EPC Dialogues 03: Invisible Effort, Career Reflections, and Impact vs Mastery
Designers from nine diverse organisations came together to reflect on invisible work, career paths, and the balance between impact and mastery.
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Seeking Before Solving: A Designer's Path to Deeper Impact
The best designers slow down. They observe, ask better questions, and notice what others miss. They don’t just solve problems, they seek truths. Design is not about speed or cleverness, but about seeing clearly and making sense of what truly matters.
Tiny Boxes, Mighty Stories
A tiny matchbox became a powerful design story, blending art, culture, and commerce in just two inches of space. From freedom-era propaganda to global aesthetics, it demonstrates how even seemingly disposable objects can carry lasting meaning and creative impact.
The Seven-Mile skill: A full altitude approach to design
Great designers think big and work small. They can shape strategy and fine-tune pixels. This range from vision to detail is the seven-mile skill. It is what turns ideas into real, usable products that feel right at every level.
Experience design earns its stripes when things break
Most products are built for when things go right. However, real users encounter errors, slowdowns, and unexpected issues every day. Great design helps them recover, not blame them. That’s how trust is built. Designing for failure is not extra work. It is what makes the experience strong.
Delusion is a Design skill
Designers see more than what is there. They imagine what could be. Bold ideas may seem strange at first, but belief fuels progress. Design isn’t just vision. It’s turning belief into reality.
Start where you are, design what can be.
Great designers work patiently with the present, while imagining better futures. Real change starts by understanding the company as it is, with all its constraints, people, and processes. Design what exists today, while patiently shaping what could be tomorrow.
Polyvocality: When multiple truths shape better outcomes
Polyvocality means making space for many truths, not just the loudest one. It challenges the rush to clarity and values tension, contradiction, and depth. In a world obsessed with speed and certainty, it invites us to slow down and truly listen.
From Skateboards to Spaceships: Gall’s Law in Design
Gall’s Law states that complex systems that work usually evolve from simpler ones that already function well. For designers, this means starting small, testing often, and letting complexity emerge from real use. Simplicity is not a shortcut but the foundation of something great.
What Comes First: The Design or the Data?
Designing from data refines what’s known; designing to generate data explores what’s unknown. One optimises, the other discovers. Great design balances grounded insight and bold experimentation to create meaningful, resilient outcomes.