Designing for clarity

Hey there! I’m excited to share my thoughts on Brian Chesky’s talk and the value that designers can bring to the table. Let’s dive into it!

Brian Chesky’s talk on leading through uncertainty: a design-led company was simply fantastic! I admire his passion and how he makes it real for designers to see that they can co-found and run a Fortune 500 profitable, paradigm-changing company. His encouragement for designers to have nerve and think bigger was inspiring.

Moving on from the “get rid of all those pms” humour (no worries, we won’t go there!), the key takeaway is to embrace higher-level design. Designers should not be confined by predefined roles and titles. Instead, they should focus on solving more abstract and challenging problems.

Imagine different levels of design expertise—from designing a specific form for users to edit their profile (Level 1) to creating a vision for the entire product (Level 5). Each level requires different skills and knowledge, and designers should aspire to level up.

Design is not just about how something looks, but also about how it works, just like Steve Jobs said. It’s about intentionally trying to influence an outcome and controlling our destiny. From the dawn of humanity, we’ve been designing to shape our future.

To achieve higher-level design, we must look beyond our current roles and embrace the outcomes we want to influence. It’s about growing the scale of our ambitions, seeking feedback, and doing our homework to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge.

Design is a vast and beautiful landscape, with each outcome branching into a multitude of questions and challenges. By embracing higher-level design, we can create exceptional products, build sustainable companies, and even shape a better society.

Let’s continue to value the unique contributions that designers bring to the table and encourage them to explore the boundless possibilities of design in shaping our world for the better. 🌟