Product design team principles: Crafting culture through clarity and shared standards
Type of project
A real-world leadership initiative launched as part of my role as Head of Product Design at The Floow, used to define and embed a strong, scalable design culture.
Company & product overview
The Floow is a global telematics company working with insurers to improve road safety through mobile apps. The product design team spans multiple platforms, touchpoints, and client configurations, requiring a clear, unified set of principles to guide how we work and why we design.
Skills & area of focus
Design leadership, culture design, team development, documentation, onboarding, mentorship, facilitation, creative operations, strategic alignment, systems thinking.
Project problem or purpose
As the team scaled, designers were working well but inconsistently, applying different values, methods, and expectations depending on their project. This caused confusion, diluted quality, and made it hard for new hires to onboard with clarity. We needed a set of living principles to guide our design decisions, shape culture, and align how we work, especially across hybrid and remote environments.
Roles, responsibilities, & team
I initiated and led the creation of our team principles. This involved collaboration with the full design team (15+ members), product managers, and key stakeholders in engineering and research. I facilitated workshops, led retrospectives, and iterated drafts with team input to ensure shared ownership.
Timeline, scope, constraints
The process spanned 2 weeks. A key constraint was time, everyone had product responsibilities, so participation needed to be asynchronous and light-touch. We also needed to avoid a “top-down” feel, principles had to feel co-created, not enforced.
Process & what I did
We started with async reflection: “What do we value when we’re at our best?” followed by team workshops to group themes. I synthesised the input into 5 principles, each with supporting behaviours and examples. We pressure-tested the principles against real projects, refined language for clarity and accessibility, and published them in our design wiki. I embedded them into onboarding, rituals (e.g., critiques), and performance conversations, so they lived beyond a document.
Our 5 guiding principles:
Lead with clarity: Set direction, ask why, and explain how.
Design for impact: Solve the right problems with measurable value.
Think in systems: Create scalable, reusable design with purpose.
Make it make sense: Prioritise usability, accessibility, and real-world context.
Grow together: Share, reflect, coach, and support one another’s development.
Outcomes, results, & lessons
The principles improved alignment and decision-making, especially during handoffs, critiques, and onboarding. New hires reported feeling clearer about expectations and team values. Designers used them to reflect in 1:1s and feedback sessions. Most importantly, they helped shape a culture of shared ownership, thoughtfulness, and accountability. My key takeaway: principles aren’t just values, they’re tools for scaling trust, quality, and autonomy across a growing design organisation.
