Designing as a Vision, Not a Profession
Once upon a time, so the old story goes, a lone traveler came upon three men working together among a pile of stones. Curious, he interrupted their work: “What are you doing?” he asked the first man. Without looking up, the first man replied, “I’m cutting stones.” Now the traveler, confused, looked to the second, who nodded toward the stones and told him, “Ah, I’m making a wall.” Still unsatisfied, the traveler turned to the third man, who replied, arm to the heavens, “But can’t you see? We’re building a cathedral.”
This story is helpful in illustrating what it means to be a successful designer today. But before we get into the exposition of the story and its application, let's take a look at the connection between the roles of the stonemason of yesterday and the designer of today.
Building on the past
Stonemasons, one of the earliest trades, have been trusted to build some of the most impressive and long-lasting monuments to civilizations. Specifically, during medieval times, stonemasons built cathedrals and churches across Western Europe, resulting from the religious resurgence of the 12th century. Centuries later, many of their buildings still stand, an enduring testament to their work.
It's not hard to draw the connection between the stonemason and the designer. The medieval mason was not a monk but a highly skilled lay craftsman who combined the roles of an architect, builder, designer, and engineer. Comparing that to the designer, I couldn't help but think of inventor and visionary Buckminster Fuller's quote, “A designer is an emerging synthesis of artist, inventor, mechanic, objective economist and evolutionary strategist.” Both roles require their practitioners to be a bit of a polymath. To further draw the connection, stonemasons often carved a personal symbol onto their block to differentiate their work from that of other stonemasons — continuing the heritage of branding into a new era.
Now that we have a shared understanding of a stonemason and a designer's identity, let's examine their actions and attitudes in relation to the traveler so that we might better understand what it means to be a successful designer.
The stonecutter (creates beautiful things)
The skills of a master stone cutter are revered. For centuries, we've admired their handiwork. Their carved foliage, figures, or animals have been on display in the stone of some of the world's most visited attractions and have been cemented in history and for future generations beyond the stone itself through photographs and drawings.
Creating highly desirable, finite objects, whether they be physical or digital—carved stones, logos, websites, dresses, or lounge chairs—is a skill that few possess. While design has been around for centuries, for example, it wasn’t until 1922 that “graphic design” was coined to represent the emerging field. Since then, the success of its practitioners, interior, fashion, apparel, etc. has increasingly and inextricably been linked to the beauty of its solutions. As a result, the stone cutter is often where the general, accepted idea of working as a designer stops. The public sees designers as the makers of beautiful things. And they aren't completely in the wrong for thinking that; many designers support their assumptions by marking their identity as stone cutters themselves.
Now, to be fair, we need designers who are great craftspeople—there is immense value in creating beautiful things. And there are people, like myself, who purchase items based on how something looks or works. But it's not where the designer's influence should end.
An easily overlooked but critical aspect of the story above is how each of these roles demonstrates their perspective and attitude through their actions toward the traveler. As the story points out, the first stone mason answered the question without lifting his head from his work. He was so immersed in creating the perfect stone that he missed the larger context and chance to connect the traveler with more than the surface-level appearance — mainly, how his work will affect future parishioners, guests, and architectural critics for years to come.
Being a great designer is more than simply creating beautiful objects. It's not solely art; it's helping organizations achieve their goals.
The wall builder (fits things together)
Confused from speaking with the first stone mason, the traveler turns to the second. Unlike the stone cutter, the wall builder looked up and used body language to convey that his work had a larger purpose. Nodding his head toward the arranged stones, he began to paint a broader vision of why he was there and the impact he was creating by organizing individual pieces into a more meaningful solution.
I find the wall builder to be the role most designers adopt. They can see beyond individual objects or touchpoints and into how their work supports the client and fulfills the brief/client problem. They go beyond creating beautiful solutions and into the impact of those touchpoints, tying into the larger problem it solves. In effect, like individual stones fit together to create a wall that supports a structure, being able to see how our work lives within and supports a larger system is a critical skill for designers to embody and practice.
Often, the biggest setback is designers, who act as wall builders, cannot see the solution beyond themselves. They do great work and know how to organize information to fit into a larger purpose, but they don’t take the opportunity to implement anything beyond their role. The second stone mason replies, “I’m making a wall.” He tells the traveler what he, and only he, is doing.
Unfortunately, the wall builder is the role most organizations assign to the design agencies they partner with. They need to patch a hole or build a new wall and look for partners who can do that exact thing. If you're an organization that wants more effective agency partnerships, go beyond providing the problem, packaged up and ready for a design agency to "work their magic." Give them access to teams and information that may otherwise seem strange or uncomfortable. Be comfortable with changing the scope of work during the process. Recognize that design isn't the output; it's the process.
The traveler was unsatiated with the wall builder's answer. He didn't see how it impacted what he was interested in or cared about or how he, as an outsider, might fit into the larger story.
I believe design has more power than being used for simply building walls.
The visionary (shapes the world around them)
Still unsatisfied, the traveler turns a final time to the third stone mason. His response shows that he recognizes the traveler still has an unmet need that he could help satisfy. He proves that he’s approaching this differently and demonstrates this in three different ways.
Arm to the heavens...
The third stone mason possessed a vision of what could be. He motioned with his body to change the traveler's perspective from what is today (dirt, stones, rubble) to what could be in the future (expansive heavens) with his arm toward the endless, expansive sky. Then, he began to share the specifics that it was a cathedral.
"But can't you see?"
For the stone mason, the vision was clear as day. He could see it and had ownership of it. In this case, it was a cathedral, but it didn't matter what the solution was. He cared about the outcome. And he was going to do everything in his power to ensure that every decision he made created the best possible outcome.
We’re building a wall
The first two stone masons told the traveler what they were doing as individuals but failed to connect their work to anything beyond themselves. It wasn’t until the third who connected to the larger efforts of the group.
He had given up seeing his role as a stone cutter or a wall builder and, instead, was a visionary. What separates a visionary from a wall builder? It's about embracing a different perspective.
We’ve talked a lot about the stone masons. Let’s connect that back to operating as a successful designer today. Like the visionary in László Moholy-Nagy's book, Vision in Motion, he argues that designing is not a profession but an attitude. He writes:
The idea of design and the profession of the designer has to be transformed from the notion of a specialist function into a generally valid attitude of resourcefulness and inventiveness, which allows projects to be seen not in isolation but in relationship with the need of the individual and the community. Ultimately, all problems of design merge into one great problem: ‘design for life.’ In a healthy society, this design for life will encourage every profession and location to play its part since the degree of relatedness to their work gives to any civilization its quality. (Vision in Motion, 1947)
There are two key elements to being an effective visionary/designer.
One: Have empathy for others
It starts with care. You cannot be an effective designer if you do not care. Care about what other people’s needs are: what are they trying to do, to learn, or where they are trying to make progress but can’t. Care about creating the best experience for people. This includes your team, your client and their team, and the people you’re designing solutions with or for. This isn't easy—more often than not, it's balancing competing tensions of efficiency, budgets, business objectives, etc., to find the most appropriate solution.
In a world with so many people in need, we must start by caring about people and their needs.
"Design can't be just the art of making beautiful objects. It has to be the act of making life better for those in need." Joe Gebbia - Chief Product Officer and CoFounder, Airbnb
Two: Choose to affect change
To effectively operate as a visionary, you must believe that nothing is sacred and everything can be changed. Circling back to Moholy-Nagy’s paraphrase, when you adopt designing as an attitude, you see design as a tool to help make sense of what is happening and turn things toward your advantage.
Although it can apply to stone cutting or wall building, the real power comes from understanding that it isn’t limited to those tasks alone. This applies to shaping the vision, processes, relationships, scopes of work, etc. Like the visionary, successful designers believe their task is to create the best outcome, and by doing so they see every decision and task as an opportunity to point to that.
I see this role the least often, but the impact, when harnessed, is the greatest. When people embrace seeing the whole picture and own their work and the broader vision, change begins to happen.
Creating a Broader Impact
The story ends with the third stone mason’s response. And maybe that’s for the best in proving the author’s point. But I'd like to imagine the traveler continued on his journey, telling each passerby, expanding the awareness and impact that a beautiful cathedral was coming, inspired by what he’d heard.
Maybe you're not working on a high-profile project where it's easy to highlight your success. It doesn't matter how large the project is or even how impressive the impact is; what matters is how engaged you are with choosing to affect change. The most effective designers and strategists — nay people — I've worked with have operated at all three levels.
Over the last several years, design’s influence has grown; designers have a seat at the proverbial table, and the world is beginning to embrace design's importance. The question is, to make the most of the opportunity we’ve been given, do we, as designers, still see designing as a profession or a vision?