Welcome to the ninth and final article of this series that focuses on designers in the team of one. Across nine articles, we have explored the ambition behind one designer’s drives that form their beliefs and articulate the vision. Crafting their design philosophy and strengthening their communication skills to become the masters of their craft supported by the technological advancements of the current era. Combining operations, networking and sales with effective management skills. This article aims to connect all the above into a scale proposition that leads to enterprise or individual success freedom. 

Understanding the Scale 

Scale historically comes from having more – more people, more power, more strength, more resources, more responsibilities. Rober Greeny describes the “agility” with his own greatness in the book, “The 33 Strategies of War”. One of his examples was the caste that had to be protected, where everybody knew where the castle was and how big it was – where, on the other hand, the small regiment could be easily dismounted, travel light, and be easily and quickly deployable where needed.  
A new digital era has redefined “more” as being “Agile”, let alone “Robust” – Antifragile, written by Nassim Nicholas Taleb—the ability to remain resilient and adapt to existing changes without losing the impact. Our mission here is to enable every designer to be an antifragile leading force of wisdom that thrives through the digital era. The scale comes from understanding, adopting and implementing in a very short period of time with absolute precision.

The better is the new “more”.

We wasted a decade of transitioning from multidiscipline designer to a point where we started calling ourselves as product designers. All the sub-titles, sub-features, methods, frameworks and certifications leading to one thing – being a maker. Being a maker is the new standard for designers in the digital era that is driven by automation. It’s not about how much more you create; it's about how much better it is and what impact it makes.

Better you

To create better content, we need better creators, not better technology. It has always been about the quality of humans rather than how much tech we throw at it. Project management software has been here since 1980; we still deliver projects over budget and with massive delays. We have had Adobe Collection for roughly 40+ years and still download clipart online. Every UX UI designer out here mastering Figma, yet we still see only 12% automation and even less integration with development while the majority uses – group, within the group, within the group, within the group and mask on it 🙂  

Let’s flip the coin. Let’s be the best version of ourselves and deliver what we need in a fraction of the time to increase the value of the design. 

Better team 

The better you and leads to the better team. The transformation takes time and energy. Remember that every team needs to have a flag. You are not the flag, but you can most certainly design one. As mentioned before, be the channel that creates all visuals for your team. Earn the trust of your teammates, your tribe, your workspace,  your company. By galvanising the team spirit, you can most certainly win their trust and further their commitment to a better, more integrated product or service. A better team also act as a family; supporting that mission makes you a team leader. No, it is not necessary; you need to be the leader. You can be the leader with no title – you can most certainly be one.    

Better company

A better you, better team creates a better company and that brings the effect of scale. It has been well recognised that better companies are not ones with one, two, or three hundred designers on the floor. The better design companies have the right mindset, the right culture and right curiosity to make things better  – not necessarily more things alone. This also makes your company of one, a whole company without ever needing anyone else – if you decide.  

Thanks for your patience and for staying with us to this very point. Soon, we’ll be releasing the series Designer in the team of Ten that you can subscribe to in DaS™– Academy.

Happy scaling through design!

Hey, I’m Jiri Mocicka.
London-based Design Director, Trusted Advisor and Author of Design at Scale™. The method that empowers individuals to shape the future organisation through design.
If you have a question, join our Community and reach out to like-minded individuals who scale design propositions. An online Academy can help you to find your feed in teams of 01, 10, and 100, supported by Grid Magazine and Supply section, where we weekly bring more insights on how to become a design leader in your organisation.