Lack of Structure, Documentation and Transparency: A Toxic Environment for Designers
Pros
The company offers a lot of independence in how work is approached and executed. However, without clear documentation or structured processes in place, this freedom often led to frustration, wasted time, and misaligned work, making it difficult to effectively collaborate with developers or meet deadlines. While autonomy can be a positive, here it only served to highlight the lack of documented guidance and the toxic atmosphere surrounding the design process.
Cons
1. No documentation, all knowledge stuck with one person: There were zero written guidelines for icon and UI design. No documentation exists to reference what colours to use (especially for specific types of icons), which visual effects had been discontinued (such as gradients), and many other critical design aspects. Without documentation, this led to constant contradictions, late responses, and rushed or dismissive feedback. 2. Kept in the dark: Denied access to the developer platform. Critical information was drip fed in meetings, sometimes only after major features were already built. This forced endless redesigns, wasted time, and made collaboration painful. Private requests for even basic view only permissions for the developer platform were shut down immediately. Bottom line: This is not a healthy or supportive environment for designers. The likelihood you’ll be talked down to, blocked from doing your job properly, and set up to fail, is unnerving.
