Tools Like InVision Studio Are Redefining the Role of Design

Just over a week ago, InVision announced the launch of Studio, an end-to-end platform for creating digital experiences that looks to be one of the most dramatic leaps forward in design tools to date. While I’m just as interested as the next designer to try it out, I read something in a recent interview with InVision’s CEO, Clark Valberg, that I found even more compelling. When asked about the team’s benchmark for developing and testing Studio, he said “[We would pick] out a big-name website such as Airbnb or Pinterest, and [see] if we could redesign those sites from scratch using Studio, in 1/10th the time it might take to use Sketch, Framer, and InVision. We think we’ve reached that mark.”

While this news undoubtedly triggered a resounding “huzzah!” from designers around the web, it begs the question — if this new tool gives us 90% of our day back, what do we do with all that time?

In 1930, one of the world’s most influential economists, John Maynard Keynes, composed a short essay titled “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren.” In it, Keynes imagined what the world would look like in the following century. By 2030, he predicted, the standard of life would be so improved — thanks to advancements in automated technologies — that future generations would benefit in the form of a 15-hour work week. While his prophecy of technology’s impact on efficiency would turn out to be accurate, the part about a shorter work week hasn’t exactly panned out for most of us.

(It didn’t pan out so well for Keynes either. Eighteen years after he published his famous essay, he died of a heart attack — “exhausted by the strain of the International Monetary Conference at Savannah, GA,” as his obituary read. He literally worked himself to death.)

The lesson here? Efficiencies that arrive with new technology do not always result in a decrease in workload, but, as we’ve seen time and again, a redefinition of existing roles. So, for designers, how does a hypothetical 90% increase in efficiency redefine our work?

What this means for designers

Traditionally, design has been defined in terms of how things look and feel; its success measured in beautifully crafted interfaces and engaging experiences — the aspects of a product that communicate its core message and help it stand out from the competition. Over time, our tools have become quite good at helping designers define how these features of a product are meant to be experienced. But features are only a small part of what makes a product successful.

At every product’s core there is a why; a reason the product exists. The ability to effectively answer the why is what ultimately determines the product’s success in the market.

Finding the why requires a large group of diverse ideas, and a system to quickly test their viability. Design Sprints have become the de facto process for capturing and testing these ideas, but until recently the tooling has struggled to keep pace. As tools like Studio get more sophisticated, designers become better equipped to increase the speed and fidelity with which ideas can be realized. This ability to take an idea from abstract prose to something concrete and measurable at a fraction of the time allows us to better forecast the impact ideas will have on the success of a business. In this way, design starts to look a lot like product thinking — a process for uncovering, learning, and finding out which ideas work.

Design is no longer just defining a product’s aesthetic, but determining if a product should exist at all. These new efficiencies move design into an area of the product development process where it can help better inform the company’s strategy. The ability to do this effectively provides a huge competitive advantage to organizations.

What this means for businesses

These advancements could not have come at a better time. More and more, we’re seeing company leadership taking note of the vital role that design plays in an organization’s success.

This cultural shift is in large part due to creatives at IDEO, d.school, and the like, who have been showing the positive effects design can have on businesses for years. Today, these cultural ripples can be felt across virtually all industries — over the last 10 years, design-led companies have outperformed the S&P by an astounding 211% according to The Design Management Institute, and just last year NEA’s annual survey points to how design is reshaping organizational structures. Of the over 400 companies NEA surveyed, 85% of them have founders or C-level executives who weigh in on design decisions, and 31% have a design founder.

It’s clear to see that today’s businesses are no longer approaching design as merely a service within an organization — a discrete, siloed consideration to be made after the business objective has been defined. Increasingly, it’s being seen as a critical part of the definition process itself.

What this means for the future

When I see the rate at which our tools advance, I’m reminded of a quote from designer and developer Anand Agarawala, who said “we’re in the “cave-painting” era of computer interfaces.” As tools advance, it’s easy to lose sight of just how far we’ve come — in only a few years we’ve moved from repurposed graphic design and photo editing software to tools that can move us seamlessly through the entire product development process. We’re moving increasingly towards a world where technology is no longer an impediment to ideas. (Just recently, Airbnb’s design team announced an audacious goal of getting the “time required to test an idea to zero” using their AI design software, which turns hand-drawn sketches into mocks.)

But, with all the shiny new features and marketing that goes into these product launches, it’s easy to forget that design tools are just that — tools. As they advance, they allow us to better focus on the core of what makes products meaningful to their users. 90% of our day back means more time discovering the solutions that solve customer’s needs; more time solving the big problems at the core of every business.

Or, fuck it, maybe it just means more free time for Minecraft…

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