DESIGNERS HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE THE WORLD, HERE IS HOW…
If you asked a person of any profession, “why are you in this profession?” It is not abnormal to get the response, “to change the world”. People find a sense of fulfilment in knowing that whatever little thing they are doing from their little corner of the world is part of a larger collective that will bring about some sort of change. While most people hold on to this optimistic change, designers have the power to change the world literally and sometimes, drastically.
Designers See The World Differently
Sandip Paul, an internationally acclaimed product designer, In his Tedx talk said, “I see things that don’t exist but can.” Designers see the world for everything that it is but think of everything it could be and dare to shape it to what it should be, one design at a time.
Before 1892, the order of things was that people brewed their coffee and drank it immediately to enjoy it best at its hot temperature. Everyone was used to it and there was no problem. But Sir James Dewer thought it could be possible to store his brewed coffee and come back to it at the same temperature hours later. So he went ahead to design the vacuum flask. The concept of storage in our world today has been totally altered, food, drinks and other edible things can retain their coldness or hotness because Dewer saw something that didn’t exist but could.
Designers’ Curiosity Changes The World
Before Mark Zuckerberg became a social media superstar, he was a simple web designer. Facebook was birthed from curiosity, “ what if we didn’t have to lose touch with people… What if there was a way to connect people without them being physically present?” and he went on to design and create Facebook. This curiosity led to the dawn of the social media era. The world basically transformed, a lot of people’s livelihoods are dependent on social media and this was as a result of a designer’s little “what if?”
Designers Understand That Perfection is a Myth
The idea that nothing is perfect leaves room for designers to seek out imperfections and correct them. Even the concept of design thinking that requires designers to design according to people’s needs validates this because with time people change and so do their preferences. So what seemed perfect a few years ago may now be obsolete and require an upgrade. That is why it’s not unusual to see designers redesign an already existing app, website or physical product in order to improve them. Designers create a new order and set trends for the rest of the world to follow.
