The User Brings the Confetti: Rob Giampietro on Scaling a Human-Centered Brand

About this episode

Rob Giampietro discusses the development and launch of Notion Faces, emphasizing the importance of human illustrators in maintaining brand quality.

Rob Giampietro, Head of Creative at Notion and former Design Director at MoMA, returns to the show to unpack the story behind Notion Faces, the popular tool that allows users to create their own illustrated avatar. Rob details the project's journey from a beloved internal tradition to a major public launch, including the pivotal decision to scale with human illustrators instead of AI to maintain the brand's unique, handcrafted quality. The conversation explores how the team shifted its focus from "likeness" to "expression," the power of modularity in design systems, and the research process that made the project a success. 📋 Read a transcript 📡 Subscribe

People in this episode

Host: Liam Spradlin

Guest: Rob Giampietro

Topics covered

• human-centered design
• branding
• illustration
• design systems
• user experience

Keywords

• Notion
• Rob Giampietro
• illustrated avatar
• human-centered brand
• design process

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Notion, MoMA

Products: Notion Faces

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