Mike Monteiro — Design is a JobI want you to immediately pick up Victor Papanek’s Design for the Real World, which I will bluntly summarize like so: you are responsible for the work you put into the world.
Carefully choose the projects you take on. Choose to leave the world better than you found it. Improve things for people. This doesn’t mean just working on non-profit or purely mission-driven projects. A lot of commercial products and services improve life for people in large and small ways. Just make sure there is some meaning to what you are doing besides exploiting a niche. Be the advocate for the person who will ultimately buy, use, or experience what you are designing.
We have limited resources, whether natural, financial, or cognitive. Don’t contribute to people wasting them on crap.
You have more power than you think. […] Not only can a designer change the world, a designer should. This is the best job in the world! Let’s do it right.