Thread by @dharmeshba

Why digital designers will be irrelevant in a few years?! -
[A thread] 👇

Let's deconstruct the act of 'designing' into two parts

1. Skillset - Execution
2. Mindset - Thought

Skillset in Design represents the ability to translate one's idea(s) into tangible prototypes. In most cases using software like a sketch, illustrator, photoshop, Figma etc.

How one translates the ideas has gone through drastic changes in the past decade. We went from the creation phase to the composition phase. Designers currently compose pre-built assets that create them. With the rise of AI, we will move from the 'compose' phase to 'choose' phase.

When we reach the 'choose' phase the AI's would be evolved enough to generate all the possible combination of designs at the click of a button. Imagine feeding parameters of a PRD into a system to generate your app screens (probably functional apps too). This will happen (soon).

What this essentially does is reduces the entry barrier for anyone to get their hands on design. When design moved from complex software like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to simple ones like Sketch, Figma or even Instagram filters, we saw an outburst of creators.

Economics of design: When design workflow become efficient through automation, the no of people required to execute the designs will reduce or in other words, for every new plugin that Figma/Sketch releases two designers are losing their jobs.

Can creativity be codified? Creating pleasing interfaces can be achieved by following the simple laws of gestalt. In fact, designers get paid to create familiar mental models than creating a new one to make digital applications more accessible.

It is only time that the design teams become lean in the organisation. Though technology might become efficient but human inefficiency might probe adding more designers in the short term. This does not mean the market is expanding but bloating.

Design is one of the few disciplines where the creator could post his output without the impact and can still be proud of it. Always wondered if a PM would post their PRD to claim success for their effort?! It is the impact of the product that is important than writing a PRD

But designers seem to be fixated on displaying screen designs without articulating the impact of it. This is unique to design. Its high time we stop romanticising dribbble posts and medium articles that speak design without metrics.

Designers should think beyond the artefacts (screen design) and ponder more about the user impact. This would leave a way for a new kind of designers who aren't fixated on the doing part of the design but shift focus on the thinking side of it.

Let's remember that a carpenter is not paid for knowing how to use the hammer but when to use it. Design should move from being perceived as 'Awwww cute' to 'Oh damn!'

What does this new mindset mean for a designer? Maybe another thread.

Last but not least, 'most' designers in the 'current' form will be irrelevant in a few years.

This thread was loosely worded intentionally to bring strong perspectives out. Guess it worked!

All you amazing people, please talk more about this. We need new ideas around what design(ers).

Well the title was just click baity.

Infact identifying that this thread is flawed in the way it is written is a victory because unfortunately for most orgs perceive this is design.

Would love to write about the thought process in design, more of these commentaries would help.

Thanks for raising these opinions.