I enjoyed this podcast where two design managers talked about the state of the industry. They speak, correctly, of the primacy of consultative work, and the consultative imperative within design:

But in the last couple of years, not that the business has been super healthy for design firms, but if you, as a designer, especially coming out of school or earlier in your career, if you as a designer can get a job in a consulting environment you will feel better about your work. I just think that has now become true again. You’ll feel better about your work. You’ll be able to do better work. You’ll be able to engage in your practice with more depth and rigor. On the flip side, you’ll probably get paid less.

Designers get into their field in order to have an impact. And you can only have an impact if you manage to leverage your power. There are only two ways to do this: work in an organization that is run by a designer, where design is given the power to perform its work correctly; or consult.

They get sort of close to discussing power:

Now I want to do a follow up bit of research and try to unpack the power dynamic and see how that plays out in this.

This is fascinating to me, because my entire job is about power dynamics. And I’d like to think I practice design for a living! I’ve spent four years talking about how design is fundamentally a question of power dynamics.

Let’s talk about the “paid less” bit above. Because they exist within a feast-or-famine dynamic, and because value-based work has a high margin, agencies shave a lot in profit before they get to your payroll. I know many designers who have taken one look at what the agency charges clients, quit, and started their own agencies in response.

Again we turn to consultative work, and to power, but now within the agency dynamic. As designers embrace value-based work and grow in their careers, they become more likely to either land in senior roles in consultancies, or – more likely – start one themselves. That allows them to have power both ways: power within their own job, and power within the projects that they perform for others.

The goal, of course, is to consciously envision the future. That’s the point of design. You listen, respond, make it easy for people, and in doing so you improve the world. It’s a fun job – if you’re given the leverage to do it right.