Shaping design at the top 10 most visited site on the internet. Built teams, scaled systems, and helped define the brand that everyone talks about
Challenge
Not Your Average First Week
If you’re not familiar, MindGeek is a multinational tech and media company best known for operating some of the world’s most visited adult entertainment platforms including Pornhub, YouPorn, RedTube, and Brazzers.
I went to the interview because a friend was already working there. At the time, my English wasn’t great, and the whole interview was in English but I ended up having a great connection with the directors, and they offered me the job.
The first week was... strange. I had a hard time adjusting to the nature of the content it’s definitely not for everyone. Coming from small creative agencies, it was a big shift, suddenly I was working in a company with 2,000+ employees, in a space that was anything but conventional.
Context
"I'll just stay a year" turned into seven.
I really flourished at MindGeek. I started as a product designer and touched just about everything, web, mobile, TV apps, even marketing. I was all in.
After two years, I stepped into a leadership role and helped reshape the design culture. I restructured the team into dedicated product squads, giving designers ownership and focus. Each person could now dive deeper into their product experience less scattered, more strategic. We gave designers better tools, from photoshop, oh yes, to sketch and then figma. I pushed for design systems that scale, really creating a culture of design.
It was the kind of growth I didn’t expect, but definitely needed.
Outcome
When Kanye Became Creative Director
It was a wild and exciting time to be at MindGeek. Pornhub’s brand was exploding into mainstream culture referenced in Family Guy, Rick and Morty, Euphoria, and just about every late-night show that could get away with it.
I was lucky enough to lead branding work across Pornhub, PH TV, Stream, and their product lines including toys and merch. Honestly, it might be the most-seen logo I'll ever design in my life.
Then came the Pornhub Awards.The brand was gaining serious traction, and the awards became a cultural moment especially in 2018 when Kanye West signed on as Creative Director for the first-ever show. He had full control of the ceremony trophies, costumes, music, stage production you name it.
It was surreal.
I collaborated with the agency he hired to design the Awards website. Working behind the scenes on a Kanye-led show for one of the internet’s most talked-about brands? Unreal.
Over time, my role evolved from designer to design manager, but I stayed hands-on. I led projects from concept to launch, built new products from scratch that attracted millions of users, and scaled a design team to over 15 talented creatives.
But my biggest impact at MindGeek was on Pornhub itself. I redesigned the logo, helped shape the product experience, and laid the foundation for how the brand scaled, visually and functionally, into one of the most recognizable platforms on the internet. Read more about it.
