This article broke this morning in Co.Design: “3 Big Ideas Shaping a Design Industry in Flux”.
The design industry is changing rapidly and I’m starting to see more news bits and pieces written about the impact that designers can make, how the design process is evolving, and some are critical about how people design. With or without sticky notes, for instance. It’s one thing to be able to create novel forms or profitable new products that excite customers, but another thing altogether to simultaneously understand the impact that one’s design solutions may have on the environment or in the economy. Architecture and it’s integrative thinking models and methods are slowly coming to the forefront as a way to help designers think bigger.
Back to the original article, what are the 3 big ideas shaping the design industry?
“Designers finally have a seat at the table–use it.”
…designers have an opportunity to step up and address issues that don’t immediately seem like design problems. “Designers are very willing to take credit for things that go right, but when things go wrong—like in the 2016 election—designers are nowhere to be found”…
“Be a Swiss Army knife”
In the past, designers followed tracks of study–architecture, graphic design, planning, etc.–but these silos will have to be demolished, Moore argues. “Design fields are shifting and moving toward interdisciplinary approaches to design, so there’s really a need for getting out of the traditional silos of architects, graphic designers, technologists, planners,” he says.
“Learn to keep learning”
Through every phase of design, the designers that rise to the top are the ones who are able to write, articulate their thinking and ideas, weave a narrative, and communicate their ideas in a really compelling way…