What Designers Are Hired to Do vs. What Great Designers Actually Do
I came across a great LinkedIn post by Haissam Abdul Malak about the gap between what product managers are hired to do and what great product managers actually do. It got me thinking about how this might translate to design.
So I kept the original structure and rewrote the examples to reflect the design side instead of product management. What stood out to me is that I didn’t need to change the last three bullets about what makes someone great. They apply just as much to designers as they do to product managers.
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There’s a big gap between what designers are hired to do and what great designers actually do.
Many designers are not doing the job they were meant to do!
Sounds harsh? Let me explain.
What designers are hired to do:
- Make it “look pretty”
- Execute solutions with no context
- Create wireframes and refine mockups
- Stay in the design tools
- Prioritize deadlines over quality
- Ship solutions to the wrong problems
This is what many companies expect from designers. But this is not real design.
What designers should really do:
- Understand users through observation and research
- Define, frame, and reframe problems
- Balance user needs, technical constraints, and business goals
- Collaborate across disciplines to shape product direction
- Prototype and test iteratively to validate assumptions
- Champion usability and clarity
- Deliver human-centered solutions
Great designers are not just doers.
- They are problem solvers and decision makers.
- They focus on outcomes not outputs.
- They build products that customers love and businesses need.
If you are stuck doing only what you were hired to do, start making small moves toward what you should do.
It’s not easy, but it’s how real design leadership starts.
Curious to hear from others. Are you doing the job you were hired for or the job your product needs?
View my post on LinkedIn here.
