“Should designer learn to code?” … Cringe😬… We should be beyond this question by now as an industry. The real questions we should be asking are:
🧭 Q: Should designers learn product management?
↳A: Absolutely 👏🏽. You’ll gain the tools to articulate business needs and influence roadmaps, which also enhances your perspective when crafting experiences. You’ll gain a stronger understanding of trade-offs, prioritization, and decision-making. THERE IS NO DOWNSIDE TO LEARNING THIS!👏🏽 Learn it asap, trust me.
Get proficient enough to engage in meaningful conversations with PM partners (and others), and even take the lead on initiatives if needed
🧮 Q: Should designers learn to read the numbers?
↳A: Yes! … Look, I get it, we didn’t choose design for our love of numbers 😆, but understanding them is crucial. It’s important to grasp what’s happening across business metrics (product, marketing, sales, CX, finance, etc). Understanding what going on with the numbers enables deeper understanding of the impacts decisions have.
Once things are launched, they create measurable outcomes that are reflected in the numbers, which offers insights that enables reflection and action.
👨🏫 Q: Should designers learn marketing?
↳A: Yup. “If you want to light up a room, performance marketing is a laser. It can light up a corner of a room. You don’t want to use a bunch of lasers to light up an entire room. You should use a chandelier and that’s what brand marketing is.” — Brian Chesky. If the essence of that quote is missing you, that’s precisely why you should learn more about marketing. Marketing is fundamentally about leveraging storytelling and strategy to captivate attention and guide it towards a desired outcome. Becoming a better storyteller and strategic thinker never hurts.
💼 Q: Should Designers learn to speak business?
↳A: Definitely. It’ll enhance your communication with non-designers and deepens your understanding of design’s role within the broader business context. It’ll also enable you to align your initiatives with organizational goals and articulate design’s value in business terms, establishing you as a strategic business partner.
“Should designers learn…” in most cases, the answer is “it doesn’t hurt “. There’s no downside to expanding your knowledge base.
Additionally, understanding what functional partners do enables richer conversations and more fluid collaboration. It also provides perspectives and insights into how things work.
The world has changed. Being just a designer doesn’t cut it anymore. It’s time to evolve into a multifaceted, strategic partner who leverages design (your primary strength) AND complementary skills to achieve goals.
Stay growth-minded friends 😉 —never stop learning.