Expertise is a funny thing, it allows a person to be brilliant in one domain without having a clue of what they are doing in another. Unfortunately, so much of what we do in design and development these days requires cross-functional expertise. The result is that designers (along with everyone else) are finding themselves faced with tasks that go well beyond their abilities.

One solution, of course, is to take the IDEO model. Instead of exclusively hiring designers to do design, you could hire others with domain-specific knowledge outside of design to help you make better decisions and see things from alternative perspectives. The trouble, of course, is that not all of us have wallets quite as large as IDEOs, which leaves few alternatives for mom and pop design houses.

My personal solution to this problem has been to make every attempt to be curious about aspects of the world that go well beyond my chosen domain (marketing), to the point where most of what I read these days has nothing to do with marketing itself and instead ranges from behavioral psychology to the historical uses of cadavers. While a large portion of it isn’t entirely relevant, in sum it provides a broader perspective on how the world works and for a marketer perspective is our raison d’etre.

When you read this article I would do yourself a favor and replace “designer” with your field of choice, because the same basic problems plague all of us. How do you cope when limited domain knowledge runs up against complexity?

In the early days of industrial design, the work was primarily focused upon physical products. Today, however, designers work on organizational structure and social problems, on interaction, service, and experience design. Many problems involve complex social and political issues. As a result, designers have become applied behavioral scientists, but they are woefully undereducated for the task. Designers often fail to understand the complexity of the issues and the depth of knowledge already known. They claim that fresh eyes can produce novel solutions, but then they wonder why these solutions are seldom implemented, or if implemented, why they fail. Fresh eyes can indeed produce insightful results, but the eyes must also be educated and knowledgeable. Designers often lack the requisite understanding. Design schools do not train students about these complex issues, about the interlocking complexities of human and social behavior, about the behavioral sciences, technology, and business. There is little or no training in science, the scientific method, and experimental design.

Read Why Design Education Must Change (Via Core77) (Images)

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