My existential design maturity question has always been “Does a truly design mature environment actually exist?” Is it Apple? Airbnb, Linear, or another design-led company?

Erika Flowers’ wrote an absolutely killer comment last week and gave a surprising glimpse into what the epitome of design maturity could look like. Spoiler, it’s not a FAANG or a “tier-1” tech company.

Erika writes:

“I know dozens of friends in design at ever FAANG, MAANG, and Tier 1 company, and the internal organizational maturity of these flashier brands pale in comparison to Intuit's peak 20-teens heyday of the Brad Smith "Design for Delight" era and the Innovation Catalyst religion.”

“A designer cannot operate in a maturity level greater than their organization. You are part of, and confined by, the milieu of where you work.”

In this hour, we’ll be discussing:

• What made Intuit such a design mature company
• Erika’s thoughts on the meaning and value of design maturity
• What should we be doing in a design immature environment?
• What are the truly design mature environments out there?
• The impact of design maturity on one’s career