Business professionals of a “certain vintage” have a tendency to misunderstand the role of design. They’ve looked at designers as disposable or simply nice to have.
But now, digital transformation is pushing us into a brave new business frontier—one where product expectations, unique business needs, and advancements in technology require a new way of thinking.
Full write-up: https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-pixels-redefining-designer
It’s About More than Pixels: Redefining "Designer"
1. It’s About More than Pixels: Redefining
“Designer”
By Ben Hernández
https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-pixels-redefining-designer
2. Dialexa
We are on a mission to make every company
a great technology company.
We work with organizations to define and
execute digital transformation strategies to
improve business operations and customer
experiences. Our services include:
• Multi-Year Technology Roadmap
• Platform Engineering
• User Experience Design
• Custom Software Development
• Hardware Prototyping /IoT
3. Business professionals
of a “certain vintage”
have a tendency to
misunderstand the role
of design.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
4. They’ve looked at designers as disposable or
simply nice to have.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
5. But now, digital
transformation is
pushing us into a
brave new business
frontier-
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
6. -one where product expectations, unique
business needs, and advancements in
technology require a new way of thinking.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
7. These new circumstances are pushing designers to
focus more on the invisible rather than only the
tangible.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
8. In this new business world, human-centered
design will shape as our discipline evolves
toward an ever-present sense of empathy for
our users.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
9. The Specialist Problem in
Design
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
10. As a young
designer I
was very
concerned
with creating
pretty pixels.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
11. Although my job in many cases was
to be both UX and visual designer,
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
12. The work that mattered to me and to many
of my peers was centered around how
something looked rather than how it
worked.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
13. It was hard
to find a
visual
designer with
UX design
chops and
vise versa.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
15. And from there,
companies
perpetuated the
ideas of hyper-
specialized design,
further narrowing
the skillset of so
many design
professionals.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
16. As design proves increasingly important for
driving business value,
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
17. You’ll start to notice that
hyper-specialized has
weakened the design talent
pool and created a great
rift between business and
product-
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
18. -two issues that require a
new definition of
“designer” to overcome.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
19. Tomorrow’s Designers will be “T-Shaped”
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
21. The way we like to think
of modern designers is as
“T-shaped.”
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
22. Being “T-shaped” means designers have 3 core
discipline strengths- research, user experience,
and visual design.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
23. For each designer,
one of these
disciplines will be
strongest and act
as the center point
of the “T.”
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
24. When you look at a well-rounded design
team filled out with “T-shaped” designers,
you’ll see a spider chart of skills.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
25. Everyone will have some combination of the core
skills and fill in each other’s gaps.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
26. User experience
and visual design
are traditional
values for the
discipline, but
research is what
really sets us apart
from simple pixel
pushers.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
27. Design can’t just be rooted in a gut feeling- we
have to be data-driven if we want a seat at the
strategic table.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
29. For design to prove that it’s more than simply
an art, we have to make research a critical
part of any project.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
30. Once you recognize the importance of design
thinking, you can start asking the right questions of
both users and the business.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
31. The crux of any successful product is
empathy for its’ users’ experience- why are
people using the product in the first place?
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
32. If you can understand the “why,” you can do
more than just design a good experience, you
can truly democratized design.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
33. Anyone can install Photoshop,
but not everyone can leverage
the design toolkit that includes
research, observation and data
analysis.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
34. If there’s no intentionality
behind our designers, we
can’t blame business
professionals for
dismissing the discipline.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
35. But if we act like strategists-not just doers- we
can defeat the long-standing stigma and make
sure that businesses are truly design-led.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
36. Getting Back to the True Meaning of Design-Led
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
37. The true meaning of “Design-led” has been
muddles by misguided claims that a company is
a “Design First, Design Thinking Company.”
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
38. But design-led doesn’t mean that a designer
has to be a CEO or that company is only
focused on form before function.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
39. It means that from the top down,
everyone in the organization is
making purposeful decisions that
balance the needs of human
customers with business objectives
and technological realities.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
40. We may have lost sight of the human
interaction portion of design in favor of pixels
in the past, but designers must bear the
burden of making sure it’s not just
meaningful pixels that we’re creating.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
41. Designers must ensure
that the underlying
processes and
interactions within the
project are both
purposeful and optimal.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
42. Saying that
designers must
drive empathy in
an organization
isn’t anything
new- and yet the
discipline still
doesn’t have a
seat at the table in
many companies.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer
43. Today’s designers
have to be evangelize
the human-centered
way of thinking and
prove to executives
that the discipline
brings more to the
table than pixels.
Get the full write up of this slideshare at https://by.dialexa.com/more-than-
pixels-redefining-designer