I feel very lucky to have met Laura Martini when I did. Aarron Walter and I first got to know the Google designer through her writing on Medium. Then, I first interviewed her on video for DesignBetter.Co in the fall of 2016, at Stanford’s d.school where she did graduate work in the Joint Program in Design.
Martini’s writings and her interview inspired my approach to entire parts of the Design Thinking Handbook, and we’re very grateful that she continues to be a contributor to our work on the Design Education team at InVision.
Martini and I share a common background in physical product design and engineering—but my sense is that she was probably a more adroit engineer than I was, and she certainly worked on more mission-critical products, such as medical devices.
Martini also carried her engineering background into her current work as a designer, as she mentions in the episode, where empathy with engineers helps her move more efficiently through product development.
“Being able to empathize with what’s it’s like to be an engineer, and to understand that technical constraints are a valid reason not to do something…that goes a long way in conversations with engineers.”
– Laura Martini
Here are a few more things to listen for in this episode:
- How Martini designs in real-time with colleagues to make product decisions more quickly
- Where and how Martini finds meaning in her work
- How to know when it’s time to move on from a role
Whether you’re a designer or an engineer, or a hybrid like Martini, you’ll get a lot out of the insights she shares.
If you like what we’re doing, and want to hear the stories of more great designers like Laura Martini, it would help us out a lot if you subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and leave us a review.
Thanks for listening!
by Eli Woolery
Eli is the Director of Design Education at InVision. His design career spans both physical and digital products, and he is a lecturer in the Product Design program at Stanford University. You can find Eli on Medium or on Twitter.
