Design

Designers Need to Design More

Adaptive Path is one of the companies you want to work for. I’ve frequented their website many times in the past looking at what they are up to and the kind of work they do for inspiration. The very idea of Interaction Designer took root (for me) from this company. Now they are saying that after seeing all the applications and resumes they’ve been receiving from design students, they need more doers than simply thinkers. I agree, and I am guilty of that very message.

Thinking without the making and doing is almost useless in the job market, unless you want to work at Accenture or some other big consulting firm. It probably won’t help you get a job as a designer in a studio environment. You’d be better off getting a degree in Humanities; at least you would be well-rounded.

This message should be taken as an encouragement. This world really needs more designers as we live in an experience economy. I feel fortunate that the course I’m taking this quarter is a design studio environment. Personally, I have little to show in terms of work from start to fit and finish. They all seem to end at a prototype phase of medium fidelity.

What we’re going to end up with is a generation of “innovators” who are MBAs in MFAs’ clothing, who can neither create or run businesses like entrepreneurs can, nor design products and services like designers can. It’s the worst of both worlds.

Let’s all roll up our sleeves, get’m dirty and take more risks. Failing is an option, and we grow because of them.

Adaptive Path [Dan Saffer]