Campfire #37: The more senior the designer — the more abstract the problem they should be solving

Not all designers are equal at problem-solving. There are a few levels of designers and problems they can solve.

The design has been going through a shift over the last decade under the headline of design thinking. People are becoming more aware of the power of design to solve problems.

When it comes to solving (business) problems, the way designers think is an excellent addition to traditional business thinking, mainly when dealing with problems that necessitate navigating uncertainty in complicated situations.

However, not all designers are equal at problem-solving. There are a few levels of designers and problems they can solve.

For example, junior designers usually take things too precise – implementing the exact requirements provided to them. Senior designers, at the same time, are not only problem-solvers but problem-finders.

The more senior the designer — the more abstract the problem they should be solving

Here’s how I think about the levels of designers and the problems they solve.

Designer Lvl 1

A task you give to a designer at this level might look like this:

Design a form that lets people edit their profiles.

Pretty scoped — assumes there is a profile and that the solution takes the shape of a form.

Designer Lvl 2:

Design the best interface for users to edit their profiles.

The solution could be a form, a WYSIWYG inline editor, or a modal window.

Designer Lvl 3 (broad):

Design a system for editing across everything — profiles, posts, settings, etc.

Now we’re not just profiles; the editing system should be flexible enough to work across the entire app.

Designer Lvl 3 (deep):

Design a way to get users to want to update their profiles.

Here, the question the designer is asking is why users should update their profiles. And when? And how to best convey the value proposition?

Designer Lvl 4:

Design a solution to increase the authenticity of users in your app.

Maybe editing profiles isn’t even the right thing to focus on for our ultimate goal; maybe a peer-review system would be better.

Designer Lvl 5:

Identify the biggest product problem with your app/company/site and design a solution.

At the highest level, the best designers drive the vision for a product.

The best designers can also see that design as operational (beauty), tactical (problem-solving), and strategic (problem-finding). The core thing to consider is the connection between the levels: finding the right problem, solving it well, and making it look good.

Declaring that design is problem-solving ignores the other two components. So design is a combination of all of the above levels.

All three parts are essential and should function in tandem. Making it look good is extremely important. Things that look nice perform better. However, you risk simply polishing the surface of a wrong solution. You must also come up with a solution that solves the problem correctly.

However, if you solve the wrong problem, it will not work. To develop the best solution, you must first thoroughly understand the question at hand.

Designers' solutions will have far more impact if they use the question-finding mindset.