As design continues to penetrate the C suite in business, methodologies take the limelight. Methodologies are an effective way to identify efficiency gaps and opportunities for growth, as well as applying a sense of structure (read predictability) around design.
As much as I appreciate the emphasis on method, I think it’s important to remind ourselves that good design is more than methods.
You can adhere to all of the methods, but that doesn’t make you a good designer, nor does it guarantee good design (looking at you, UX community).
Methods are the systematic deconstruction of the design discipline, and are crucial to any designer’s toolkit. Design tools are only as good as the person using them.
The danger with a method approach to design is that it creates a false sense of security for the non-designer. A non-designer can read, understand and apply a method, and confidently move forward with crap. This naive approach to design undermines the credibility of the method, and ultimately our profession as designers.
You can’t substitute a good designer for design methods.
Photo by NEW DATA SERVICES on Unsplash
