What is a Designer?
20 Dec, 2008
Building websites typically involves several participants, each specializing in specific tasks like project management, strategy, information architecture, programming, and of course design. But I’ve been thinking – aren’t almost all of the members of the project team responsible for designing the website? Why does someone have to be a Photoshop jockey to be considered a designer?
Consider this quote on design from Herbert Simon:
Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.
I tend to agree with Dr. Simon; anyone who has a stake in defining and executing the desired solution is a designer on some level. To merely consider the outward appearance of something, the design exhibits a lack of understanding of the design process. All project stakeholders have an impact on the ultimate design, and all should provide contributions based on their professional expertise. If there is a design problem, it is a problem for the team to solve collaboratively. Steve Jobs puts it nicely with this quote:
Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.
Sure, graphic designers can get a lot of credit and attention – like the lead singer of a rock band. But without a strong supporting cast helping to define and execute the design, that graphic designer is singing a capella.
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