Beyond Labels: How Personal One-Pagers Empower Design Teams

Personal one-pagers prove to be a game-changing tool for UX/UI design teams seeking to enhance collaboration, efficiency, and team spirit.

4 min readSep 19, 2024

Hey there, ever wondered how to supercharge your UX/UI design team’s collaboration?

Say hello to personal one-pagers — the ultimate game-changer.

Personal One-Pagers: The Key to Creative Collaboration

Forget about conventional job titles and rigid organisational charts; these short and insightful bios offer a refreshing perspective. They reveal the unique essence of each team member — their background, skills, aspirations, and passions.

It’s like a backstage pass to understand the real person behind the designer.

By embracing personal one-pagers, design teams cultivate a culture that values individuality and creativity, fostering a collaborative environment where everyone’s strengths shine.

Why I use them with my design teams

Putting together a one-pager offers numerous benefits for your UX/UI design team. Here are some of the key advantages:

Increased team alignment: One-pagers provide a clear snapshot of objectives, goals, and direction, ensuring everyone is on the same page and working towards a common purpose.
Enhanced transparency: By sharing one-pagers among stakeholders, you foster collaboration and open communication, making it easier to align visions and exchange ideas.
Improved efficiency: With one-pagers, interactions stay focused on relevant information, streamlining discussions and decision-making processes.

On the flip side, creating a one-pager helps your team avoid potential pitfalls, such as:

Unclear objectives: Without a one-pager, confusion about objectives can arise, hindering progress and causing delays.
Differing stakeholder perspectives: When stakeholders have conflicting goals due to a lack of alignment, it can lead to inconsistencies in design decisions.
Miscommunication and missed opportunities: Without a clear overview of team members’ strengths and passions, miscommunication may occur, resulting in missed chances for growth and success.

Process

Now, if you’re ready to get started on your own one-pager, but unsure where to begin, don’t worry! We’ve got your back.

1. Craft the Master slide: A source of truth for your team

Create a captivating presentation slide that serves as the ultimate source of truth for all your team members.

Make use of your organisation’s branding or, better yet, design a unique branded slide specifically for your design team.

Get ready to share a delightful glimpse of each team member’s personality.

2. Choose your style: Striking the perfect balance of professional and personal

Decide on the information you’d like to include in your one-pager.

It can range from general facts like where someone grew up to more personal insights like their favourite movies.

Keep it engaging and time-friendly, ensuring your team can answer the questions within 15 minutes.

Remember, a touch of humour never hurts!

3. Fill in the fun

Bring your one-pager to life by filling each section with delightful tidbits about yourself.

Don’t forget to include a picture and even a GIF — because who doesn’t love a good GIF?

Let your personality shine through, and don’t hesitate to inject humor where appropriate.

4. Sharing is caring

Time to share your creative masterpieces with the design team!

Craft a warm and inviting email that introduces the one-pagers and encourages everyone to participate.

Let them know it’s a fantastic opportunity to get to know each other better and build stronger bonds within the team.

5. Present your one-pager at team meetings!

Make your weekly team meetings even more exciting by putting the one-pagers on the agenda.

Encourage each team member to present their slide and showcase their unique personalities.

Give everyone, especially new or quieter members, a chance to shine and feel valued as part of the team.

Key Takeaways

In conclusion, personal one-pagers prove to be a game-changing tool for UX/UI design teams seeking to enhance collaboration, efficiency, and team spirit.

By creating a captivating master slide with a touch of branding, and choosing a perfect blend of professional and personal information, team members can forge deeper connections with one another.

The process of sharing these one-pagers team-wide and presenting them during meetings not only fosters transparency and alignment but also celebrates the unique personalities that contribute to the team’s success.

As the team bonds over shared passions and interests, the work environment becomes more inclusive, creative, and engaging.

So, let the journey of crafting Personal One-Pagers begin, and watch your design team thrive with renewed synergy and a sense of camaraderie that transcends ordinary job titles and organisational hierarchies.

So, have fun, be silly, and watch as creativity fuels your team’s success! 🤪

Let’s Connect

📥 Email hello@uxplaybook.org if you have any questions, feedback, or suggestions.

Hey 👋 I’m Chris, the Founder of UX Playbook.

Here’s more about me:

👨‍🏫 I’m a Ex-Head of Design, with 10 years of experience in tech, building products & teams

🦄 I worked with Fortune 100s like Google, Nike, Coca Cola, 21st Century Fox, and startup unicorns

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 I’ve built a community of over 62,000 designers

🤝 I’ve supported over 11,000 designers with my free UX resources, blog posts, and mentorship

🚀 I’ve been the founding designer for 8 startups

💸 I previously grew my own freelance one-person UX consultancy to $26,000/month then burnt out

Want more from me? Follow me on LinkedIn.