DISCLAIMER:

This is a HIGHLY controversial view on some aspects and actors of design. As a writer, I sometime find my mind wondering and I came up with this funny tale which I immediately started to write about. By all means, this is not my full belief. Instead, it is more of a reflection (a.k.a. brain fart) on how the design industry evolved in the last decades — seen under a cynical and funny lens.

Thanks for taking the time to read the above disclaimer ❤️

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there lived a group of designers who were tasked with creating beautiful things for the world to see. They started off as humble graphic designers, using their creative talents to craft logos, brochures, and other printed materials for clients. As time passed, they found themselves in a world that was rapidly changing, where the internet was becoming the new frontier for communication and commerce.

The first to adapt were the web designers, who learned to code and create websites that were both visually stunning and functional. They were the pioneers of the digital age, and their skills were highly sought after. But as more and more people entered the industry, the competition became fierce, and the standards for what constituted a “good” website began to shift.

Enter the era of UX and UI design, where the user experience and interface design became the key components of digital design. The senior designers of yesteryear found themselves struggling to keep up with the new technologies and approaches, as their expertise in print and web design became obsolete. And yet, they were still highly respected and valued in the industry, because they had something that the younger designers lacked: experience.

But experience alone wasn’t enough to keep up with the rapidly evolving world of design. So, the more senior designers began to adapt their skills, learning the new tools and methodologies of UX and UI. But even as they gained this knowledge, they found themselves struggling to keep up with the younger, more technically proficient designers who had grown up with the digital world at their fingertips.

And so, such designers turned to a new skill: bullsh*tting. They became masters of buzzwords and jargon, able to talk their way through any design problem with a combination of technical-sounding terms and vague, hand-waving explanations. They became the experts in design thinking, service design, and anything else that sounded impressive to clients and colleagues alike.

But why did they have to resort to bullsh*tting in the first place? The answer lies in the nature of the design industry itself. Design is subjective, and what one person considers “good” design may not be the same as another. In order to stand out and make a name for themselves, designers had to become experts at selling their ideas, whether or not those ideas were actually good.

And so, the senior designers found themselves in a world where their years of experience and knowledge were no longer enough to guarantee success. They had to adapt and learn new skills, and in order to keep up with the younger designers, they had to become experts at buzzwords, jargon, and BS. But despite all of this, they still had something that the younger designers didn’t: the wisdom and perspective that can only come from years of experience. And so, they soldiered on, navigating the ever-changing landscape of the design industry, and using their newly acquired skills to help bring beautiful and effective designs to the world.

Of course, not all designers engaged in this kind of behaviour, and not all of those who did were successful. BSing alone was not enough to guarantee success in the industry. But for those who were able to adapt to the changing landscape of design, and who were able to use their knowledge and experience to navigate new disciplines and processes, bullsh*tting became a valuable tool in their arsenal. It allowed them to compete with younger designers who had grown up with digital tools and technologies, and to establish themselves as leaders in the industry.

The end.

I know, I know, disciplines like service design, system design, or design thinking in general are extremely important in the development of great products and experiences.

But for some reason or another, whenever I came across a BS senior designer, they were always experts in those disciplines. Maybe it’s because the craft is way too hard to fake.

Generally, I just thought it could have been fun to write about the most recent evolution of the design industry in the form of a pseudo-epic tale.

If you had fun reading the above, please consider sharing the love ❤️