Design Thinking

I just started a group on LinkedIn. I’m a bit flummoxed from running into more and more situations that seek to categorize people into tidy units. I joined a BNI group recently, (which I cannot recommend highly enough) and had to choose between just a few flavors of design: graphic designer, web designer, web developer, etc. There is no option D: All of the above.

While I can understand and appreciate the value of niches within a networking group, and the fact that no one can truly do it all, I also wondered about the hard bifurcation between design thinking and design doing. The list embraces design doing. I want to make a plea for design thinking as an alternative bucket. A web designer slings code, a graphic designer spools up Adobe products. A designer designs.

Maybe I have worn too many hats, travelled too many places, and seen too many inventive solutions to third world problems created by designers that have never touched a keyboard or know Arial from Avenir. I believe, now more than ever, that design is a philosophy more than a profession, and that enlightened design thinking is bigger than any skill set.

ktracy