When I first started in design, I would sit at the table and get a client brief, and they would frequently ask me for the iPod of X. (I’m old, thanks.) Later, I would watch as clients asked for other Apple devices, or for their product to be “like Apple.”

This is external design leadership, affecting the broader world. You’re a company known for design, and your design is broadly desirable, so those who buy design want to seem cool and hence similar to your thing.

Back then, Apple were design leaders internally, too, in our own industry. When they launched new features, the industry followed. When they offered interface guidelines, we all listened. When they put out new redesigns of their software, we redesigned our own software, too – not only to follow the normative context of their platform, but also to follow the broader trends that they were setting as leaders in design.

Obviously, Apple’s design leadership has concluded, possibly for the rest of our lives. There is now a vacuum. Who will our industry follow, instead? Who will others follow to understand what design is and how it can benefit us?

The former question is easier to answer. We can list some places where quality design is still created and appreciated, and look to them for leadership – provided, of course, they continue to design correctly. We can resist the objectively incorrect normative context that their recent disastrous work has caused. And we can move our industry forward – if and only if we recognize that following Apple has been put on indefinite pause, and we take reality for what it is.

Who the industry will follow

There are a few design-forward companies that are still keeping the flame with good work that actually cares about people. I have my own feelings about the sociological ramifications of some of these companies, but their design chops are good and worth paying attention to as of press time.

For me, I’ve been following the design work of iA, Leica, Linear, Panic, and Teenage Engineering. There are others, of course. We will not have one north star in this era, but many, and for obvious reasons I don’t think it’s worth our focusing on the machinations of one singular company for a whole generation again.

Through its leadership, Apple created hundreds of thousands of designers who understand taste, possess deep expertise, and know how to push things forward. They influenced a generation. And now that they’ve chosen to cede their leadership in design, it’s time to look at things for what they truly are and seek the wisdom of others. Perhaps that’s just us. Perhaps we’re the ones we’re looking for now.

On a personal level, I’ve looked beyond tech for examples of high-quality design, which exists irrespective of context or platform. The objects I use every day are designed. The built environment I exist in is designed. When my faith in tech has been disrupted this deeply, I retreat to the center and look outward to see what remains.

Fortunately, there’s a lot to continue having faith in.

Who the world will follow

I truly have no idea. When Apple acted as a north star for design, they created widespread demand for quality design across all industries, everywhere. They made design normal and expected everywhere. And that, of course, created demand for designers.

What do we collectively think of when we think of design? We think of platform collapse, of modal upsells & go-nowhere notifications, of corroded internal cultures creating hostile interfaces. Who wants to buy that for themselves? I wouldn’t buy that for myself and I work here.

In short, people will buy design when they see the benefit from design. Fewer people see the benefits from design right now. Fewer people even encounter good design on a day-to-day basis.

So I don’t know what those who buy design are doing when they think of “design” or look at high-quality design, and I don’t think that conversation is going to shake out anytime soon. And if you sell design, seeing a lack of inspiration for quality design in everyone else’s daily lives should scare the absolute hell out of you.