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We need to talk about design hiring process
Experiences, checklists and some smart talk
Let’s start: what is the role of a designer?
Have you ever thought that in all objects, furniture, cars, houses, smartphones, apartments, in any structure made by humankind, there was someone who designed it? In other words, a person who decided that an object was going to be like that and not like that? Scratchy and not smooth? Light and not heavy? Gray and not red?
This person was a designer.
That’s why the design position is not just another position in the product development pipeline. It’s a position responsible to guide those around him/her whether designing a simple form, projecting a stool, or conceiving long term product vision.
As designers, we also push teams to think forward . We grab, as a dog grabs a bone, the user interests and pains. We seek to solve the whole problem, not only looking to aesthetics, but also to what strikes the origin of the pain.
“Design is also the process we undertake to solve a problem. It fucking hurts to catch a baseball with your bare hand. A mitt is the solution to that problem.”
Mike Monteiro, 2015, “Why you need design”.
It’s also our responsibility to look beyond functionality, hierarchy, consistency, usability, aesthetics and accessibility. We want not only the solution that works well, but the one that works for everyone.
“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it’s this veneer — that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’. That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
Steve Jobs, 2003 New York Times article “The Guts of a New Machine.”
Quite a responsibility, right? That’s why hiring a designer suck.
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