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I would say design is about problem solving more than straight communication. Here's a great talk from Michael Bierut that kind of touches on what a designer is

I would say design is about problem solving more than straight communication. Here's a great talk from Michael Bierut that kind of touches on what a designer is: http://the99percent.com/videos/6056/michael-bierut-5-secrets-from-86-notebooks http://the99percent.com/videos/6056/michael-bierut-5-secrets...

derefr 16y ago
I think it could be said that "solving a problem for someone other than yourself" is semantically equivalent to "communicating with someone."
- gigawatt 16y ago
  Possibly, but just saying "communication" doesn't get across the fact that designers are always working within a myriad of constraints.
  - funthree 16y ago
    Agreed... the previous comment goes to far. he might not have meant it to come across that way though. "Communication" is probably too general. Design might be about communicating the experience to the user, but it is still about designing that experience in the first place. When you are at your computer mocking up your amazing designs, are you "communicating"
sudont 16y ago
Exactly. Some of the best designers I've ever met were absolutely terrible at interpersonal communication and were completely dependent on the project manager to talk to the client and figure out the communication problem. There's a lot of iteration and specialization going on, and a lot of times I did a complete UX overhaul of what the graphic designer made while keeping his visual styling entirely, working almost exclusively with the art director and PM. Slightly off topic; As a designer, I find it fairly interesting to see things from the other point of view on this board. It's this kind of boy/girl mutual insecurity where everybody thinks the other side is completely cool and self-assured, and I'm hiding here thinking "you guys want us too?". Believe me, for every startup that needs a designer, there's about six designers who need somebody technical to develop the designs.

derefr 16y ago

I think it could be said that "solving a problem for someone other than yourself" is semantically equivalent to "communicating with someone."

gigawatt 16y ago
Possibly, but just saying "communication" doesn't get across the fact that designers are always working within a myriad of constraints.
- funthree 16y ago
  Agreed... the previous comment goes to far. he might not have meant it to come across that way though. "Communication" is probably too general. Design might be about communicating the experience to the user, but it is still about designing that experience in the first place. When you are at your computer mocking up your amazing designs, are you "communicating"

sudont 16y ago

Exactly. Some of the best designers I've ever met were absolutely terrible at interpersonal communication and were completely dependent on the project manager to talk to the client and figure out the communication problem. There's a lot of iteration and specialization going on, and a lot of times I did a complete UX overhaul of what the graphic designer made while keeping his visual styling entirely, working almost exclusively with the art director and PM. Slightly off topic; As a designer, I find it fairly interesting to see things from the other point of view on this board. It's this kind of boy/girl mutual insecurity where everybody thinks the other side is completely cool and self-assured, and I'm hiding here thinking "you guys want us too?". Believe me, for every startup that needs a designer, there's about six designers who need somebody technical to develop the designs.