Petr is a Russian-born, now American designer with a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and a Bachelor’s in Applied Physics and Mathematics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. He has worked across startups, spent time on the Google News team, and is now the Director of Design at Stackpoint.
Petr and I met around 2017 while working on the Google News team and worked together again recently at Stackpoint.
Petr is originally from Chelyabinsk, Russia, a small town that made headlines about twelve years ago when it was struck by a meteorite.
Anyone would be lucky to have Petr on their team. He is the type of designer who learns new technology before it is even released, and takes time to teach his peers.
You can find Petr on LinkedIn.
If you have any questions relating to this interview or want to say hi, feel free to DM me on Instagram or reach out on LinkedIn!
What was your journey getting into product design?
Getting into design was not a linear journey. I grew up in Russia, where my parents told me there was no real future for artists, so I followed a more traditional path and studied physics, math and engineering.
But along the way, I got involved in organizing events and side projects, where I gravitated toward the design side, making posters, websites, and thinking through experiences.
While studying at MIT and taking entrepreneurship class, I met Paul English, a cofounder of Kayak who got me into Boston startup world, and taught so many things about product and attention to detail. I joined him at his new venture where I was lucky to meet and work with my first manager Brian Kalma, a former Director of User Experience and Marketing at Zappos, who taught me to always ask why and dig into the root of user needs. At Zappos they required every new employee to participate in taking customer support calls, that empathy for end customer really stuck with me.
That mix of technical training, hands-on projects, and strong mentorship shaped how I think about product design today.
For better or worse, how do you think your culture, family, or friends influenced how you approach problem solving in your day to day work?
My mom had a big influence on my mindset, instilling a strong sense of ambition and perfectionism, which helped me succeed but also led to personal struggles with self-doubt and people-pleasing.
My dad, a psychiatrist, sparked my early interest in human psychology, which continues to shape how I think about design.
Growing up in Russia also taught me to think critically, and while that can be a strength, I’ve learned to balance it with a more optimistic mindset since moving to the US.
How would you describe your current role?
I’d describe myself as a zero to one designer, focused on taking an idea from nothing to early product market fit. That includes identifying the right problem, understanding the user, shaping the initial solution, and figuring out the right starting point. I cover everything design related, from product and user research to branding and product marketing. Since our cycles run about nine months, I get to go through the process over and over again, which helps me keep getting better at it.
What are the biggest challenges you are currently facing at work?
There are a few tough but solvable challenges.
One is access to users. Our focus is B2B companies in legacy industries, and since good design relies on iteration and feedback, sometimes it’s hard to consistently get access to and engage real users without taking up too much of their time, especially when we are early in our problem discovery process and don’t have a product yet.
Another challenge that comes with B2B focus is navigating buyer-user dynamics. In B2C buyer and user are almost always the same person, but in B2B often we are selling to executives while designing for end users like property managers, which requires the balance between creating a compelling vision and ambitious roadmap while actually delivering the first wedge product that provides value. This can sometimes create a gap between what’s promised and what gets built — setting right expectations and delivering on them is the key for building trust and long term relationships.
Lastly, in our Venture Studio each project focuses on a different area within real estate or fintech, so there’s a steep learning curve every 9 to 12 months. We are always working to shorten that ramp-up time and get better at understanding each space more quickly.
What are some ways that you leverage AI in your workflow?
The main way I use AI is for research. Since my role involves switching between industries, I rely on AI daily to explore workflows, user roles, and context. It helps me prepare for conversations and ask better questions.
I also use AI conversationally while walking, speaking through problems out loud and getting real-time responses, which helps me structure my thoughts. It’s like a form of design therapy.
Lastly, I use AI tools like Cursor for prototyping, which allows me to quickly turn ideas into working concepts in a code-adjacent environment that aligns more closely with how engineers work.
What are parts of your job where you find using AI unnecessary or inefficient?
AI is helpful for research and idea generation, but it’s still limited when it comes to creative direction and decision making. It tends to average what it has seen online, so it’s not great at producing original ideas, especially for tasks like naming, branding, or unique visual styles. For example, even with reference images, it struggles to replicate a consistent custom illustration style or suggest novel design directions. It works well for applying effects to existing assets and generating nice backgrounds and photos, but anything that requires true originality or human context still falls short.
Where do you get your design inspiration from?
I get a lot of inspiration from Mobbin for direct, feature specific references. It’s great for studying how other products solve similar problems, and the quality is consistently high. For more experimental or creative ideas, I turn to Twitter, where I follow indie designers and engineers who share bold, cutting-edge work, especially with AI and prototyping tools. I also use Pinterest for visual inspiration. Ideally, I’d love a tool that combines the structure of Mobbin with the discovery and personalization of Pinterest.
What is your experience working in an English speaking environment given your native language is Russian?
In the beginning, working in an English-speaking environment gave me a lot of imposter syndrome. That changed when I met Tae Wan An, one of my managers at Google. His English was worse than mine, but he was one of the most compelling communicators I had seen. He taught me that effective communication is about presence, clarity, and passion, not perfect language. That helped me let go of self doubt and focus on expressing ideas visually and emotionally, however I could.
When you look back on your career, what mistakes do you think you made?
One of my biggest early mistakes was not taking enough ownership. I thought others on the team had the answers, so I held back instead of pushing to solve problems myself. Over time, I learned that being a strong designer means embracing ambiguity, taking initiative, and being the one to uncover the path forward, even if you’re wrong at first. Another mistake was focusing too much on my own growth and not enough on supporting my teammates. I’m still learning how to give thoughtful feedback and invest in others, but it’s something I try to improve on every day.
What traits do you think the best leaders have?
The best leaders stay optimistic in the face of uncertainty. Coming from a Russian background, I grew up around a more pessimistic mindset, where the focus is often on what’s wrong rather than what’s possible. In contrast, I’ve learned from working in the U.S. that optimism, especially when facing the unknown, is a powerful leadership trait. Great leaders don’t have all the answers, but they stay positive, figure things out, and bring their team along. Another key trait is empathy, both for teammates and users. Strong emotional intelligence is essential for leading effectively and helping others grow.
What do you think makes a great designer?
Great designers need to be comfortable with uncertainty and have strong empathy for users and teammates. But one of the most important but overlooked qualities is taste. Taste is not just about visuals; it is about knowing what makes a solution good and why. It comes from curiosity, observing great work, and building a mental library of patterns. Early on, that means copying and breaking things down to understand why certain decisions work. Over time, as your skills grow, your ability to notice subtle details improves. Taste takes years to develop and is one of the most important lifelong skills in design.
What skills do you find relevant to product design that are not taught in school?
One of the most important skills not taught in school is true agency, the ability to take full ownership in uncertain situations. School environments are structured, and students often rely on professors or teams, which does not prepare them for the ambiguity of real world product design. I also wish design education focused more on building taste by analyzing real products and understanding decision-making. Lastly, basic training in empathy, psychology, and how to ask unbiased questions would be incredibly valuable for uncovering user needs.
What are the most common aspects in designer portfolios that bother you?
The biggest issue I see in portfolios is when case studies only highlight successes. Real projects are never that smooth, and skipping over challenges or failures makes the work feel less authentic. I look for reflections on what didn’t work, what was learned, and what could have been done differently. That kind of honesty and critical thinking shows maturity and a deeper understanding of the design process.
Another common issue is unreadable diagrams. Sometimes people include detailed work, but the text or visuals are too small to understand. If you are showing your process, it should be clear and easy to follow. Otherwise, it adds confusion instead of value.
Do you have any tips for designers trying to break into companies like Google?
If you’re early in your career, find a mentor at a company like Google and focus on learning from them, not just getting a job. Building those relationships can lead to insights, growth, and even opportunities. Contract roles are another great path. I joined Google through contract work, and proving your value on the job can often open full-time doors. Finally, remember it’s partly a lottery. Rejection doesn’t mean you’re not good. Keep improving, stay confident, and focus on doing meaningful work wherever you are.
How do you see the product designer role evolving in the next few years?
The core of product design, which is solving problems for people, is not going away. But the tools and processes will change quickly, especially with AI. Designers will need to move away from focusing only on execution, like pushing pixels in Figma, and instead define higher-level systems, rules, and intent. Knowing how to guide AI, provide the right context, and evaluate outcomes with good taste will become essential. It will also be increasingly important to understand how the technology works, collaborate closely with engineers (and code yourself!), and stay aware of what is possible with new tools.
Interview with Petr Kaplunovich, Director of Design at Stackpoint, ex-Google, MIT was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.