You are not an artist.
The purpose of design is to solve a problem. When the business doesn’t include us in defining and understanding the problem, all we have left is to create art. In this article, I’m writing for two audiences. To the designers, remember that good design must always have a purpose. To those who work with designers, here are some tips to make our working relationship productive. First, to the designers reading this, let’s get clear on what we mean by design. Design has many definitions, and most can be reduced into one of three categories:
Thinking Design
The process of intentionally arranging resources, which leads to
Doing Design
Creating beautiful, artisanal products and experiences, which culminates in
Being Design
The end product, service or experience that is embedded into a business
There’s something else
Design is only design when it serves a purpose — when it solves a problem, creates an opportunity, provides an answer or simplifies complexity. Otherwise, it’s art. Art is subjective, it can be liked or disliked without qualification. Art exists simply to exist, to provoke and inspire and compel, to be enjoyed on its own merit, with no discernible metrics or quantification of value created.
Art doesn’t solve problems
Design solves problems, and sometimes does so at the expense of aesthetics. Good designers need to be okay with this, because the end goal is to solve a problem. Being beautiful is a nice to have, not the core goal. Designers are finally getting a permanent seat in the C-suite, having our work recognised as a key driver of value, and being sought as must-have-talent. Let’s not blow it by being divas who believe we’re the only ones who know what good looks like.
As designers, we solve problems and create value for customers. Business Designers worry about making sure our clients capture the appropriate value from what our designs create. Designers are curious. Designers are always learning, refining, listening and watching, seeking inspiration and connection and trying to understand humans so they can design something to make their lives better.
Artists have a strong point of view and they want to communicate loudly. They have something to say, a message to broadcast, and a manifesto to deliver. Artists command attention and demand to be heard. The muse is driving an artist to bare its soul, speak its truth and push its own agenda. Designers are driven to understand humans and solve their problems, hopefully in an elegant and beautiful way. Designers are more fun to work with, artists are more fun to talk about.
When the business teams we work with keep us separated from the strategy, the users, the problem to be solved, they take away what makes us a designer. All we have left is the art, and we behave like artists — convinced of our own brilliance, importance and relevance.
Stop enabling
In order to keep designers from turning artist, we need more than a set of requirements and instructions to “make it look great and work nice.” Designers need to understand the strategy. They need to understand the problem they are trying to solve for.
Conclusion
Designers need to understand the core value proposition, the priorities for the product or service, the overall business model and context in which a design is used. Only then can designers create something that solves a problem in a truly meaningful way, and not become an artist.