Designer Misconceptions

I recently did an Instagram post about this same topic, but I wanted to use a long-form content platform to discuss it more. Not so much as funny, bulleted items, but just as a whole.

I find the identity of a designer in a company to be one of the most perplexing topics because it tends to vary from company to company. I have worked as a full-time employee, as well as a freelancer or contractor, so I have seen different makeups to how a company approaches design.

There are a couple things at play here — first, the more historic role of a designer and second, the role of the squeeze.

The more historic role of a designer

When the term designer comes to mind, a person usually thinks of a person with a pencil, drawing out a blueprint. In product designer language, maybe Adobe Photoshop or Figma would come to mind. But that’s a bit of the issue. These are tools that show an output mostly. There is little fanfare for the complex flows that may go into design work. As good as a tool like Figma may be, there are some that suggest it has actually ruined the industry. I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s a valid concern, as there is a growing trend that Figma is the be-all and end-all tool for any designer out there.

A designer wields tools, but the tools do not make the designer. There is plenty that goes into the thinking of how a particular flow would work, viewing analytics of past users, and — perhaps the most important — defending design decisions against others that may not quite understand your reasoning. Design is no longer pushing pixels, but this is hard to comprehend for some organizations.

The squeeze

Designers usually sit as a bridge between two of the most consequential departments in a company — product and engineering. Many times, design is skipped completely and one of these two becomes the mind behind how something would work or look. I can look at a product and tell you that a developer was behind the design of it.

It’s not a knock, but rather, a truth. Design exists because product and engineering need to focus on their own craft. This means the defense of design decisions becomes that much more important, because product is going to be pushing features and engineering is going to want to critique how something works.

As a designer, I cannot look at a live application and critique the code. I can’t see it. However, everyone can see design. This means at some point, everyone at an organization becomes a designer (or so they would like to be). While it’s nice for the constructive criticism, it can sometimes be met with ideas that are not based on data and lead a company down a rabbit hole.

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• Senior Product Designer at Wunderkind (remote or in person

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• Senior Product Designer at Orum (remote in US)

• Founding Product Designer at Srcbook (hybrid in California)

Hi, I’m Jon, a UX and Product Designer from Brooklyn, New York. I write the Design Breadcrumbs newsletter to express my own thoughts on the design world, freelancing, and career advancement. Subscribe to get this news delivered to your inbox every week.