---
title: "Podcast: Margaret Gould Stewart on designing at scale"
description: "Margaret Gould Stewart, Facebook’s Director of Product Design, discusses the challenge of designing products for over a billion users, citing Google Search, YouTube, and Facebook as examples of universal human needs. She emphasizes balancing audacity with humility, taking oneself out of the design process to focus on user needs. User research remains critical, using both quantitative data and ethnographic studies across different cultures and regions, with products tested extensively before release. For business products, usability must come before beauty, but delight on top of a usable foundation is powerful, as seen in consumer expectations. Stewart also highlights the importance of diverse teams and inclusive hiring programs like Facebook University to better represent the global user base."
---

# Podcast: Margaret Gould Stewart on designing at scale

[Intercom](https://yomu.fyi/company/intercom) · Oct 13, 2026

**Type:** Explainer

## Summary

Margaret Gould Stewart, Facebook’s Director of Product Design, discusses the challenge of designing products for over a billion users, citing Google Search, YouTube, and Facebook as examples of universal human needs. She emphasizes balancing audacity with humility, taking oneself out of the design process to focus on user needs. User research remains critical, using both quantitative data and ethnographic studies across different cultures and regions, with products tested extensively before release. For business products, usability must come before beauty, but delight on top of a usable foundation is powerful, as seen in consumer expectations. Stewart also highlights the importance of diverse teams and inclusive hiring programs like Facebook University to better represent the global user base.

## Context

Podcast interview with Margaret Gould Stewart, Director of Product Design at Facebook, about designing products for billions of users, balancing audacity and humility, user research at scale, and the role of beauty in business design.

## Takeaways

- Designing for billions requires balancing audacity (bold ideas) with humility (putting user needs first) to avoid losing sight of impact.
- User research at scale combines quantitative data analysis with qualitative ethnographic studies in different countries to understand cultural differences.
- In business products, usability is a prerequisite; beauty and delight are added on top of a usable foundation, not traded off.

## FAQ

### How does Facebook design for a billion users?

By balancing audacity and humility, using a mix of quantitative data and ethnographic research, and testing products extensively before release. The team focuses on universal human needs while accounting for cultural and regional differences.

### Does beauty matter in business products?

Yes, but only after usability and usefulness are established. Beauty and delight on top of a usable foundation are powerful, especially as users expect consumer-grade experiences at work.

### How does Facebook ensure diverse perspectives in design?

Through inclusive hiring programs like Facebook University, which trains women and underrepresented college students in coding, and by building diverse teams that better represent the global user base.

**Tags:** [Design Process](https://yomu.fyi/topic/design-process), [Research](https://yomu.fyi/topic/research), [Scalability](https://yomu.fyi/topic/scalability)

- Source: [Intercom](https://www.intercom.com/blog/podcasts/podcast-margaret-gould-stewart)
- Source URL: https://www.intercom.com/blog/podcasts/podcast-margaret-gould-stewart
- Ingested by Yomu: 2026-10-13T18:00:20.224Z

[Read original post](https://www.intercom.com/blog/podcasts/podcast-margaret-gould-stewart)