Despite all the structure and process that can go along with design, sometimes it's ok to go on feels alone.

Apparently there's been some drama in the last week because Fast Company has (once again) proclaimed that design is dead. Which I totally missed because in my on-again-off-again relationship with Fast Company, I've finally decided that most of their articles sadly are not worth my time. The paywall doesn't help (ungated version). Nevertheless, opinions on the piece have permeated my RSS feed.

Rest assured, I won't be adding much to the spilt ink on the subject. For the sake of context, however, the general synopsis of the article is that business has killed design and now design is dead. Perhaps as a result of our technofeudalistic timeline, business has streamlined and optimised for maximum growth and/or profit and design has been deprioritised.

The problem is that despite designers best efforts to integrate design into business, design has ultimately taken a backseat to business. Maybe even a backseat to marketing. A nice-to-have if the budget allows. Ultimately leading to a contraction of the whole design industry.

I think the cause for this de-integration of design is two-fold. In meeting business' needs, design has produced safe design that optimises for profit - the greatest of all business needs. Secondly, by making design accessible, we've reduced design to a logical process that takes us from problem to solution. If the process is simple to follow and produces a safe yet serviceable result, then why pay a designer to do it?

It's no surprise that when Moloch gets their fingers into a company's accounting department, a field that few understand the value of is first to get the axe. However, I can agree with FC on this; design will never die. You just have to get creative.

Design Sameness

As tough as it is to say, in being too eager to integrate into business, design has turned into yes-men for management. It doesn't help when these large companies with design teams have a tendency to play safe with design. When their objective is to appeal to the most people in the broadest possible contexts, this leads to design being safe, monotonous, and formulaic.

Where certain themes prove successful in the market, it doesn't take a designer to point to what's hot and say "I want that one.". Being too eager to please, we do what's needed without pushing back. Counter-intuitively, by not pushing back designers further minimise their potential business impact until design no longer has any teeth. It's hard to justify hiring a designer when all they need to do is what they're told.

Further, by creating and proselytising design frameworks to designers and non-designers, to the untrained eye we've handed over the keys to the design kingdom. Now everyone can be a designer.

Design Thinking

Not that I have anything against design thinking. I think it's a useful extension to the design process that came before it and I strongly advocate for it for both designers and non-designers alike. I also think empowering non-designers to think about design, users, and context when they otherwise may not have is a powerful way to bring the power of design to front of mind. This democratisation of "design" however has an unintended downside; when everyone is a designer, the value floor drops out.

Further, by focusing on the framework of design thinking and it's ilk, we've compartmentalised design into a series of steps that leads us from problem to solution. While this is broadly accurate, it's no wonder then that all design begins to look the same.

Certainly, design thinking was never more than just a framework to focus the creative work into specific objectives needed for each stage of a project. Design still requires (shock! horror!) creative work which by definition is non-linear. Creative work, especially in design and especially especially in Industrial Design, is just as misunderstood now as it was 20 years ago. Most people still don't know what Industrial Design is, let alone what it does or what value it can provide. When people don't understand what design does, it's impossible to ask them to put a value on it.

Designing By Feel

The answer may be to return to unapologetic creativity. Design with teeth. Such as an artist (especially the starving ones) might.

As much as art can have many rules to follow, it's also equally about not following rules when specific effects are desired. Sometimes not even actively breaking rules, but rather just ignoring them in order to create something else. Something new. Indeed, many artists that break or ignore the spoken and unspoken rules of art become pioneers of new styles of art that ironically go on to form their own rules. Yet in that first moment they're creating, and using their internal compass to guide their artistic expression.

So too with design.

If you want to innovate, you can't follow the same rules as everybody else and expect a different result. By blindly following the frameworks you can easily condemn your design to mediocrity.

So what does this look like? It certainly isn't picking well-established rules and then doing the opposite. That will almost certainly lead to bad design and a bankrupt company. Trying something new does come with inherent risks, and you do still need a sustainable business after all.

Instead, it is setting aside the design rules, trends, and opinions and looking internally to what sits most right with you. Sometimes this quite literally means taking a step back and looking at your work to see if it feels right. It means adjusting the elements until the vibe of your design aligns with your design intent.

You'll feel it click into place. It's where all variations are correct according to the accepted frameworks, but one feels right while the others don't. Or more critically, all variations are wrong according to the accepted frameworks, but one feels right anyway.

You can't and shouldn't define it. You should feel it.