What is a designer?

Each year (or so), Billy Blue (the organisation behind a number of Australia design schools and initiatives) produce BBetween magazine—a journal inviting practiontioners from the design community to submit essays around a set theme. Issue 4 focussed on Design Thinking, with one of the suggested topics centering around the notion of communication. Because designers are supposedly the link between an original message and its communication to a wider audience, it seems ironic that the one thing they can’t seem to communicate clearly at all, is exactly what it is they do. Upon raiding the websites of 101 Australian design companies, and analysing all the words in their ‘about us’ statements, some interesting discoveries were made—and ended up in these infographics. Sometimes it’s fun to have a laugh at yourself.

Each graphic centred on a different aspect of design—from descriptions, to specific products and services...

...to the intangible, to outcomes and personality. And at the end of the day, we were no closer to
identifying exactly what it is we do. But at least we know it looks good in an infographic.