Bonus Episode: Gali Erez, head of Wix Studio

11/14/24 • 38 min

This is a special sponsored episode of the Design Better Podcast

Gali Erez, Head of Wix Studio at Wix, has had quite a journey, from a background in graphic design at CalArts, through transitioning from print to digital in her early work at Warner Brothers, where she helped envision media's digital future. Along the way, she has learned some principles that helped her during her time as an individual contributor, and also guide her as a leader: sharing ideas early, giving tough feedback, and using storytelling as a leadership tool.

We speak with Gali about how AI is changing web design workflows, the research process her team uses, and what’s kept her excited to work at Wix for over 10 years.

This is a sponsored bonus episode we’re excited to share, as Wix Studio is a product that helps diverse users, from casual creators to professional web designers and developers, with a platform that balances simplicity and customization.

***

Learn more about Wix Studio at https://www.wix.com/studio

***

Bio

Gali Erez is the Head of Wix Studio at Wix and has been with the company for over a decade. She studied graphic design at CalArts, where she experienced the transition from print to digital design. Her early career included a product design internship at Warner Brothers, where she worked on innovative ways to bring media online.

At Wix, Erez has held various roles, starting as a UX designer on the DIY editor and later transitioning into management. She played a key role in developing Wix ADI, an AI-driven platform that simplifies website creation, and led the creation of Wix Studio, a professional-grade platform for web designers.

Erez's leadership style emphasizes transparency, incremental innovation, and adaptability to changing team dynamics and industry trends. Her work focuses on democratizing web design, balancing accessibility with professional-grade features, and leveraging AI to enhance efficiency and creativity in design processes.

This is a special sponsored episode of the Design Better Podcast

We speak with Gali about how AI is changing web design workflows, the research process her team uses, and what’s kept her excited to work at Wix for over 10 years.

***

Learn more about Wix Studio at https://www.wix.com/studio

***

Bio

Previous Episode

Kamasi Washington: A jazz genius on collaborative lessons learned from Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Lauryn Hill, and more

Jazz is a constantly evolving art form, offering some of the richest lessons in creative collaboration. A melody and chord progression provide the foundation, but as each musician brings their unique improvisational perspective, the music takes on unexpected, transformative shapes.

If you ask any fan of the genre who’s pushing jazz into new territory, Kamasi Washington’s name will come up—likely at the very top. His 2015 album The Epic won the American Music Prize and stands, in our opinion, as one of the greatest jazz records of the 21st century. Kamasi contributed to Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-winning To Pimp a Butterfly, scored Michelle Obama’s Netflix documentary Becoming, and has collaborated with musical legends like Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Lauryn Hill, Nas, Snoop Dogg, Chaka Khan, and many more.

In this episode, we spent an evening with Kamasi, exploring his creative process, what he’s learned from his collaborators, his philosophy on collaboration, and his latest album, Fearless Movement.

Find show notes, bonus content, and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/kamasi-washington

Bio

Kamasi Washington, born in Los Angeles in 1981, grew up surrounded by music, with a saxophonist father and a flutist mother who nurtured his musical talent from a young age. Kamasi’s journey began with drums and piano in his early years, progressing to the clarinet at age seven and finally to the tenor saxophone at twelve, mirroring his father’s path. His high school years at Hamilton High School Music Academy were pivotal; there, he joined the renowned Multi School Jazz Band and learned from jazz icons like Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. Kamasi’s talent was quickly recognized when he won the John Coltrane Saxophone Competition, and he co-founded "The Young Jazz Giants," which marked his early step into professional music.

Kamasi's musical evolution continued at UCLA, where he studied ethnomusicology and expanded his understanding of global music traditions. This foundation supported his wide-ranging collaborations beyond jazz, where he worked with artists like Snoop Dogg, Raphael Saadiq, and Kendrick Lamar. Yet, despite his diverse influences, Kamasi remained firmly rooted in jazz, ultimately channeling these experiences into his innovative sound. His 2015 debut album, The Epic, was a monumental release—a three-disc exploration of jazz that introduced a unique blend of spiritual depth and musical complexity. The album garnered critical acclaim, broadening Kamasi's reach and establishing him as a leader in modern jazz.

***

Premium Episodes on Design Better

This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, access to our (small but growing!) library of books and participation in book giveaways, and our new enhanced newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show.

Upgrade to paid

***

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show:

Wix Studio: With Wix Studio, agencies and enterprises can create, develop and manage exceptional web projects with hyper efficiency. And if you're worried about the learning curve eating into time you don't have, don't be. Wix Studio is intuitive by design, so your entire team can hit the ground running. For your next project, check out wixstudio.com.

Wine Access: We love wine, but often feel overwhelmed by the options out there. But we recently joined Wine Access who not only ship to your door some of the world’s most inspiring wines, they also educate subscribers with full color information cards that accompany each bottle. You should totally join The Waitlist Wine Club. Just visit wineaccess.com/waitlist and use Promo Code: DESIGNBETTER for $25 off your first shipment.

Next Episode

Live at Savannah College of Art and Design, with Kate Aronowitz, Steve Johnson, Kat Holmes and Jaime Lopez

When Aarron was in college studying painting and drawing, he had an absolute certainty about the path my career would take. He was going to move to New York, make it big as an artist, and never look back.

And Eli, as an undergrad in product design, wasn’t sure what a career in his field even looked like. The skillset wasn’t clearly defined yet. The outdoor product companies he was eyeing wanted me to conform to a neat little box: “Are you an industrial designer, or a mechanical engineer?” He wasn’t sure how he fit in.

Did our careers unfold as we expected? Absolutely not. Life and careers rarely go according to plan. There’s so much beyond our control. But, despite the unexpected twists, there are lessons that can guide us in the right direction. And that’s what we’re here to explore today in this special live episode of Design Better, recorded right here at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Today, we’ll be speaking with four design leaders who took a winding path but all found their way to significant work.

Bios

Kate Aronowitz is a design executive who has built her career empowering teams at some of Silicon Valley’s most iconic companies. In addition to her role leading GV’s operations team, Kate coaches GV portfolio companies on cross-functional design processes, scale, product development, and management strategy.

Kate has built world-class design teams at eBay, LinkedIn, Facebook (now Meta), and Wealthfront. She joined the first user experience team at eBay before taking her experience to LinkedIn, where she started the user research team. As Facebook’s first design executive, Kate grew the organization from 20 to 200, establishing multidisciplinary design teams in front-end engineering, user research, content strategy, and communication design.

Steve Johnson, VP of Design at Netflix, leads a diverse, multidisciplinary, Emmy-award-winning Experience Design organization. His team's commitment to discovery, product innovation, brand development, and personalization has set the standard for streaming media platforms across the world. Prior to Netflix, Steve also led design teams at LinkedIn and Adobe.

Jaime Lopez, Chief Design and Marketing Officer at Flatiron Health, Jaime Lopez is the Chief Design & Marketing Officer at Flatiron Health. She has over 15 years of startup product, design and marketing experience with a passion for creative problem solving and building and mentoring teams. In her role at Flatiron Health, Jaime uses her background to create and deliver high-quality experiences to oversee the company’s entire marketing and design suite.

Kat Holmes is EVP and Chief Design Officer at Salesforce where she's driving the future of AI, Data, and CRM experiences. As the author of the best-selling book Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design, Holmes works with multidisciplinary teams to set a foundation for why designing with excluded communities drives better solutions for everyone. Her work has been featured by NPR, BBC, Fast Company, Forbes, The Economist, and many more.

Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show: