angry designer

It was one of these design events, like many others in Germany: after the panelists had given their speeches, it was time for the Q&A! Finally, the audience had the chance to express their opinions, and some immediately took the opportunity. It was just a question of minutes for the question to be asked – the one on the status of design within companies!

And indeed, as expected, it was posed by a true representative from the ‘design-tribe’: completely dressed in black, the bright-red coloured reading glasses hanging around his neck and his hair wild and grey (though, often they come in bald), he threw in his opinion by starting off that it should be over now with the gobbledygook. “The real problem actually is somewhere else, it’s in the role of design within the company!” He continued his crusade, stating that these companies had no clue how to position and use design, and therefore, it was no wonder they produced crap all the time! – “They spice up their crappy products with design as we do with our chili!”

Being in full swing now, he continued by putting a question to the representatives from large corporations, of which there were three on the panel: “To you managers from the large companies: how long will it take till finally, a designer will be on your board? Because today there is total emptiness, they only think of profit – nobody thinks of good design!” he closed off, heavily applauded by the other suffering comrades, who made up at least one-third of the attending listeners.

There it was again, the injustice: Design as decoration, rather than at the core; designers in the gutter, rather than on the board; design as ‘good’, large companies as ‘bad’.

Somewhat clueless, we, the three reps from the ‘large companies’, looked at each other in the hope that one would pick up the question from the we-are-not-taken-seriously-fraction.

At a glance, I thought to catch a grin on the face of our panel member from frog, who was slightly leaning back, in order to observe what would happen next. Being from a consultancy, he knew exactly where the problem lay, but also that it was better not to answer on this one – no, this question was addressed to the designers employed and working within a company, and who were held like ‘slaves under horrible conditions’, far away from the center of power – the board!

He had been there, on the board, though only as an external consultant, and therefore he knew exactly that it wasn’t all gold shining there. That’s why he was always amused when the question on the standing of design came up in these kinds of panel discussions. For his agency, it was irrelevant since it thrived well on the fact that a lot is unclear in the board – it meant business!

“What a bunch of sissies”, he replied to me after the event, when we had a beer in the hotel lobby, “instead of complaining at these events, they should hire up at a company and start to get things going!” Both of us observed that there seems to be a sentiment of relating the standing of design within a company to the level of its hierarchical representation and its organizational power. But we also noted that there seem to be many designers who complain from the sidelines but do little to carry design deep into the corporations. To foster design thinking and build a designful company through protesting in front of the factory gates is well-meaning, but fruitless. You have to do this within the factory gates, so the conclusion of our chat…

The angry designer’s question still hadn’t been answered, so I felt obliged to pick it up. I started to mention the progress my employer (a large company) has made over the years toward integrating design as a professional function, and that design is now acknowledged as such. Also, I noted that the position of the Chief Design Officer had been established to clearly assign design governance to a corporate position, which is also a sign that design is taken seriously. Just like quality management, logistics, supply chain, customer service, or sustainability: none of their ‘chiefs’ were present on the board either, but all were acknowledged and taken seriously.

So I rejected the angry designer’s plea for designers on the board, which caused a surprising roar amongst the suffering angry-designers community.

Design – that’s the outcome of a company’s action, that’s what customers experience at every touchpoint! For design to positively contribute to a company’s success, it needs a company-wide design thinking and mentality – a designful company.

It doesn’t need a designer on the board; it needs designers on board!