Lesson from Being a Designer In Consulting
I spent my four years of college in design school, cutting paper, sculpting clay, and hot gluing foam core sheets together. My final grades were not calculated by tests but by how well I was able to document and articulate my journey. Our lectures weren’t about how to solve problem sets but about the impact of undoing design in Pruitt Igoe, how analog dial accelerometers in cars communicate more information than digital ones, and the narrative that collected found objects from soccer fields told. I didn’t take a single business, engineering, or economics class, but somehow ended up in consulting after college.
What was tough
The path is less clear for a designer in a global consulting firm. Most peers and leaders come from different backgrounds and strive for a different set of goals. People move up the ladder, go to business school, and move into management. There’s no shortage of people sharing their experiences in consulting online. But in a sea of blogs, articles, and youtube videos on consulting careers, skills, and exit, I never really felt like they were specific enough for me to fully understand. The resources were immense but relevancy felt small to me. Even Chemical Engineers is ranked as a more relevant consulting college major than Design is.
What was helpful
Feeling Like You Stand Out. While it feels isolating to be outside of what feels like the main group, there’s also a sense of comfort and pride. Look who managed to make it here. Coming from a non-traditional background makes you feel differentiated and not just a fish in a really big sea. The little things spark pride and excitement like dressing a little differently than the typical business uniform in the Midtown office. Swapping out a blue button up for a black turtleneck, opening your Mac in a conference room full of ThinkPads, and being to tell a well crafted story. Being confident in my differentiation made me more comfortable knowing that I wasn’t competing with a sea of other homogenous analysts trying to hustle each other.
Impressing Others With Design Skills. In school, I was far from the exceptional graphic and communication designers. I had to work hard just to keep up with the middle of the pack. Today it still shocks me when all I do is align some text and people are in awe of my ‘design skills.’ Although it is harder to find the elements of artistic craft and experimentation, it’s interesting to see how communication, clarity, and storytelling still remain universal. While it’s fun to impress others, the important point here is that you can bring others into the design process. I’ve found surface level moments in communication design that others notice to be a helpful entry point into deeper discussions of design.
Constantly Adopting A Learning Stance. Part of me worried that my design skills would atrophy but I’ve found the opposite to be true. As a designer and researcher, I’ve found it more helpful to adopt the mindset that you don’t know anything as oppose to thinking you know everything. Approaching projects and endeavors from this stance allows you to question what’s in place, continuously inquire about things, and always ready to learn. As an outsider, you’re more aware of the space that you navigate. Jumping around from industry to industry, project to project, you learn how to learn quickly.
Learning How to Advocate For Your Work. When I left school, I still subscribed to the belief that good design speaks for itself. I entered consulting with a rebelliously quiet disposition; my work was surely good enough on its own without me needing to explain it. But I quickly learned how to deliver a story for more than just designers that shared the same background and language as me. From talking to C suite executives and involving others in the design research process, design becomes more powerful the more you bring others into the process.
Finding a Closer Community. I initially felt overwhelmed by being in such a big company with over 300,000 employees. I was discouraged at first because it seemed like everyone was different than me, different background, different career, different outlook. Feeling outside the ‘main community’ was isolating. But I realized that I preferred being in the subgroup over the massive pool.
I felt lost trying to solicit advice from designers in tech on one side and consultants on the other. But consulting is so big that even the subgroups are sizable. Going down the rabbit hole of Fishbowl, I was surprised by the comfort I found in the small design group. While the design group is minuscule compared to the main companies, it felt relieving to scroll through the group.
My Advice To Designers Starting Their Careers in Consulting
Embrace the opportunity to learn more, practice collaborating with a wider array of experts, and find the communities no matter how niche and small.
- Practice Bringing Others Into the Design Process. Share your process, the creative choices you made, and how those informed the final deliverable that you worked on. The beauty of the design process is that it is easy to bring others along the journey of iteration, research, and concept development. Practice conveying the importance of design activities with non-experts. Being able to facilitate design conversations with wider arrays of stakeholders will enable more impactful initiatives.
- Practice Your ‘Non-Design’ Skills. I never learned how to ask for a promotion or give upward feedback in design school. I didn’t spend much time understanding businesses or how organizations worked. Quickly shed any skeptical reluctance for learning things that aren’t in your typical design toolbox. Many basics like learning how organizations work, how to interact with clients, and advocating for yourself will remain relevant for any type of design work.
- Lean on Mentors and Community. This helps you navigate a number of different spaces from tactical know-hows to strategically understanding your compensation. Interacting with mentors and peers will help you understand different skills that you want to practice, areas that you can explore more of, and bonding with community.
- Set Aside Time to Reflect. With consulting’s quick pace and its nature of jumping around projects, it is vital to set aside time to reflect. Otherwise you will be stuck in an endless loop of working without a clear direction or intention of what you want to learn. What activities did you enjoy most? Which were the least fulfilling? What do you miss doing? What are opportunities that can push your boundaries?What was helpful
I like using tools like this to make sense of projects, spend time reflecting on activities that I find the most fulfilling, and giving me a framework for future discussions with my team.
