Designers are like alpacas

Designers are like alpacas; confused looking mammals who spit when angry and are covered in messy, often matted, fur.

A little known fact about alpacas and designers is that they are herd animals. Not only do they like the company of their kind, but without a buddy they will actually become depressed, in the case of the alpaca, or apathetic and isolated in the case of a designer.

If you co-locate designers on project teams, pairing designers and creating a micro-community can be a great way to avoid burn-out and apathy. There are a few thing to consider when pairing designers, and a few types of pairs…

The symbiotic buddy

This is when you take a pair, or herd of designers and place them together based on filling all the skill-sets you might need. For example, you might have (or be) a great visual/graphic designer, but not care for interaction and prototyping. Pairing this skill-set up with a service or interaction centric designer creates a formidable design force.

The research geek and the visionary

Some designers geek out over designing based on empirical evidence. Some designers like to be left alone to come up with astounding ideas and inventions — all from inside their ginormous right cerebral hemisphere. Pairing this unlikely chalk-and-cheese duo can be really helpful to both of them, and will help them grow as designers, learning the empathise with the other’s way of working.

The introvert and the extrovert

This is a risk. At times the introvert is going to get really annoyed with the extrovert, but actually it’s a pretty healthy combo. Extroverts have an amazing way with stakeholders who require constant comms from design, and can keep their energy whilst doing that. Introverts, on the other hand, will get burnt out by anything akin to micro-management and might shy away from stakeholder or team engagement. The extrovert provides a brilliant flak-shield or translation service between the introvert designer, who just wants to do his or her work, and the other humans.

The junior and the vet’. The knight and the padawan.

Every Luke Skywalker needs a Yoda. Every Robin needs a Batman. Pairing a designer who is new to your organisation with a more long-in-the-tooth team member accelerates the ‘bedding-in’ time between somebody starting, and becoming a designer you can confidently send in to a project alone.