Glenn Hitchcock

Hi there, Glenn! Could you briefly introduce yourself and tell us what you do?

Of course. I'm the Director of Design Engineering at Vercel, and I do a bit of everything: product design, brand development, design systems and building the team. Design is a huge puzzle and I love every bit of it. Outside, my life revolves around dogs, bakeries and Lego!

How did your journey to becoming a designer begin?

It’s the early 2000s. I'm past my Geocities era, so I'm ripping and tweaking HTML/CSS, and creating forum signatures. I get into programming—and then out of it, pivoting back to design by learning off psdtuts and being lucky enough to ride the app store goldrush of the early 2010s.

What do you enjoy most about working as a designer?

I love jamming with other people on concepts, and creating environments where the best ideas come to fruition. But most of all, it’s about crafting something with precision and intent; the mission of conveying the best story.

What do you hate the most of it?

Design tooling is better than ever, but it’s still far behind what you can produce in reality. The 1:1 relationship with code needs to get better, and I can’t wait for a day where designers and engineers use the same tool to visualise and craft.

Could you share a tip with other designers?

When designing anything, always consider the experience in which colleagues will receive your work. Show your intent clearly, communicate it concisely and foster the most informed and collaborative workspace you can. Your team will forever love you for it.