Watermark invests in the growth of end-to-end, award-winning, multi-skilled designers that set new standards of quality for higher ed.

Since going distributed, we like to have at least one face-to-face design team gathering per day. The meetings may take the form of a weekly check-in, team-wide critique, or informal working session. Some mornings start early with agile teams meeting for feature refinement. Later morning may consist of a customer interview or heads down design time. Critiques are always in the afternoons, after which there may be dedicated time to go deeper with fellow designers during a design studio for your product.

While our team has fully transitioned to working remotely, our commitment to building a strong team culture has remained. We employ communication tools that allow us to break down silos to encourage inclusivity and teamwork. Co-working sessions, social hours, and weekly standup meetings help to foster an environment of trust where you can feel safe taking risks and making mistakes; because we all do. 1-on-1 virtual coffee breaks, high-fives, and your favorite gifs are heavily encouraged.

Design teams engage with product management and technology teams during two distinct phases of our work. First, as problems get refined through our intake and discovery process, team leads from the three disciplines offer input and have a stake. Second, as initiatives become distinct feature sets, the design (and relevant research) process is planned and reviewed with engineering and product management stakeholders before starting. As a result, product managers generally are more involved in earlier phases, while our engineering is more active in later stages of design refinement through production.

Check back soon! These are being refined at our team retreat in January!

Before completing our training, all designers will take a skill evaluation. During the assessment, designers set objectives applicable to their career goals, and design leadership creates plans to support designers. That support may take the form of:

• Dedicated training
• Self-guided learning
• Shadowing experiences
• Alignment to appropriate projects in which designers can practice the skill

In addition to these methods, an annual education budget is available to all Watermark employees.