Design is an economic act.
What EPC’s conversation with Simon Gough reveals about strategy, value, metrics, and the future role of design.
Design Strategy
Designers as observers of the unseen.
Great design often begins before users say anything at all. In the pause, the hesitation, the unspoken discomfort, there is a signal. The best designers do not just study behaviour. They learn to notice what escapes the chart.
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.
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.
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.
Good enough: a strategy, not mediocrity.
Embracing “good enough” doesn’t mean lowering standards. It means solving the right problems without over-engineering. It’s a mindset that values clarity, function, and momentum over perfection, often leading to smarter, more sustainable outcomes.
Beyond empathy: designing with rational compassion.
Empathy’s spotlight can blind us. Designers must pair emotional sparks with data, ethics, and long-term impact, shifting from feeling a pain point to systematically easing it for everyone.
Bullshit jobs in design.
Many design roles today risk becoming what David Graeber called “bullshit jobs”. The work that looks important but adds no real value. When design serves optics over outcomes, creativity fades and meaning is lost. It’s time to shift from theatre to true impact.
The misconception of scale.
In a world obsessed with scale, we often forget that growth changes everything. What works on a small scale can break under pressure. This isn’t an argument against scaling, but a call to do it wisely, with care, and a deep respect for complexity.