- Dive Club
- Posts
- 🤿 smooth waters
Imagine going from IC to leading the Wealthsimple design team in a few short years…
That was Polly D’arcy’s journey and today’s episode covers everything she’s learned along the way. We go deep into design leadership, craft, hiring, and a lot more.
Some highlights:
Why Polly hires specialists over generalists
Tactics to nail your next portfolio presentation
What it looks like to lean into the moment with AI
How Polly defines design quality at WealthSimple
How AI is changing team composition and design
Polly’s go-to interview question to evaluate designers
👥 FEATURED RESOURCE
New design opportunities
I’m officially doubling down on the talent network because it’s really starting to pick up steam and there are few things more life-giving than helping someone land a dream role.
Here are three of my favorite companies that hired designers from the network in the last month:
If you want me to promote the heck out of you to these teams or any of the others (Lovable, Granola, Superpower, Mercury, etc.) then drop your info here 👇
🔗 FEATURED RESOURCES
Field Notes from the In-Between
 | Remember when Kris Puckett from Stripe talked about becoming an AI-native designer? Well he just wrote a pretty incredible article that asks the question: “What happens when a designer stops waiting?” |
How to make it through 2026 to the other side
 | It’s ok to have a bit of anxiety right now. Honestly if you don’t, then you’re probably not paying very close attention. That’s why I want to share this article from longtime design leader, Mike Davidson. It’s a helpful guide to developing modern skills that companies are looking for today. |
10 portfolio tips
 | Edgard Kozlowski asked a bunch of talented designers what makes a portfolio work (and what turns them off). He compiled it into a set of 10 tips that are spot on. I particularly like the idea of thinking of your portfolio as a movie trailer. |
🧃 INSPIRATION JUICE
3 things I saved this week
1️⃣ Nested settings in a dashboard
Jakub Krehel is one of those design engineers who I pay a lot of attention to. I thought this sidebar navigation (especially the animation in and out of settings) was top notch work.
2️⃣ Offset testimonial layout
It’s hard to find novel approaches to testimonial design but I really like the simplicity of this layout from Fin.ai. Just saved it to my taste library over the weekend ✌️
3️⃣ 0s and 1s
Check out these illustrations made entirely out of 0s and 1s 😮
How much did you enjoy this issue?Never hesitate to reply with feedback too :) |
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