I’ve read more than a few posts lately by designers who feel like they’ve been bullied and undervalued over the past five years. Like design has taken a back seat again. Like what they do is seen as an add-on. It’s easy to blame others, but part of the problem might be our own.
In order to gain a seat at the table, we simplified what we did into a process everyone could understand. But anyone who truly knows, knows it’s never that simple.
Design leaders have spent so much time trying to fit in at the table that they’ve forgotten who they are and what they represent. Conforming so much that they’ve compromised the team’s ability to do what they do. And if you fought the good fight, you got shoved aside or tossed out for not being more agreeable.
The ones that stayed often have no business being there, but they play the game well. Even if it means they abuse the team and reduce what they do to a sideshow or an add-on, as needed.
For those who are lucky enough to still have a seat at the table, it might be on you to show the business why design matters and how it can unlock an advantage. You might need to do it quietly while no one is looking, but it needs to come out through the work. This is where it all matters.
The results will speak for themselves. You might be talking in half-truths to appease the micromanagers, but do what you need to in order to get the results that will make design shine. Don’t overcomplicate it in processes that don’t work. Put in the graft. Use your good taste, your gut feeling, and put forward the solution you actually believe in.
That gamble on yourself is the best bet you’ll ever make. You did not drop into your role. You earned it. And they will be forced to see it when the results speak for themselves. You will earn back their trust, as they only care about results. Then you can start building back your place and achieving more.
If you’re carrying dead wood who is there for optics, move them on and hire the top talent who deliver results, not performance.
For those who have been forced to go it alone, then you have the autonomy others don’t. When you get an opportunity, and trust me, once they realise the machine cannot do your job because it has no soul, you must do it in a way that exceeds expectations by going beyond conventional thinking and allowing your suppressed inner voice to shout louder than ever, releasing it from its cage and into the project.
This change will be welcomed and it will stand out. It will be spoken about and you will get the credit, as they lack the imagination to communicate what you did. So they will just hand you the mic, as they won’t know what to say or how to describe what you have done to achieve it.
And when you do, speak up. Take charge. And find a way to be the voice of those who have lost theirs.