The Age of Design Thinkers

The Growth Insight 🌱

The Age of Design Thinkers

There should be more talented people building companies, especially designers. They bring something uniquely valuable to the table.

To build a successful product, you need three things: desirability (something people want), viability (a business that can be built around it), and feasibility (the ability to create it).

These map perfectly to design, business, and technology. And at its core, design is all about figuring out how to make something people truly want. Why aren't more designers becoming founders?

Historically, design was closer to art—asking questions rather than solving problems. During industrialization, designers didn't control production. But today, that's changing dramatically.

Through software and code, designers can now build the actual products they envision. The most powerful advantage you can have is understanding the medium you're working in.

If you're building software made of code and pixels, being close to how the actual thing gets built gives you tremendous leverage. Especially now in the AI age where we're designing less about static elements and more about dynamic actions—autocomplete, summarize, send an agent to do something.

Static prototypes often break down. They don't give you the feedback that comes from interacting with real data. Whatever gives you the ability to play with the real thing gives designers the edge.

For technical people wanting to level up their design skills, start by learning through doing. You'll produce bad designs at first, but you'll begin to understand why certain designs work and others don't. You'll start seeing constraints and possibilities others miss.

Second, surround yourself with beauty and well-designed objects. Develop your taste by refusing to tolerate poorly designed products. This isn't about being snobby—it's about training your eye to recognize what works.

Third, read design classics like "Grid Systems," "Elements of Typographic Style," and "The Design of Everyday Things." Once you learn about kerning, ligatures, and micro-typography, you'll see the world in a completely different way.

Everything around us is designed—the question is whether it was intentional. The companies recognizing the value of thoughtful design right now, when everything is shifting, have a tremendous advantage.

Remember: design isn't just how something looks. It's how it works. It's how it's built. You can feel it end to end. The best products reflect this holistic approach, and it's why they resonate with millions of users.

The designers who can build what they envision hold extraordinary power. There's never been a better time to develop this mindset and skillset.