How to Spot a World-Class Designer | by Julie Zhuo | Medium
He’s hired and mentored some of the best designers in the industry, led foundational work at Facebook and Dropbox, and gone on to invest in a long list of design-led companies. Ask anyone in the design industry if they know Soleio and chances are good that you’ll hear a personal story about how Soleio did them a favor or dropped them a note or helped them learn an invaluable lesson. One of the things I admire most about Soleio is his ability to spot top-notch design talent. So I set out to ask him: what do you see that others don’t? What came back to me was a collection of structural distinctions that come out as small differences in posture, ownership, and intent. Like a snowball rolling down a hill, these differences compound into enormous differences in impact. Below are the contrasts Soleio kept returning to, the ones that explain why some designers plateau while others become indispensable. Most portfolios fail for a simple reason: they assume time and patience that don’t exist. T