It’s about what value you bring to the table

We had a meetup yesterday on the subjects; What is design and what does a designer do. In my business, which is digital services and products, there’s a plethora of roles and titles that designers have. I’m not going to name them but if you’re in the same business as me you probably heard many of them. Digital products and service development are huge areas some might say. Therefor the roles are necessary to describe what a designer does.

The thing is, these roles are hard to define and comprehend.

And if the roles designers have are confusing even to other designers, imagine how it might be to your non-designer colleagues or even worse your clients.

It doesn’t make things any less confusing when the interaction designer says:

Well, I’m a interaction designer but I can give your logo a re-do while we’re at it.

Maybe I’m out of my element here. It might just be me and my lack of deeper theoretical understanding but wouldn’t it be sweeter if we talked in terms like: I’m a designer, I can make your shit look good and match your outdated visual identity or I’m a designer, I can make sure your website is easy to use because I will test it on fucking real people.

One last thing…

Doctors might have titles like Cardiologist or Oncologist, but it’s not like they just put those titles on their LinkedIn account and then tell their patients:

Well, I’m a Cardiologist but I can fix that fractured arm of yours while we’re at it.