Design competencies needed for a complex and digital future

WOULD it surprise you to learn that two-thirds of Singapore’s designers are employed in non-design sectors? Beyond traditional discipline-driven studio environments, you will find designers across a variety of industries – anywhere from IT to aerospace, financial services, food manufacturing, healthcare and logistics. This distribution ratio is expected to persist, as the number of designers here increases by a projected 25 per cent by 2030.

Figures like these, which were released in March in the DesignSingapore Council’s latest National Design Industry and Manpower Study are a clear indication of the value and impact design is having throughout the economy. With Singapore’s progression up the value chain towards an innovation economy, our design industry has undergone massive transformation. Designers have branched out from discipline-defined silos to collaborate with non-designers and shape experiences, user interfaces, strategies for organisations, and more. Today, design is transforming the way companies create value and the way institutions engage with people.

Why is this so? What makes design such a powerful force in the new economy? We are familiar with how successful technology companies like Apple and Samsung have long been known to focus on design skills, mindsets and sensibilities in the way they meet consumer needs. Today, the adoption of new technologies and increasing levels of automation affect many areas of the economy. As the nature of jobs change in response, workers find themselves needing to apply a new set of skills.