28 Feb 2025
All right, buckle up. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: design is not a role; it's a function. Actually, scratch that; design is a fundamental approach to solving real-world problems. And if that definition makes you uncomfortable, good. Welcome to my world.
Right now, the design function is in full-blown crisis mode. Not a little bump in the road—this is a multi-car pileup. Mass layoffs, designers stressed about losing their seat at the table, and AI coming for everyone's lunch money. Almost every organisation out there is too busy chasing shiny tech to notice.
For this word salad, I'll focus on the automotive industry, which is the perfect example of wasted effort and potential.
Instead of focusing on the core principle of mobility—getting people and things from A to B as safely, efficiently, and effortlessly as possible—designers are off building rolling iPads. Most of them are obsessed with screens, digital life integrations, and solving questions nobody asked.
Here's the thing: Mobility is not [and never was] about how big your dashboard screen is. It's not about turning your car into a TikTok studio or letting you doom-scroll while parked. Mobility is about movement—about getting from one place to another with as little friction as possible. And that friction isn't solved by slapping a 15-inch display on the dashboard and calling it innovation.
I need to pause for a second. What the hell is going on with showing a picture of the vehicle you are sitting in on a screen inside the car? Or worse, stock images of forests and beaches?
When did we decide that the car's job is to entertain us, integrate our digital lives, and add more noise to an already chaotic world? Who did this?
Isn't our digital life our primary source of anxiety? Our primary source of distractions fueled by addiction?
This endeavour is a dangerous diversion of talent, time, and resources. All our efforts could be serving a better purpose.
Imagine this: What if you could get into your car alone or with your family, and the only time you'd have to press the brake is when you reach your destination? A world where the vehicle and the infrastructure are so well-aligned that driving becomes a seamless, safe experience with no sudden stops, anxiety, or distractions.
Right now, the automotive industry perpetuates this absurd contest of who can shove more tech into a car while the real issues—safety, efficiency, and reducing road clutter—take a backseat.
Look around: our roads are clogged with cars that spend most of their lives parked, occupying valuable space, and rusting away. The average car is nothing more than an expensive piece of tech parked in front of your house. Is this the pinnacle of modern mobility? Well, it shouldn't be.
Oh, and one more thing: while designers are busy crafting digital experiences that distract drivers, they're also wondering why they're losing their seat at the table.
I tell you why: when design becomes about adding features rather than solving fundamental problems, you become a luxury, not a necessity.
When we stop talking about fundamentals, we are forgotten. Our design solutions are challenged and dismissed, and we are forced into a corner, losing our power and influence.
Design is not about building an echo chamber of design for design's sake. It's about creating products and experiences that resonate with the real world, where people live, work, and drive. It's about challenging the status quo, not decorating it.
I can't stress this enough. When you build a strong foundation, you give your function/role/work meaning. That meaning is harder to dismiss, and the effects of a meaningful design decision have ripple effects. It has consequences, and it generates value downstream and upstream, in every direction.
If we want design to be taken seriously, we must stop discussing superficial things like visual design systems and start discussing foundations and principles. We must stop asking, "What else can my car do?" and ask, "How can we make mobility smarter, safer, and more efficient for everyone?"
What I'm seeing is a distracted cohort of lovely people who lack focus on fundamentals, principles that not only guide their work but also give meaning to their function within organisations.
I'll close by saying how I started: We don't need more. We need better.
And if design as a function can't deliver that, what the hell are we even doing?
Right now, the design function is in full-blown crisis mode. Not a little bump in the road—this is a multi-car pileup. Mass layoffs, designers stressed about losing their seat at the table, and AI coming for everyone's lunch money. Almost every organisation out there is too busy chasing shiny tech to notice.
For this word salad, I'll focus on the automotive industry, which is the perfect example of wasted effort and potential.
Instead of focusing on the core principle of mobility—getting people and things from A to B as safely, efficiently, and effortlessly as possible—designers are off building rolling iPads. Most of them are obsessed with screens, digital life integrations, and solving questions nobody asked.
Here's the thing: Mobility is not [and never was] about how big your dashboard screen is. It's not about turning your car into a TikTok studio or letting you doom-scroll while parked. Mobility is about movement—about getting from one place to another with as little friction as possible. And that friction isn't solved by slapping a 15-inch display on the dashboard and calling it innovation.
I need to pause for a second. What the hell is going on with showing a picture of the vehicle you are sitting in on a screen inside the car? Or worse, stock images of forests and beaches?
When did we decide that the car's job is to entertain us, integrate our digital lives, and add more noise to an already chaotic world? Who did this?
Isn't our digital life our primary source of anxiety? Our primary source of distractions fueled by addiction?
This endeavour is a dangerous diversion of talent, time, and resources. All our efforts could be serving a better purpose.
Imagine this: What if you could get into your car alone or with your family, and the only time you'd have to press the brake is when you reach your destination? A world where the vehicle and the infrastructure are so well-aligned that driving becomes a seamless, safe experience with no sudden stops, anxiety, or distractions.
Right now, the automotive industry perpetuates this absurd contest of who can shove more tech into a car while the real issues—safety, efficiency, and reducing road clutter—take a backseat.
Look around: our roads are clogged with cars that spend most of their lives parked, occupying valuable space, and rusting away. The average car is nothing more than an expensive piece of tech parked in front of your house. Is this the pinnacle of modern mobility? Well, it shouldn't be.
Oh, and one more thing: while designers are busy crafting digital experiences that distract drivers, they're also wondering why they're losing their seat at the table.
I tell you why: when design becomes about adding features rather than solving fundamental problems, you become a luxury, not a necessity.
When we stop talking about fundamentals, we are forgotten. Our design solutions are challenged and dismissed, and we are forced into a corner, losing our power and influence.
Design is not about building an echo chamber of design for design's sake. It's about creating products and experiences that resonate with the real world, where people live, work, and drive. It's about challenging the status quo, not decorating it.
I can't stress this enough. When you build a strong foundation, you give your function/role/work meaning. That meaning is harder to dismiss, and the effects of a meaningful design decision have ripple effects. It has consequences, and it generates value downstream and upstream, in every direction.
If we want design to be taken seriously, we must stop discussing superficial things like visual design systems and start discussing foundations and principles. We must stop asking, "What else can my car do?" and ask, "How can we make mobility smarter, safer, and more efficient for everyone?"
What I'm seeing is a distracted cohort of lovely people who lack focus on fundamentals, principles that not only guide their work but also give meaning to their function within organisations.
I'll close by saying how I started: We don't need more. We need better.
And if design as a function can't deliver that, what the hell are we even doing?
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