Who The Designer Is?

From Mobilize: Dancing In The World... page 75:

Everyone acts in ways that can be understood as designing. Some take on design as a profession, and some of them end up designing fundamental new human practices. Many of those that I understand as designers – perhaps most – do not understand themselves as designers. Rather they think of themselves as innovators, entrepreneurs, or simply people who had the fortune to do some things that changed their profession, their company, or their industry. Some designers understand themselves in terms of the things they design, and others understand themselves as actors on the fulcrum of history.

Many years ago I was speaking with a software designer about his then-current passion for computer graphics. I asked him why he was so focused on the graphics, and he answered, “I just like it.” I challenged and teased him, insisting, “You’re pretending to be shallow, and you are kidding yourself. Graphics are important because they allow us to catch and shape people’s attention. Building more skill with graphics will make you a better designer of people.” As a shy, Western Canadian, Protestant male, he brushed away the challenge – deflected, not ignored.  On the other hand, he went on to design the most important computer language of our time -- Java. The deep structure of the designer’s involvement in the world of design often is not readily accessible even to brilliant designers themselves. Yet even the best designers are more effective when these relationships are more accessible.

The distinctive character of the designer shapes each design that affects us, and at the same time, the designer is shaped by his/her inventions. Successful designs shape those for whom they are designed. The designs alter people’s worlds, how they understand those worlds and the character and possibilities of inhabiting those worlds. Let’s take only one example: the most extraordinary invention of our era: networked computers. The Internet, personal computer, word processor, and electronic communication tools of our world have changed who I am (and who each of us is), for better and for worse, and are leading our children into a way of being we/they can hardly imagine.