A strong UX culture doesn’t happen by accident. It’s built through deliberate rituals, shared learning, and opportunities for designers to grow together. Whether you’re leading a large team or scaling a new one, here are seven strategies I’ve used to engage UX teams (from 3 to 25 designers) and build a culture of collaboration, growth, and craft.
1. Prioritize Hands-On Professional Development
Designers grow fastest when they can apply new skills directly to their work. Structured learning programs like Shift Nudge can provide foundational knowledge, but pairing them with internal cohort-led sessions creates space for real-time discussion and support.
One approach we’ve found effective:
- A senior designer leads the group through course modules
- Junior designers complete take-home exercises
- Everyone shares progress in group critiques
This creates a shared learning experience that not only builds skills, but also builds relationships.
2. Replace Status Updates with Show-Don't-Tell Standups
Telling each other what you’re working on is fine — but showing them is better. We’ve adopted a weekly meeting where each designer drops screenshots of their latest work into a Figma board where others can comment or reference later on.
The benefits are huge:
- More visibility across teams
- Real-time inspiration
- Lightweight feedback loops
It encourages designers to think outside of their squad, and it makes meetings feel more like design shares than status reports.
3. Practice the Art of Critique with External Inspiration
We all know how to critique each other’s work but what about sharpening our skills by analyzing modern designs from outside our system?
We set aside time each month to review new product experiences, marketing sites, or UI trends as a team. The responsibility of finding a topic or product rotates between members so that it’s a group effort.
This exercise hones critique skills and helps your team stay current with evolving design standards.
4. Host Collaborative Chapters with Built-In Interaction
Learning is better when it’s social. Organize ad hoc learning sessions (we call them “UX chapters”) led by different team members. The only requirement? They must include at least one collaborative activity such as FigJam ideation, breakout room brainstorms, or interactive demos.
These lightweight sessions encourage knowledge-sharing, build confidence, and spark ideas across disciplines and seniority levels.
5. Run Design System Brown Bags to Define Together
Design systems evolve best when they’re grounded in real work. In brown bag sessions, designers bring examples of a specific pattern (say, empty states or warning messages) from their product areas.
Together, we:
- Review the pattern in context
- Compare implementations
- Define best practices
- Update system documentation
It’s a great way to promote system literacy while building ownership across the team.
6. Organize Remote Conference Watch Parties
Conferences can be overwhelming, especially when you're remote. To make learning more collaborative, host conference watch parties where designers sign up to watch selected sessions together, then report back key insights to the broader team.
This approach encourages focused learning and creates accountability for watching the sessions.
7. Foster Shared Ownership of Team Goals
Culture thrives when everyone feels ownership over the team’s success. Instead of leadership owning all team goals, assign points of contact for each key initiative.
These POCs help:
- Facilitate progress
- Track updates
- Bring forward blockers or wins during check-ins
When everyone has a hand in driving team priorities, engagement rises — and accountability feels shared, not top-down.
Final Thoughts
Great UX culture isn’t just about the pixels, it’s about creating space for designers to grow, collaborate, and lead. When you invest in shared learning, critique, and contribution, you build a stronger team.
