The designer is becoming endangered. The individual who marries form and function to produce physical things — such as books, automobiles, clothes, interiors and buildings — has been reclassified by some as the “classical” designer in recent years. Judging by how popular “classical music” is, the new term suggests that the designer as we have long known is increasingly regarded as a thing of the past, or even worse, archaic.
But far from going extinct, the designer is undergoing a redefinition because of the profession’s growing status. Once regarded simply as technicians who supported industrialisation, particularly in making products visually attractive, designers have since climbed their way into corporate boardrooms, and even the offices of policymakers. This has been fuelled in part by a frustration with the status quo and in response to technological disruptions in the profession. As the act of designing has become more accessible with software and templates, designers have been confronted with the existential question of who they really are.
