Everyone is a Designer

Inherent in stating that it feels like someone out there might disagree with me. That there's is actually some difference between someone that is professionally a designer and everyone else. I feel like I've read things in the past either articles, comments, or posts that claim this is not true.

Well, whether controversial or not it simply is true. Just as someone who bakes whether professionally or not, trained or not is a baker. Anyone can contribute to a design in a meaningful way.

Some of the best insights into a project I've worked on have come from someone who probably wouldn't even consider themselves a designer. But, they have some knowledge or new perspective that can contribute an immense amount to a problem being solved. Usually it's some specific domain knowledge but could also just be good taste.

I think it's an important thing to keep in mind that "everyone is a designer" that we are not special. We were not created this way, we also went to school for this. We trained, we learned, we lived a life and experienced various things. All of which has brought us to the designer we are today.

If you've ever complained about feedback from a client or stakeholder (I have) because maybe you've bucketed them as someone that "doesn't understand" or "doesn't know what they're talking about" you were probably wrong. You most likely were feeling self concious or you weren't sure how to handle their comments. Maybe they're feedback was wrong (if that can even be determined) or it was presented in a non-professional way. But, that's just because they're an untrained designer.

We all are, we're all bad designers. That's why we keep practicing, keep working, keep trying new things. They just haven't done as much of that as we have. We are all designers, and if you claim to be one professionally it's your responsibility to help designers that might not be as advanced as you.

Reach down and bring people up with you. Reach up to someone that might be your superior and try to help them fill a gap in their ability. Hopefully each is open to that, hopefully you're capable of educating them.