Austin Bales

Austin Bales is a prominent figure in the tech industry, currently serving as the Director of Product Design at Instagram in San Francisco.12 With a strong background in product design, Bales has been in this role since 2018.16

Professional Background

Prior to his current position at Instagram, Bales held leadership roles in design at other major tech companies:

• Led design for Facebook Growth and Messenger4
• Contributed to various product design teams at Instagram, including Feed, Stories, Profile, and Direct1

Education and Expertise

Bales received his education from Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied Industrial Design with a focus on Design and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).25 His approach to design is characterized by an emphasis on:

• Quality
• Balance
• Pragmatism
• Common sense
• Deep understanding of product2

Online Presence

Austin Bales maintains a professional online presence across various platforms:

• LinkedIn: Username "austinbales"2
• Dribbble: Showcases his design work4
• Medium, GitHub, and Dribbble: Shares artifacts and insights3

As a respected figure in the design community, Bales continues to contribute to the development and improvement of Instagram's user experience through his role as Director of Product Design.