Everyone is a Designer, So Know How to Think Like One

by DSN Editors

DSN Edge is a video-driven platform that catalyzes happiness and performance in professional environments by cultivating leadership, creativity, and self-knowledge. Learn more about DSN Edge.

Everything is designed and everyone is a designer, says David Butler, VP of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at The Coca-Cola Company. The only choice is whether you're designing on purpose (or by accident) and whether your designs are good (or less-than-good). Here are some observations that lead inevitably to Butler's big conclusion, that it's essential to learn to think like a designer, making connections work for you instead of against you.

1. Everything is designed. The chair you're sitting in now, or the standing desk you're at, or the train car you're riding in. And how something is designed depends on its purpose, at least in part. Some chairs offer lower back support (good chair) and some don't (less-than-good chair).

2. Everyone is a designer. Whatever your responsibilities are in work or in life, you shape how you respond to them. And chances are that people are interacting with your work, meaning your design will make the information or product more approachable, more comfortable, etc. or it will obscure your original intent.

3. Design is about connection. Butler compares good design to a restaurant, any one of which has a thousand moving parts. How does the kitchen interact with the wait staff? How does the space create an easy-in, easy-out experience for the customer? Connecting the different parts as seamlessly as possible is what makes good design great.

Organize by Design: How to Think Like a Designer is available exclusively at DSN Edge.