Why Design Talent falls short

If you're a designer, you've likely felt inadequate in some way at your workplace. While the organization you work for clearly needs design, it often struggles to integrate design into the internal processes of project development. Your colleagues may find it difficult to grasp what design truly contributes, and designers often wonder why others don't see the value of design as they do. The gap is evident, even if it's visible only from one side. So, what's missing?

A designer builds their career on three foundational pillars: talent, skill, and experience. Some may possess all three, while others might have just one or two. If you're reading this article, you might feel that you excel in one area more than the others—and that could very well be true. It's important to differentiate between these three pillars to better understand the intricacies of the design profession. Let's start by defining them.

Talent is often perceived as an innate ability, an aptitude that some people are born with. It's something that allows individuals to quickly pick up and excel at certain activities effortlessly. For example, a talented pianist might also be a talented painter because they have a knack for creative endeavours.

Skill, on the other hand, is the ability to perform a task or execute a technique effectively. Unlike talent, skill can be developed over time, with practice honing the intricacies of the craft. This is where muscle memory comes into play, enabling designers to perform their tasks smoothly, with minimal effort and maximum output.

Experience is closely related to talent and skill but operates in a different realm. Experience involves practical contact with events or facts, contributing to a deeper understanding of the context in which one works. It creates new connections between events and helps build a comprehensive knowledge base.

Understanding these differences helps us see how a talented designer, a skilled designer, and an experienced designer each bring unique qualities and approaches to design thinking. But consider this: If you were more talented, skilled, or experienced, would more of your designs be approved in the boardroom? Perhaps not, because all three types of designers require one common element—an educated audience.

Designers often claim expertise in psychology and behaviour, yet they struggle to understand why their organization is not receptive to the design process and its potential benefits. Designers need to recognize that the people they rely on to move forward often know little to nothing about design. These individuals require careful and empathetic persuasion to become educated. The ability to understand your audience, craft presentations tailored to them and demonstrate how design serves their interests is just as important as being a talented, skilled, or experienced designer.

Designers are not solely to blame for the current culture. We often envision designers as solo visionary artists with egocentric views of how the world should be designed. This false expectation breeds frustration and prevents designers from becoming collaborative leaders on projects that require diverse expertise. Designers aspire to be seen as creative heroes, advocates for users they see victimized by the poor design choices that permeate our societies.

This mindset leads designers to believe that an "ideal project" is one that allows for pure, frictionless creative effort. However, this fantasy disregards essential interpersonal skills such as communication, negotiation, persuasion, and collaboration—all of which are crucial for creating successful, influential designers. Working with ideas and creating creatives is the fun and easy part, a fact that most designers would secretly agree upon. As a professional minority often working in advisory roles, the design culture tends to be self-involved, blaming other stakeholders for failing to provide the necessary environment for cultivating design ideas instead of persuading them to see the value in design.

Designers who feel undervalued and overlooked need to understand the importance of relationships and how persuasion can be used positively to effect change in their environment. If designers can integrate the fourth and fifth pillars—power and influence—into their practice, we might see design ideas implemented in the real world with greater confidence and impact.