At Craft, the design team is the only one which operates mostly as remote. Despite the distance, we seamlessly collaborate using a variety of digital tools – chats, video calls, Figma sessions, and Craft docs, of course. Yet, while these digital interactions are efficient, they often lack the nuanced dynamics of in-person collaboration.
There is an irreplaceable quality to in-person collaboration that digital interactions can’t fully capture.
To bridge this gap, our design team regularly gathers for off-sites and on-sites, blending the strengths of remote and in-person interactions to foster creativity and team cohesion.
Off-sites are particularly transformative. Here, our team travels to a novel location, creating the perfect backdrop to address big-picture questions: we discuss long-term product strategy, plan significant structural changes, and reassess our fundamental assumptions. Switching context from our usual remote settings to a shared physical space, sparks creativity and allows us to view persistent challenges through a fresh lens.
Off-sites also offer an exciting way to explore new cities together outside of the business agenda. As passionate designers, we visit architectural landmarks, museums, and bookstores, drawing inspiration from our surroundings. In Vienna, we enjoyed drinks at the famous American Bar, designed by Adolf Loos in 1908 – one of the earliest modernist interiors. The next day, at the Museum of Applied Arts, we saw an exhibition celebrating the 200-year anniversary of Lobmeyr, a company whose products were designed by some of the early twentieth century’s most famous artists and architects. Part of the exhibition featured glassware designed by Adolf Loos specifically for the bar we had visited the night before. Experiencing this level of thoroughness and thoughtfulness in design is an inspiration for any designer.
Inspiration from our surroundings
Other, on-sites bring us all together with the rest of the company at our beautiful office in the heart of Budapest, Hungary, – a capital city that’s always worth a visit. We try to make these on-sites happen at least every two months, and we dedicate time to co-creation sessions of collaboratively experimenting with ideas, refining designs, and tweaking prototypes side by side. Some complex problems become surprisingly easy to solve when we’re all together mapping them out on a whiteboard.
We also use this time to strengthen our relationships within the company: On-sites offer precious moments to engage with all of our colleagues – whether it’s a deep conversation with a team member we frequently collaborate with online or a casual catch-up with someone we haven’t directly worked with in a while. And of course, it is not all about work! Chatting on the way to dinner, slandering the hotel’s awful typography over breakfast, and recalling the humorous chili-eating contest at the company offsite last year. These small, real-life interactions have a profound impact on our remote work, fostering a level of comfort and trust that resonates through our video calls in the weeks that follow.
Coming together as a team is a long-term investment in our team culture that enables all of us to get ahead in our quest to build an excellent product while having fun.
The effort we put into nurturing these relationships, going the extra mile (literally) to connect face-to-face, makes it possible for us to enjoy the benefits of remote collaboration even more.
Design Team at Craft
