Karissa Seiersen — Year Two Review
By: Katie Valerio
Tags: Designer, Agency, Design, Product Design, Year In Review

Little Taller: Tell me a little bit about yourself and your position with Little Taller.

Karissa: I’m the lead product designer, and I’m also the lead designer in general. I help manage the other two designers who work alongside me and have been slowly learning the ropes of the Creative Director’s role. Really, I just make sure our designs are good to go for clients and help give direction when it’s needed.

Little Taller: How has your position with Little Taller changed over the last year?

Karissa: I am definitely more hands-on now. Before, it was just me in my little hole, and now I actually talk to a bunch of other people throughout the day. I’m more engaged with everyone and in a lot more meetings. I just have a lot more responsibility. And overseeing other people is a lot of work.

Little Taller: Yeah. What’s been the hardest part of that transition?

Karissa: Time management. Trying to get my work done while also making sure other people are on track to get their work done. I used to be able to go all day without talking to anyone, and I can’t do that anymore. I’ve got to make sure I’m answering people. Juggling all the different projects and making sure I’m being efficient with my time has probably been the biggest challenge.

Little Taller: What’s your biggest takeaway from year two?

Karissa: Biggest takeaway… I think learning ownership and being proud to be a part of a company that’s doing a really terrific job. I feel like my perspective’s starting to change. This isn’t just a job to clock in, clock out. You can really put the time and effort in and see those results and see yourself grow. The more I’ve been able to do that, the better. You can make this whatever you want it to be as long as you put in the work and the time.

Little Taller: Do you feel that being in that leadership role has helped you see the bigger picture of Little Taller?

Karissa: Definitely. You get more insight into the gears that are turning. And it’s not just about you anymore and your projects and clocking in and clocking out, it’s, you know, how you keep a well-oiled machine working really well. It’s been cool to see.

Little Taller: So, on top of supervising the other designers, what new responsibilities have you taken on this year?

Karissa: I’m in charge of meeting new clients. So when we’re meeting with new clients to talk about bringing them on with Little Taller, I’m there as the face for the design team. Other than that, I’ve taken on the role of trying to grow the design department into what we want it to be. I’m trying to implement new ways to keep our designers motivated and inspired. That’s been an ongoing trial and error. We’ve been meeting a lot more frequently to do work-in-progress check-ins, and we’ve created an inspiration channel where they can share photos or illustrations they’re been inspired by lately. I’m trying to not only manage their work but help fuel the fire within them.

Little Taller: What new skill have you learned over the past year?

Karissa: I don’t know if I’ve learned any new skills, but I’ve definitely expanded my knowledge. Last year, I discovered auto layout in Figma, which has made my work ten times faster. It helps you create automatic spacing between components instead of doing every little detail by hand. I feel a lot more efficient in Figma, which has been nice. Learning to use tools effectively can really help with efficiency.

Little Taller: Looking at this past year, what accomplishment are you most proud of?

Karissa: Probably working on the PlanetOne platform. That was our biggest project to date: We designed their partner portal management system. I’m really proud of the way it turned out and our communication with them because they’re awesome clients and we have a great relationship with them.

Little Taller: So, would you say that’s the project you’re most proud of this year?

Karissa: Yeah, for sure. Especially because we have so many people working on it. It’s challenged all of our communication skills, all of our time management skills, everything, just to be able to pull it off together. And now we’re in development mode, so I’m working closely with dev too. So much of what we do is pretty easy and just gets passed over to them and it’s fine. But with PlanetOne, there’s been a lot of back and forth with dev, and they have great insight. It helps us as designers learn how to design with dev in mind. It’s been the biggest learning project we’ve had yet.

Little Taller: What kind of projects do you want to work on next year?

Karissa: I would say projects similar to PlanetOne. We got to have fun with the UI because they have a space-themed approach. And that just made everything exciting. A lot of products can be very static and a little repetitive, kind of boring. Just list views and charts. It was really fun to have a more thematic approach. So I would be really stoked to get more projects like that, that are a little more themed or are a little more lenient in the UI. And maybe that’s about our team too, just pushing our design more. Coming up with new ideas and new exploratory items to show clients. Especially because I don’t do a lot of branding, those fun UI components are where my creative outlet is. It definitely is fun to get my hands on more of the creative side.

Little Taller: What are some of your goals for year 3?

Karissa: I think just growing our designers. We’re a pretty strong team. Kendra has grown a lot in the last year, she’s just rocking it with branding and that’s awesome. Erika’s really good at product design and she really likes it. I just want to make sure that everyone on the design team succeeds. I think it can be easy to get complacent. And I’m totally that way too. And I just don’t want to see that happen with any of our team members. So just pushing people to get better at design.

Little Taller: Looking to the future, what are you looking forward to in the next year?

Karissa: Going out to eat again? It’s not work-related, but eating at restaurants. Leaving my house. Doing anything.

Little Taller: What advice would you give to incoming design interns that are about to embark on their Little Taller journey?

Karissa: Show up every day eager to learn and work hard. Don’t half-ass things. The more you show up, the more we can lean into you and the more valuable you become. Also, don’t take life too seriously! We’re all pretty chill here.

Little Taller: Last question. This one has nothing to do with a Little Taller, but if you could have dinner with anyone in the world, who would it be and why?

Karissa: George Washington.

Little Taller: Why?

Karissa: Why not? The first president of the United States! I need to talk to him. I have questions. Like, how do you do that? How do you just start a nation and run it?

Little Taller: What are your top three questions for him?

Karissa: Do you really have wooden teeth? I need to know! Actually, I think what I’d really ask is, how do you manage everyone? Here’s the thing: George Washington was doing everything. He didn’t have a ton of people working under him, it was him and a few people out fighting wars. That’s crazy. Really, I’d probably just ask him — I feel like I could read all of this, but — I’d want to know what his childhood was like. What was he doing before he got into politics? What were his parents like?

Little Taller: I feel like if I were to meet him, I would ask him how he would handle COVID.

Karissa: I would just hand him my phone and be like, try to work this. Try to figure this out. He’d probably be overwhelmed by our world. If I were to have dinner with him, I’d need to time travel back then. But I don’t know how I’d get there and not freak everyone out. I’d need historical advice and costumes.

Little Taller: That could be a Little Taller passion project. Figure out how to send Karissa back in time.

Karissa: We’re a tech company. We could solve the problem.