Lacking creativity does not make one a hack. As an example, take movie critics. Good critics are good at pointing out the strong and weak points of a movie. If

Lacking creativity does not make one a hack. As an example, take movie critics. Good critics are good at pointing out the strong and weak points of a movie. If involved early in the process, their advise can be used to improve the movie. However, most of them completely fail at coming up with movies by themselves. That doesn't mean they are incompetent: it just means that their expertise does not cover 'being creative'. The follow-up question than is: is 'being creative' a required skill for a designer. I venture: no. As the author points out, the sketches and ideas of the client can convey a lot of information about his business: not only factual information, but also the harder-to-express features that distinguish a business from others. It may very well be enough starting material for someone with less creative skill to produce an excellent design, completely covering what the client had in mind, while including all possible designer finesses. Of course, everyone has some creative skill and some may very well be enough. The very best can come up with original ideas out of thin air. We respect that and strive towards that ability. However, that does not mean that those that cannot do that are immediately demoted to 'hack' status. That would denounce many great artists and thinkers as 'hacks', because they were only capable of executing ideas to perfection, while not being able to come up with those ideas themselves.