The changing role of designers in transition processes

Abstract

In the last twenty years, design research and design practice have mutually influenced each other in rethinking the role of design in an increasingly complex world. New areas, for example, service design, systemic design, and transition design have emerged out of this research-practice interaction. With the rise of these new fields, designers have developed new skills, new responsibilities, a different sense of agency, and, sometimes, a new mindset. This is especially the case for transition design, a field that deals with design processes over longer periods of time and that requires close collaboration with multiple other disciplines, exposing the need to reflect on the role and agency of the designer. In this research, ten design practitioners in the Flemish design agency landscape were interviewed to gain a deeper insight into the skills and mindset designers need today and in the future. During these interviews, the time was taken to thoroughly discuss agency in the design process, the changing relationship between client and service provider, and the concept and consequences of transdisciplinarity. This resulted in an overview of the changing characteristics of design and designers regarding their soft and design skills, their role & ethics when dealing with complexity, the business model of design agencies and changes in the design process and team. With the insights from this research, we invite design education researchers to reflect on design education addressing our complex world. Besides training designers how to design, they could teach them about the world in which design exists and is implemented. Additionally, the results could motivate service providers to rethink the composition of their teams, their relationship with the clients, and their business strategy, so they will be fully prepared to navigate through the rapid transitions of our current and future world.