From Trolls to Magicians: A Guide to the Different Designer Personalities
Throughout my career, I have observed certain archetypes of fellow designers. While the rockstar designer is a commonly known persona, there are many more to be aware of. As a fan of board games, I decided to portray some of these archetypes using mythic races and creatures. Although this exercise is more for fun than for practical use, I hope you find it entertaining and recognize some of your colleagues. This applies to other roles, by the way.
Army of darkness
If these individuals are on your team, you may be in trouble. If you recognize this situation, don’t hesitate to create a plan to either turn them to the “light side” or part ways with them.
Designer dragon
Designer dragons are passionate about their work and are always looking for ways to improve. However, their passion can sometimes lead to conflicts with other team members. They may become defensive when their ideas are challenged and push back against feedback. Despite this, they are valuable members of the team, as they have a strong drive to create high-quality work.
Your secret weapon: a strong and supportive team culture. Encourage open communication and establish a process for giving and receiving feedback. Help the designer dragon understand that feedback is meant to improve the project, not attack their ideas.
Designer troll
The design troll undermines every project they work on. They either lack the ability or the desire to do things correctly. Despite the catastrophic results that often follow, you can meet them at every level of design career. Thankfully, they are a rare breed, and I’ve only encountered a couple throughout my career.
Everyone can be a bit of a troll from time to time. Your secret weapon is a progress tracker. You need to have your own laboratory to distinguish a troll from a young apprentice. If you are 100% sure that you are dealing with a troll, fire them.
Designer vampire
Vampires can take many forms: they can be a guy bombarding you with questions, someone who summons everyone to a meeting room for every sneeze, one trying to fix what’s not broken and do something completely outside of their duties and responsibilities, or whoever posting excessively in a team channel. These individuals steal your attention and time for something that isn’t really important and doesn’t move the needle.
Your secret weapon: establishing clear rules and promoting transparency. Ensure that you are not a bottleneck and that team members are free to ask questions. Build a shield with a design playbook to answer their questions and align with the team on collaboration principles.
Designer living dead
There are two types of individuals in this scenario. The first type comprises possessed souls who are trapped under a spell. You may observe them responding to client messages at midnight or all day long surrounded by developers seeking design tweaks. They may even be aware that something is amiss. But they don’t know or can’t allow themselves to push back. Your best course of action is to intervene and break the spell by standardizing the processes and taking charge of communication. Otherwise, your colleagues may become the second type: burnout souls. Although it is your duty to prevent this, life can be unpredictable. Sometimes, it is best to part ways before experiencing discouraging outcomes.
Your secret weapon: foster good relationships with your peers and receive honest feedback, cultivate an atmosphere of trust where designers feel comfortable sharing their problems. Additionally, focus on describing what is working well and what is not producing desired outcomes.
Designer werewolf
Designer werewolves are moody and unpredictable. They may work effectively for a few days or weeks, only to suddenly become unresponsive or disengaged. They love to measure other hats and turn into developers, PMs, marketers, HRs but not in a constructive way. It makes them similar to designer vampires: they drain your power and diminish attention span.
Your secret weapon: establishing clear expectations and deadlines for each task. Encourage the designer werewolf to communicate any issues they encounter and work with them to find ways to stay engaged and motivated throughout the project.
Designer orc
These guys often equate design with UI design, and disregard other aspects of the profession. While they value their craft, their aspirations are geared towards big and challenging projects. If such projects are not offered, they may become uncooperative, leading to mediocre results at best. Additionally, design orcs tend to challenge everything at times, often in an unconstructive manner. It is difficult to earn their respect if you are not as skilled in the craft as they are.
Your secret weapon: gain authority in any way. If you can’t leverage their strengths for some reason, find a way to balance freedom and formalization of requirements to ensure quality results and prevent them from delivering sub-par work.
Allies (or enemies)
Finally, we are on the light side. However, it is too early to relax because none of the people below are on your side by default.
Designer dwarf
Designer dwarfs are meticulous and detail-oriented, focusing on every aspect of a project to ensure that it meets high standards. They may become frustrated when other team members do not share their attention to detail, and may struggle to meet deadlines as a result. However, they are valuable team members who can catch small errors and ensure that a project is polished and well-executed.
Your secret weapon: establish clear timelines and deadlines for each phase of the project. Encourage the designer dwarf to communicate any concerns or issues they encounter during the process, and work with them to prioritize tasks and manage their workload effectively.
Designer elf
Design elves are the dreamers of the team, often coming up with wild and creative ideas that push the boundaries of what is possible. They can be difficult to work with at times, as their ideas may not always be feasible or practical. However, they bring a unique perspective to the team and can inspire others to think outside of the box. Elves are known as design purists who may struggle with altering design processes or changing the way they work with tools.
Your secret weapon: establish a process for evaluating ideas and prioritizing projects. Encourage the design elf to share their ideas and collaborate with the team to refine them into workable solutions. Help them understand the constraints and limitations of the project, while also giving them the freedom to explore new possibilities.
Designer fairy
Designer fairies are the multi-talented members of the team. They have a broad range of skills and can contribute to many different aspects of a project. However, they may struggle to focus on a single task and may become overwhelmed by the demands of the project. They are at their best when they are given the freedom to explore and experiment, but may need guidance to stay on track.
Your secret weapon: establish clear project goals and deadlines. Encourage the designer fairy to share their ideas and collaborate with the team, but also provide structure and guidance to help them stay focused.
Design magician
Design magicians are the problem solvers of the team. They have a knack for finding innovative solutions to complex problems and can often see possibilities that others miss. However, they may struggle to communicate their ideas effectively and may become frustrated when others don’t understand their vision.
Your secret weapon: establish clear communication channels and encourage open dialogue. Help the design magician to articulate their ideas and collaborate with the team to refine them into practical solutions. Provide opportunities for them to showcase their problem-solving skills and recognize their contributions to the team.
In conclusion, I hope you found this article entertaining and perhaps even recognized some of your colleagues in these design “mythical creatures.” While this exercise is not meant to be taken 100% seriously, I do believe that it can be helpful to think about the different personalities and traits that can exist within a design team. By understanding these archetypes, we can work to build stronger teams, support our colleagues, and create better designs.
