What skills and competencies will designers need to help bring about a positive impact in the world moving forward? Take a look at the Designer for 2015 project and the helpful list of competencies put together by the Visionary Design Council in conjunction with the AIGA.
1. Ability to create and develop visual responses to communication problems, including an understanding of hierarchy, typography, aesthetics, composition, and construction of meaningful images
2. Ability to solve communication problems, including identifying the problem, researching, analyzing, solution generating, prototyping, user testing, and outcome evaluation
3. Broad understanding of issues related to the cognitive, social, cultural, technological, and economic contexts for design
4. Ability to respond to audience contexts, recognizing physical, cognitive, cultural, and social human factors that shape design decisions
5. Understanding of and ability to utilize tools and technology
6. Ability to be flexible, nimble, and dynamic in practice
7. Management and communication skills necessary to function productively in large interdisciplinary teams and “flat” organizational structures
8. Understanding of how systems behave and aspects that contribute to sustainable products, strategies, and practices
9. Ability to construct verbal arguments for solutions that address diverse users/audiences, lifespan issues; and business/organizational operations
10. Ability to work in a global environment with an understanding of cultural preservation
11. Ability to collaborate productively in large interdisciplinary teams
12. Understanding of ethics in practice
13. Understanding of nested items, including cause and effect; ability to develop project evaluation criteria that account for audience and context
