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Randy Hunt

Head of Design at Notion; Chair of MFA Design at School of Visual Arts

ExecutiveLeads from the backHybrid schoolProductAIOrg
He is leading a 100M-user product through the AI transition with a craft-and-people-first philosophy — making tacit design judgment explicit so both designers and AI agents act well, and treating AI as a material that elevates makers rather than replacing them.

Signature win. Built and scaled Etsy's design org from a handful to 110+, earning a Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, then went on to lead design at marketplace-scale products Artsy, Grab, and Notion.

The case

editorial · CCBEI · with sources
CraftFrames craft as skill + practice + judgment and 'AI as a material'; holds quality bar at Notion ('good quality tools that are understandable'), applies same UX standard to enterprise and consumer end-users.9
CommunicationAuthor of 'Product Design for the Web', prolific speaker (Leading Design, PM Festival), and articulates a clear thesis: turn tacit design knowledge into explicit guidance so humans and agents can both act.9
BusinessScaled and led design at multi-sided marketplaces Etsy, Artsy, Grab and now Notion (100M users); Etsy team earned Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for institutional achievement.9
Education[Education recalibrated toward editorial baseline] Chair of MFA Design at SVA; grew Etsy design org from a handful to 110+; explicitly leads teams to externalize tacit judgment so people adapt rather than get displaced.8
InnovationPushes a restraint-first AI design approach ('tending a garden,' no chat box for its own sake) that lifts an empowered team of 'daily makers' rather than replacing craft — elevate, not hollow.8

Endorsed by peers

illustrative · opens with verified accounts
OverallI'd work for them118
CraftRaised my craft bar123
CommunicationMade the case for design123
BusinessMade design matter to the business123
EducationTaught me something I still use110
InnovationShowed me a new way to work110

Verified peers only — one tap with LinkedIn. Names stay private; we show role and industry. Bars are illustrative until the participation backend is live.

Stories

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