Q&A with Robyn Kanner | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

Robyn Kanner’s Config 2021 interview presents design as an active, collaborative practice rather than a fixed professional identity. Alongside her work as Creative Director for the Biden-Harris campaign, her answers emphasize persistence, teamwork, cultural awareness, and making things without being constrained by titles or tools. Her central advice is to stay present, keep creating, and define success through meaningful impact.

Designing the Biden-Harris Campaign

• Kanner led the Biden-Harris design team during the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
• The team created a wide range of campaign materials, from JoeBiden.com to the campaign plane, working together in one Figma file.
• She identifies helping elect Joe Biden as the greatest accomplishment of her career.
• Her Config 2021 keynote provides a deeper account of the campaign and its creative process.

A Relentless and Unrestricted Creative Practice

• Kanner describes her creative process as “relentless.”
• She does her best work early in the morning and late at night.
• She rejects the idea of perfect design, saying there is “nothing perfect.”
• Her advice to young designers is not to limit themselves to a job title—or even think of themselves primarily as designers—but simply to make things and let the rest develop naturally.
• Her definition of design is immediate and action-oriented: “‘NOW.’”

Collaboration and Team Culture

• Good collaborators create space for the people around them.
• Teams become genuine teams by “going through shit together.”
• Kanner’s answers suggest that shared pressure, trust, and mutual support matter more than formal processes.
• When asked whom she would want in a design critique, she chooses Michael Jordan, reflecting an interest in high-performance perspectives beyond design.

Influences, Tastes, and Perspective

• Her favorite UI typefaces are Decimal and Mercury, and she values type, color, and multiple color systems equally.
• She admires her parents for shaping who she is.
• She considers sociology underrated and code overrated within the design world.
• Outside design, she highlights Jeff Buckley, BROCKHAMPTON’s “BUZZCUT,” and the video game Madden as sources of enjoyment and decompression.
• She dismisses comparisons with other designers, emphasizing that everyone has their own path.

Tools, Constraints, and Figma

• Kanner dislikes being limited by tools, particularly Safari’s handling of animations.
• She praises Figma as having “revolutionized creating.”
• Her favorite Figma feature is Shift+H, though she jokingly says she likes all of them.
• Her ambition to “put gradients on Mars” captures her playful, expansive approach to design.

The interview ultimately recommends a broad and practical view of creativity: make meaningful work, support the people around you, resist restrictive labels, and focus on the present rather than chasing perfection or comparison.