A story on the intangible elements that make design functional, beyond the tactical assets it can produce.
When I joined STA Travel as Global Design Manager, the design team had real talent but almost no trust, from the business or in themselves. Strained relationships with marketing. 30+ daily requests with no process to manage them. Designers operating across four time zones and three continents with no shared culture, no design systems, and no DesignOps to hold it together.
The brief was to improve design output. The real job was to fix how design functioned as an organisation. During my time there I built the processes, practices, and psychological safety that turned a reactive team into a respected function, and changed the company's perception of design from "their always making mistakes" to "let's ask the designers."
Outcomes
• Team retention improved, designers stayed while others across the business left during a period of wider attrition
• Company mindset shifted: design moved from cost centre towards being a strategic partner
• Briefing process adopted company-wide across all eight global marketing divisions
• In-house animation capability added through strategic hire, directly improving engagement on digital campaigns and online platform
• Cross-departmental collaboration embedded through open studio days and joint project ownership
• Designers grew from hesitancy to confidence, actively driving reviews and stakeholder conversations
What I did
• Led a 15-person cross-disciplinary design team spanning UX, digital, brand, and animation, across three continents with three direct reports
• Oversaw the redesign of statravel.com, supporting £1B+ in annual revenue across eight global markets
• Established a brand language system and design standards across the team, creating the shared foundations for consistent, scalable output across digital, print, and in-store (pre-Figma infrastructure)
• Delivered consistent omnichannel brand expression across digital, in-store, and print across all markets
• Built cross-team workflows with Marketing, Engineering, and Brand functions
• Hired and developed design talent, including identifying skill gaps, writing job briefs, and onboarding new team members
• Introduced team rituals, mentoring structures, and collaboration practices that built psychological safety across a distributed team
After identifying the gaps, it became clear that the problem wasn't about design or the team's ability. It was about the company's mindset towards working with design as a function.
PROBLEM:
The design team was drowning. 30+ requests arriving daily from eight global marketing divisions across event activations, digital product, retail, website, social campaigns, emails, airline deal updates. The Studio Manager was manually sorting an overflowing inbox, often accepting jobs without full project context. Design was being treated as a quick fix, not a strategic function. The root issue was simple: there was no process.
SOLUTION:
I created an internal briefing document. A single tool providing transparency, visibility, and repeatability across all divisions and project types. With everything captured in one place, the Studio Manager could prioritise quickly, designers could organise requests and flag impacts, and I could focus on the larger cross-disciplinary strategic projects that needed design leadership not just design execution
HOW I DID IT:
I drafted the template, presented it to the Senior Creative Director, then advocated for it in monthly management meetings with Sales and Marketing Division Managers, making the case for improved collaboration, efficiency, and reduced errors. A two-month trial period followed, with minor adjustments based on feedback. It was eventually adopted as the company-wide standard briefing tool across all eight divisions.
PROBLEM:
The sales team and I had both noticed something: digital emails and designs featuring animation consistently had higher engagement rates. But animation was a skill gap in the team, some designers knew the basics but workload demands prevented anyone to have the time or space to develop this skill properly.
SOLUTION:
I presented the challenge to the Senior Creative Director and worked through our three options:
• Hire an animation designer
• Outsourcing the work
• Or invest training one designer
Training felt risky given our large day-to-day workload. Outsourcing would require management overhead and wouldn't give us the investment and ownership we needed. We chose to hire.
Ultimately, we chose to hire, adding this skill to our in-house team. I spearheaded the recruitment process with HR from writing the job advert and interviewing candidates, to onboarding and successfully integrated a new member into our multidisciplinary team.
HOW I DID IT:
led the full recruitment process with HR. Writing the job advert, interviewing candidates, and onboarding the new team member into a multidisciplinary team. My approach to team building followed three steps I've used consistently since:
1. Roadmap talent analysis
Identify the gaps slowing delivery, quality, and user experience
2. Look internally first
understand existing strengths, weaknesses, and motivations before going outside
3. Build the powerhouse team
Develop talent where possible, hire for gaps based on skill, personality, and potential
Images credit: Jason Mesut
PROBLEMS:
Designers from different disciplines were working in silos, completing their part of a project before handing over to another designer, rather than collaborating conceptually from the start.
The eight global marketing divisions we worked with had limited understanding of what design actually did or how it worked. That gap was creating friction in both directions.
SOLUTION:
I introduced monthly design team open days, informal gatherings where Marketing and Sales were invited into our workspace. We shared the strategic initiatives we were working on across brand, future retail experiences, and the digital booking experience.
Alongside this I introduced a practice of jointly assigning projects to both a content / print and a digital designer from the start. Building joint accountability and creative consistency across projects rather than siloed handovers.
WHA HAPPENED
Interdepartmental visibility increased and friction reduced. Marketing felt included in the design process. Designers began seeking early sign-offs at a conceptual level, which meant direction was aligned before anyone invested heavily in execution. Designs became more cohesive and predictable across multidisciplinary projects.
PROBLEM:
Talent alone doesn't make a great team. The designers needed confidence, in their work, in their voice, and in their right to take up space in the organisation. That required consistent mentoring, thoughtful delegation, and knowing when to step back and let people lead.
SOLUTION:
I introduced new rituals. One-on-ones in casual settings, parks, coffee shops, rather than meeting rooms, to encourage genuine open dialogue. Monthly non-work Show, Share and Tell sessions that brought inspiration from outside the industry and created connection across a team spread across multiple countries with different skill sets. Regular team-wide design reviews that gave everyone a voice, not just the most senior people in the room.
WHAT HAPPENED:
Trust compounded slowly, in me as a leader, among the team, and most importantly in themselves. One moment I remember clearly: watching a designer who had joined hesitant and uncertain evolve into one of the most reliable and respected members of the team. She started seeking feedback rather than waiting for it. Driving design reviews. Bringing ideas directly into conversations with marketing and sales managers. That transformation didn't come from process. It came from feeling safe enough to try.
Image credit: Jason Mesut
The most meaningful moment in this role came on my last day, when designers told me individually what the support had meant to them. Navigating conflicts. Finding the confidence to present ideas. Feeling seen as creative professionals rather than a production resource.
What this role taught me is that design culture isn't something you announce. It's something you build slowly, through consistent behaviour, genuine investment in people, and the patience to let trust compound over time.The processes I put in place mattered. However, the people who stayed because of them mattered more.
A video capturing the STA's open-minded spirit and ambitious nature
