Shaping Great Product Design with Yudi Sun, Duolingo's Dir of Product Design

How do top design leaders turn strategic vision into product magic? Yudi Sun of Duolingo joins Francois on this episode of Next Gen Builders to share how design can influence product outcomes, build cross-functional trust, and scale impact.

Their conversation takes a look at the design systems, rituals, and philosophies that supercharge one of the world’s most engaging apps. With prior experience at other brand leaders like Lyft and Cash App, Yudi presents a strong case for how design can operate beyond visuals and become a force for product strategy, organizational alignment, and business growth.

You’ll learn about Yudi’s "60% brain share" framework for team collaboration, how Duolingo runs product reviews directly with the CEO in 10-minute slots, and what it takes for designers to build influence upstream. Whether you’re leading a growth team or launching new features, this episode offers real insights into making design central to product success.

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Guest Bio

Yudi Sun is head of design for Duolingo's Growth org, the team that created the Duolingo streak, leaderboards, friendship mechanics, notifications and more. Before this, she led an app-wide redesign at Cash App, created products for drivers at Lyft, and started her career as an illustrator.

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Guest Quote

“Design is at the forefront of our ability to build products. It really occupies just about the same role as a product lead does. And it's usually part of the perfect trio of engineering, product, and design when it comes to figuring out what are we trying to do, how are we going to get there, and what does good look like.” – Yudi Sun

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Time Stamps  

00:00 Episode Start

02:20 The role of design inside Duolingo

4:50 Sharing tasks & goals to collaborate effectively 

08:25 How to implement this strategy

11:35 Is misalignment inevitable at some point?

15:45 Yudi's definition of craft

18:15 Where Duolingo sits on the design spectrum

21:30 What a more traditional company can take from Duolingo's approach

26:00 Making decisions for all to see

35:50 Yudi's "Oh Sh*t" Moment

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Links

• Connect with Yudi Sun on LinkedIn
• Check out Duolingo
• Connect with Francois Ajenstat on LinkedIn
• Check out Amplitude