What it’s like to be a designer at Faire: An interview with product designer Matt Neill
“At Faire, I‘m in a position to actually take ownership”
Like many designers, Matt Neill didn’t take the typical route to get where he is today. From founding a digital signage company to working as the sole designer on a team of 20 engineers at a media company, Matt’s design experience has been wide-ranging and eclectic — but always driven by a passion for helping users.
Since there’s no typical model of what a designer looks like at Faire, we sat down with Matt to talk about product design, what a regular workday looks like for him, and what he’s learned so far while working at Faire.
What do you do at Faire?
I’m a product designer on the retailer growth pod, based in Kitchener, Ontario, where I’m currently focused on finding ways to help retailers place their first few orders on Faire. Since joining the company in February 2020, I’ve worked on a handful of different projects: a self-serve help tool for retailers, a Shopify integration that enabled retailers to ship to consumers, a redesign of our logged-out category pages, and more.
What does a typical work day or week look like
Fast-paced, with a lot of communication! Everyday begins with a standup with my pod to make sure our engineers have what they need and are set up for success, followed by a daily design check-in with my product manager. I work very, very closely with him to align on the strategy for the product, review the data to identify points of opportunity, and test all of our assumptions.
Additionally, my design manager and I get in front of product leadership once a week to get feedback on the overall product strategy and vision while our work is still in flight.
A couple of times a week, I also attend a design jam, which is where I get feedback from peer designers. One thing I love about Faire’s design team is that all of the designers have really diverse backgrounds and experiences, so I can ask for their input on items I have less expertise in — for example, leveraging someone who might be more focused on visual design, or asking our content writer for help with brand and tone.
Another thing I do weekly is talk to our retailers, who are super passionate about what they do. They’re small business owners who know what their customers want, and love what they do — whether that’s selling clothing, or jewelry, or candles. They’re very vocal about giving us feedback on what is and isn’t working. It’s very rewarding when you’re talking to a customer and they tell you how much Faire has made a difference in their life, by helping them grow their business.
Adding more context to sign up modal paywalls.
What drew you to Faire?
After working at other organizations where I was the sole designer on a team of engineers, or part of a very small design team, I wanted to join a company that had a strong design culture. Faire stood out because they fully understood the integral role the design team plays in an organization — for example, having the first hire be a designer, or seeing the way Robin, our Head of Design, is really committed to building a strong design culture.
At some companies, design is an afterthought rather than being an equal part of the product and engineering processes. But the role of a product designer is so important: it’s about balancing user needs with the goals of the business. If you’re entirely user-focused, you’re going to create something that’s nice and easy to use, but you might not help the business progress in any way. And if you solely focus on the business, you’re going to get a product that’s covered in pop ups, banners, and buttons everywhere, something that no one wants to use.
What have you learned since you started working at Faire?
Ownership. It was a bit of a learning curve for me since I’d never gotten that opportunity at another organization. It hit me last year that I was in a position to actually take ownership over my work and team — to lead my pod and work alongside my product and engineering partners to define our roadmap together.
Designers always want a seat at the table. At Faire, it’s expected you’ll have that autonomy. Because of that, you feel invested in every feature that goes out the door and you really care about its success.
Looking back, what’s been one of your favorite projects?
Redesigning our logged out experience for the brand page, which is a public profile on Faire where brands tell their story and showcase their products for purchase.
We realized that when visitors ended up on a brand page while logged out — coming from Google search results, Facebook ads, or something else — that page performed really poorly in getting those visitors to sign up. We had a few theories as to why: visitors probably didn’t realize Faire was a wholesale marketplace, the products were placed lower on the page, and we didn’t have a sign up button. Essentially, we did a poor job of explaining where people had landed when they got to a logged out brand page, and we assumed they already knew what Faire was — which wasn’t true at all.
We went ahead and fixed all of those issues and designed for a mobile-first experience, which was an added challenge, and saw a 38% increase in signups within the first two weeks. Design at Faire is very data-centric, and we test all of our designs and assumptions. It was a satisfying moment to see that shift, quantify our work’s impact, and prove our hypotheses were correct. It also helped inform a bunch of decisions for other projects with similar challenges down the line.
Educating logged-out retailers.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out at Faire?
Get feedback early on in the process. Even if it’s sharing a quickly drawn wireframe, getting feedback early will save you time and help you see other perspectives.
Find a process that works for you and your product manager, since you’ll be working closely together.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Wholesale buying is a very complex business, and this is an ambitious, fast-growing company. It’s better to ask as many questions as you can and enjoy the ride.
Interested in joining the Faire team? View current openings and apply here: www.faire.com/careers/openings
