Look for those that are doing the opposite.
They are doing far more important things.
If it’s one thing I can’t stand it’s designers that spend their time talking about what others have done wrong. These people have as much skill as an irate parent shouting abuse at the referee of a child’s sports game.
Most of the time it’s just shame pointed outward. The idea that somehow they know better, they could have done better. If only they were given the chance.
They are in same category of people that complain at an event they could have helped organise. Rather than being involved (which takes time, effort and commitment) they just moan at how much better they would have made it.
Some of the best designers I know (and yeah, me included) are beginning to have more and more distain for other designers, and the industry as a whole, yet their passion to create strengthens their determination to drive forward. To discover new ways to connect with others.
These designers don’t prioritise your ROI, your KPIs, your engagement, your churn. They prioritise how their work is going to impact the people that see it, those that use it.
They care most about making their work so beautiful that those who engage with it (whether consciously or not) truly feel something.
They understand that software’s true purpose is to empower people, to get out of the way, to make a once tiresome task seem easy. But most importantly they make the mundane seem magical.
They understand that it’s real purpose is to give people the most valuable commodity of all…time.
And trust me it’s not time to do more work, it’s time to do what really matters, time to spend with the people they love, to do the things they love.
If their work can allow others that extra 10 mins with their friends, then they can dust their hands at a job well done.
The best designers don’t ask “which is better”, they don’t switch their mindset to fit in with the zeitgeist narrative, they look to create the next one.
So next time a large company makes a design decision, rebrands or refreshes. Ignore those that are scrambling to jump on the engagement train, to prove their “knowledge”, their “insight”.
Look out for those that are doing the opposite.
But here’s a secret, you won’t find them, they are doing far more important things.
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