diction 💡

4 brand strategy tips from Smith & Diction 💡

When comes to brand design, Mike and Cara from Smith & Diction are pretty much top of the game (you might recognize them as the ones who did the brand identity for Perplexity).During our interview, it...

25 Helmi 20257min

Thiago Costa - Cultivating taste as a designer

Thiago Costa - Cultivating taste as a designer

If you asked me “who has the best taste in design right now?” one of the first people I’d mention is Thiago Costa.His product Fey is in the S-tier of design and I’ve studied his visual techniques for ...

21 Helmi 202558min

Ammaar Reshi - Unlocking AI’s creative potential

Ammaar Reshi - Unlocking AI’s creative potential

Today we get to hear from Ammaar Reshi who is the Head of Design at ElevenLabs—the AI audio platform that has come up multiple times in past episodes.So a big focus of this conversation is learning wh...

14 Helmi 202554min

Design “handoff” is changing forever 💡

Design “handoff” is changing forever 💡

How do designers from today’s top teams collaborate with engineers?After many interviews I'm starting to notice a trend…The highest functioning product teams throw away a lot of code and it’s a good m...

11 Helmi 202511min

Chris Abad - Storytelling tactics for senior designers

Chris Abad - Storytelling tactics for senior designers

This week's episode is with Chris Abad who has led design teams at companies like Google, Square and Dropbox so needless to say he's given a lot of design presentations over his 20+ year career.So thi...

7 Helmi 202549min

How to be great at systems thinking 💡

How to be great at systems thinking 💡

Systems thinking is often mentioned as the #1 trait teams are looking for in designers.But what does it look like to be great at it?This episode answers that question by highlighting stories from Noti...

4 Helmi 202510min

Anthony Menecola - Insights from a staff designer at Shopify

Anthony Menecola - Insights from a staff designer at Shopify

This week's episode is with Anthony Menecola who is a longtime staff product designer at Shopify so we’re going to do a deep dive into ways you can make a bigger impact at your company as an IC.One of...

31 Tammi 202544min

Making big ideas happen with design 💡

Making big ideas happen with design 💡

When I say high stakes design project, what comes to mind?How about Ryan Scott redesigning the Airbnb checkout flow right before a  $3.5 billion IPO? Now THAT is a big time project…So this episode is ...

28 Tammi 202510min