I remember a time where we had to explain that design isn’t just about colours and fonts. A time where our discipline wasn’t taken seriously and was seen as an added bonus if you had an extra €500,- lying around. Back when the requirements always came in the form of a Powerpoint presentation including sketches that were “just missing a WOW-factor”. And if you could be so kind to make it look nice.
Quantum leap to 2023 and our industry is looking good! It seems like we made it! We are not only invited to the party, but more often than not, we have more than one seat at the table. The table with the cool kids mind you! You know, product, strategy and maybe even someone from the C-suite pops by? Maybe we even laugh a little at this table. About the assumptions we had last quarter, which now, after the discovery phase, seem absurd.
If you’re still not convinced that we’ve made it, then take a look at all the new roles popping up with the phrase “designer” in them. Innovation designer, customer experience designer, people designer. And i’m not even joking right now — our discipline is so hip and happening that the actual word is being used to pimp up other disciplines. And I love it! Let me explain why.
Throughout the past decades, designers and the design-minded have fought long and hard to make others understand the value we can add. And it’s not so much the value in our deliverables as it is the curiosity about the problem at hand and our unremorsefully inquisitive mindset. This approach has grown like wildfire throughout industries, organisations, departments and disciplines. I remember two distinct moments in my own life that showed me how far we’ve come.
The first one is the acquisition of Adaptive Path by Capital One back in 2014. Which to me, as a relatively young designer seemed crazy. I immediately noticed other companies investing in design capabilities by buying up agencies left and right. Back then, I worked for one of the biggest consultancy firms in the world. And we too, had acquired an agency. Yet, no one really understood what to do with them.
The second moment I remember clearly was at a conference back in 2018. Ben Sheppard, from McKinsey Design told a story called “The true value of design”. Now bear in mind that back then no one would associate McKinsey with design. Or at least, no designer would. So to me it was mind-blowing to see how Ben and McKinsey absolutely hit the nail on the head. And it was during this talk that Ben kept referring to research they’d been doing for some time now. And that it would be available soon. By now I think McKinsey’s research and their work on the added value of design is well known throughout all industries.
These are just the moments I remember. And it’s clear to me that, fortunately, in 2023 it is not only up to designers to be the voice of the customer anymore. It may be our responsibility to think about designing user friendly solutions, but most of our colleagues understand why and come up with great solutions themselves. From conversion optimalisation specialists and customer experience experts that identify a problem before coming up with a solution. To email marketeers, copy writers and SEO specialists that know standard design patterns that help them setup optimal templates for the right metrics.
Now i’m not saying this mindset didn’t exist in these fields before, I’m saying that this mindset is now a prerequisite before you can get into these fields. It’s not the exception, it has become the rule. This actually excites me even more than all the new A.I. tools that are popping up. Although Galileo.AI does look like a lot of fun…
What we see happening is that a lot of responsibilities that used to be part of the designer’s role description are being shared amongst other colleagues throughout organisations. We’re getting more and more experts, on different levels of the organisation, with the same mindset: “Ensuring we’re doing the right thing for our customers, and that we’re doing it right.” And ultimately, shouldn’t that be our goal? The more people believe in adding value and the process behind it, the less friction we have and the more value is created for our customers. Right?
So instead of focusing on getting more designers to squeeze out any profit that’s left in a variant, of a component, of a pattern, in the top navigation of the European websites… Maybe it’s enough to find a really good CRO specialist that focuses on those small changes that could add value.
Or instead of seeing how we can organise “all those designers” and make them work as efficiently as possible with a Design System, as part of a bigger DesignOPS team, who collaborate on a monthly basis with a Strategic Design Team… Maybe we don’t need that many designers to begin with as long as we can get more like-minded disciplines in the organisation.
So the next time you think you can solve the problem at hand by getting more design FTEs, practice what you preach and take a step back into the Discovery phase and define your problem again. Because chances are, hiring a non-designer with the right mindset will be more effective to fix your problem. We don’t always need more FTEs, we need more allies.
