Over the last few years, design is increasingly seen as a tool for creating change. -Sami Nerenberg on Core 77
We've had it with the word change. As designers, we need to stop thinking everything needs fixing. Change is a loaded term that implies "it's broken" before we even begin a project. It's a sure fire way to alienate people who already make things without a designer. If designers want to succeed in a business environment, we had better make ourselves approachable.
Great design is about focus and innovation— which means building on top of things that already exist and refining the details. Innovation is evolutionary in nature. Change on the other hand implies that we're starting over, doing something different or approaching the problem from the beginning.
Evolving an idea and changing it are two different things. Most designers are too inexperienced to understand how to make this distinction. Heck, anyone can change something, but it's very difficult to hunker down into the details and figure out why a particular problem only needs tweaks.
Sami is right, design thinking is a great tool to solve tough business problems. But let's stop trying to change everything.
