"This article won't start out well, because I'm sort of at rock bottom in my career and it seems that I'm projecting my frustrations of the industry out in the open. But I promise you, my rants are merely neutral observations and opinions. I love talking to people, and over the last 2 months of unemployment (I am now employed), I called upon designer friends all in Asia and Europe"
"to get their opinion on the current state of Design leadership and how it has impacted our careers. Spoiler alert: It ain't great. Hence the article. We seem to have found ourselves in an era where clout matters more than productivity, and when Design's productivity and impact is questioned, we somehow re-direct that discomfort and blame our Engineering and Product counterparts (or other happenings in the industry) for not enabling us to be more productive."
Designers across Asia and Europe report that leadership increasingly values clout over measurable productivity. Many designers experienced career instability and sought peer perspectives during unemployment. Design productivity and impact face frequent questioning, prompting a pattern of redirecting blame toward Engineering, Product teams, external industry changes, or emerging technologies like AI. Common deflections include claims of not touching code, not making business decisions, or invoking AI as a threat. Such dynamics erode accountability within design teams and contribute to frustration, stalled career growth, and strained cross-functional collaboration.
Read at Medium
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