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Kevin Casas
Professor Kim

April 19, 2019

ENGW 3315

A Designer’s Mindset

When people hear the word “designer” they typically picture magazine layouts

or Instagram themes that have pops of color and eye-catching visuals to entice an au-

dience, and while they would be right, in a sense, there’s much more to the field than

page spreads and social media posts. Design is a multidisciplinary field of study with a

list of diverse career opportunities available for individuals with all types of skillsets.

The field is so vast that it is difficult to provide a definition that encompasses the entire

discipline. So, what then defines the job of a designer, regardless of their title? I believe

that, in essence, design is a mindset rather than a specific career. It is a designer’s job

to act as a problem-solver for our clients, using the methods of the design thinking

process to come up with solutions to just about any situation. The reason there are so

many types of designers is because the process works throughout any discipline.

Everything that we interact with on a daily basis has been designed in some way and

has gone through the same process as everything that came before it.

The job title of “designer” can be found at the end of a multitude of careers,

and each has a different practice that requires specific skills in order to excel. The most

well-known field of design is graphic design. Graphic design can be defined as the art

and practice of planning and projecting ideas and experiences with visual and textual

content (Cezzar, 2017). This definition leaves a wide range of options in terms of the

medium in which the design is created, the scale at which it is meant to be seen, the
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audience for the piece, and the overall purpose of the design. Graphic designers do

this by arranging type, forms, and images on posters, advertisements, packages, and

other printed matter, as well as information visualizations and graphics for newspapers,

books, and magazines. Product designers are another group that designs items to be

used in a particular way, such as furniture, appliances, and just about every type of

item that’s able to be purchased. The goal of product designers is to improve the way

that existing products work and look, produce them at a lower cost, or create a brand

new concept to sell. Product design used to encompass only physical items, but

nowadays product designers are also hired to create and design digital products and

applications.

With the introduction of the internet came the need for designers who worked

purely in the digital realm, thus creating the need for web designers, interaction de-

signers, experience designers, and motion designers. Although all of these jobs deal

with digital design, each has their own specialty. Web designers usually create the look

and style for a website or application. That design then gets handed to an interaction

designer who will use HTML and CSS code to create a working prototype of the de-

sign, which the experience designer then goes through and tests with users to see if

the design and interactions are fulfilling their purpose. After everything is complete, the

motion designer comes in and creates animations and videos that add another level of

polish and help get some more nuanced ideas to be understood by visitors to the site.

Few design teams will have individuals with each of these job titles, since most of the

time web and interaction designers will have the skills necessary to do the jobs of the

missing links in the chain.

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I’ve personally gotten to dabble in almost every field of design I mentioned,

both in my classes and on my co-ops. Having experienced a bit of how each type of

designer operates, I appreciate the different things that each specialty brings to the

discipline. Because I view design as a mindset to solving problems, I don’t like to clas-

sify myself as any one type of designer. I like to figure out the best approach to solve a

problem, which means I might make a poster to best solve one problem and build a

three-dimensional model for another. I like to leave my options open and not limit my-

self to the practice of just one specialty in the field.

Even though there are many types of designers, writing is not something that

designers do on a day-to-day basis. In the work environment, the type of writing that is

done is usually for clients in the form of project briefs, proposals, and presentations.

However, these will usually be done by Art Directors and Creative Directors. The actual

writing that goes into the projects that designers create is usually provided by the client

or a copywriter, and it is usually the job of the designer to just make sure that the con-

tent makes sense and can adjust it as needed. Otherwise, most literature about design

is written and published by well-known designers for their own books or as articles or

blog posts on the internet. AIGA, the professional association for design, regularly

posts new essays and articles that designers have written specifically for that audi-

ence. Most of the writing done by designers is for other designers, and it has been that

way for a few decades. Those essays are how most designers learn about new innova-

tions, software, and tips and tricks to help them work better and interact more efficient-

ly with non-designers out in the world. These thoughts about the interaction between
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designers and business-people are exemplified in an essay titled “The Politics of De-

sign,” written by Paul Rand.

Rand is one of the most well-known designers in graphic design history. He’s

responsible for a large amount of the logos and brand identities we know, such as

ABC, IBM, UPS, and NeXT Computer, Steve Job’s company after being fired from

Apple. After gaining some notoriety in the design world, Rand decided to publish his

first book containing his work and writing in 1985 titled A Designer’s Art (Lewandowski,

2013). “The Politics of Design” was one of the essays in the book, and Rand placed it

in the last few pages, which might act as a final thought for designers reading it.

Rand identifies the rhetorical situation as one of concern for designers work-

ing on projects that are for non-design clients, specifically business-people. He starts

out by clearly stating his definition of design and explains what he believes is neces-

sary to create “good design.” Rand believes that “design is a problem-solving activity”

and is a useful methodology to “provide a means of clarifying, synthesizing, and dra-

matizing a word, a picture, a product, or an event” (Rand, 1985). As he continues, Rand

constructs his essay in a particular way to get his readers to think deeply. He starts by

describing the pitfalls that befall most designers working in the business world, looking

at both sides of the coin to identify where any and all problems might arise throughout

the course of a project. He then lists examples of ways that business-people might

thwart the flow of good design and then does the same for designers, listing the mental

dangers, such as perfectionism or a lack of self-confidence, that will most often halt

the design process. His use of logos in this way directs the reader through the short-
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comings of both parties so they can think about the ways they both play integral roles

in the design process.

Through his use of formal tone and ethos in the essay, Rand presents himself

as a knowledgeable and reliable commentator on the subject of design. He writes,

“Frequent job reassignments within an active business are additional impediments

about which management is often unaware” Designers constantly have to work with

clients who are “unqualified to make design judgments [but] are frequently shifted into

design-sensitive positions.” The client then uses their “position of authority… as evi-

dence of expertise” even if they have none or very little knowledge of design practices.

Rand makes it easy to trust what he describes in the essay by using scholarly diction

that evokes the fact that he is an authority figure whose ideas should be followed. The

frank and direct nature of Rand’s delivery gives his audience even more of a reason to

take his words to heart and ruminate on them the next time they find themselves faced

with a similar problem.

I find it interesting that Rand makes little attempt to sway the reader towards

his ideas and opinions in any large motion. The pathos he utilizes is very subtle, but he

still manages to connect with his desired audience, other designers. He believes de-

signers need “all the support [they] can muster, for [theirs] is a unique but unenviable

position.” Designers not only have to seek “the applause of the connoisseur, but the

approbation of the crowd” in their practice. By describing situations and feelings that

anyone working with a client will have experienced, he gives the reader pause to inter-

nalize his knowledge to make use of when they encounter similar events in the future.

Rand doesn’t sugar coat the challenges that a designer will face in their work. He lays
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the ideas out in a logical manner, directly stating them for the reader, without masking

the lessons in metaphor or an anecdote. He simply presents his case and lets the

reader pass their own judgment on the ideas that he sets forth.

For the most part, Rand does well in crafting an essay that will get his audi-

ence to think about how they might approach projects when working with non-design-

ers. He appeals to the aspects of design that graphic designers value most, creativity

and problem-solving, and describes situations in which those values are challenged.

Rand’s lack of appeal to emotions is not a common approach used when speaking to

designers, who are usually empathetic individuals, but it is unique to his voice. Rand

tells it as it is, which is a trait designers will recognize in his writing. He uses logic as

his main appeal to readers in the hope that his authority and experience will be a tes-

tament to the knowledge he delivers. Rand points out quite a few methods to make

note of that will aid in communicating and getting ideas across more easily with their

clients. The essay, as a whole, is a helpful lesson for anyone going into design to learn

right away and gives them a head start to some good advice for working in the world of

design.

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Works Cited

Cezzar, J., & American Institute of Graphic Arts. (2017). The AIGA guide to careers in

graphic and communication design.

Lewandowski, D. (2013, September 16). Paul Rand - American Modernist. Retrieved

from http://www.paulrand.design/

Rand, P. (1985). Paul Rand, a designer's art. New Haven: Yale University Press.