No. 4: Why I'm still a designer
On being slow, my birthday, art and design
On Being Slow
It's my birthday next week. I don't usually celebrate my birthday. July 8 has the tendency of reminding me how behind I am in achieving my dreams. I’m not where I thought I would be at my age, but writing has helped me map out how failures and mistakes have led to unexpected outcomes.
I enjoy writing. Writing helps me process vast amounts of information by slowing down enough to process my experiences. I am then able to visualize how I can take care of myself now and in the future.
Hopefully by sharing my writing publicly, it can help someone else.
When I left my job last summer, I felt like a failure and it's not a coincidence that it was a month before my birthday.
With rest comes clarity. Writing and slowing down for a while has helped me understand why I love design and why I will continue working in tech.
The Power of Design
I'm back in Miami after a week in San Francisco. I went for Config, a design conference for people who build products, and it served as the sweetest reminder of why I became a designer.
To be surrounded by designers is to be surrounded by vibrant people who value excellence and empathy above all. I truly love how generous and optimistic designers are. We are optimistic specifically because we know that systems can be designed to improve life for all of us.
Figma is a particularly impressive tool designed for designers. Config was incredible, Figma was a wonderful host, and I'll be returning next year.
Why I Design
I wasn't formally trained as a designer. I studied fine art and specialized in painting. The first job I was proud of was at Miami Art Museum (now PAMM).
When I first started to practice design, I thought design was easy. I gave clients exactly what they wanted and they were so happy. I was happy too. In my artist mind, Design was a tool. A tool for the client to see their vision come alive and a tool for me to acquire money.
Even though design helps me make a living, the way I design is relational, not transactional. One of my main motivators is building healthy relationships with clients, stakeholders and ultimately the people who are going to be using the product I help build.
As my design practice matures, I have become aware that I am increasingly incapable of giving clients what they want. I deliver, but I am no longer so delivery oriented.
Feeling proud of the work I do will be my focus from now on.
Art and Design
I’m writing this as I drink coffee at SFMoMA. Art museums are meditative, sacred spaces.
Here, you can find an edition of Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain, a ready made sculpture that Duchamp submitted to a 1917 exhibition in New York. The original sculpture was a ceramic public bathroom urinal presented on its side, placed on a pedestal. Most people agree this piece formally kicked-off 20th century art.
Was it art? Yes, it was, because the artist chose it. Duchamp was also a chess player and he was trying to shift the discourse from art as physical craft to art as intellectual interpretation.
The crowd favorite today is a mirrored room by Yayoi Kusama. One of her pumpkins is also here. There’s a long line of people who want to take selfies in her mirror room. I skipped this particular room. Exhibits like these are easy, I don't find there's much to contemplate in her work, but people love it and it gets them in the museum.
Museums are in a tough place, they are short on funding, and every year it's getting harder. The outcome are show stoppers that attract media and visitors. It's good for engagement, as we say in tech.
Is it art? Does it matter when you need to keep the lights on?
At Config I saw designer Jesper Kouthoofd, Head of Design, CEO and founder of Teenage Engineering. He helped design SFMoMA’s featured exhibit: The Art of Noise. His work is in the show and I enjoyed his irreverent style while he was being interviewed by Dylan Field.
UX Design
When I chose to become a designer, I had already decided I did not want to become an art curator or an art dealer or work in a museum.
I progressed from UI Design, to UX Design, to Product Design. The three are distinct from each other. UX Design being the murkiest of the three.
As a product designer, I am aware that a business can make money without good design, and I understand why that happens. Business wants speed to market with reduced risk.
In theory, UX practitioners obsess over quality and user-centered design. In practice the industry has been plagued with problems.
Designing how a user (person) experiences something, means we need to understand human behavior to deliver products that delight customers. In the pursuit of delight, we've witnessed some truly toxic experiences coming out of tech.
As human beings we have a tendency to be at times irrational and unpredictable. The only way to ensure results is to control how users experience a product.
Manipulation is probably one of the easiest ways of controlling how someone experiences something and when your boss is insisting on speed to market and everyone wants to know what the ROI of design is, that's what you get.
Psychologically controlling someone involves isolating them, repetitive messaging and emotional manipulation. "Are you sure you want to cancel your subscription - we're so sad to see you go *sad emoji*". A designer worked on that.
Social media is addictive by design.
Influencing someone is a bit harder because it involves inspiring them into action. To influence someone you have to build trust. Quality becomes a guiding principle.
And yet a good quality product can still cause harm at scale.
The most horrific example is Juul, the vaping product created by two Stanford Design School graduates. They implemented a corrupt approach to design thinking employing unethical patterns and addiction models in service of growth at any cost. They developed a Juul Influencer Program that targeted users on Instagram. The minimum age to open an instagram account is thirteen. The outcome was that Juul became enormously popular with teenagers.
It is important to recognize the negative impact design can have.
Designing Better
If we want a future where we value the well-being of people and planet, we have to design with intention. In addition to communicating the financial value of design, we also need to show and measure the social and environmental impact of design.
While in San Francisco, I was invited to an expert panel of design executives moderated by Gordon Ching, a designer turned founder of Design Executive Council. One takeaway from the panel is that until we can connect design to business outcomes, we will always be the easily disposable function.
I will add to that and say that until we can connect design to social and environmental outcomes, while measuring impact, we will continue delivering toxic user experiences.
I met one of the panelists, Christina Goldschmidt, VP of Product Design at Warner Music Group, who focuses on making sure her team is proud of the work they do. She encouraged me to think about what I would be proud of being known for in 20 years.
I'll be thinking about that as I bake my birthday cake next week.
Thank you for reading.
With love,
Eva
Loved it Eva. So happy you've found writing helpful, it's clear that it comes quite naturally to you. I can hear the wisdom in your voice. It's refreshing to hear someone talk about design, tech, and consumption in such a grounded way. And happy birthday!