Cultivating Professional Identity in Design: Empathy, Creativity, Collaboration, and Seven More Cross-Disciplinary Skills

Cultivating Professional Identity in Design is a nuanced, comprehensive companion for designers across disciplines  honing their identities, self-perception, personal strengths, and  essential attributes. Designers’ identities, whether rooted in  education, workforce training, digital technology, arts and graphics,  built environment, or other fields, are always evolving, influenced by  any combination of current mindset, concrete responsibilities, team  dynamics, and more. Applicable to designers of all contexts, this  inspiring yet rigorous book guides practitioners and students to  progress with ten key traits: empathy, uncertainty, creativity, ethics,  diversity/equity/inclusion, reflection, learning, communication,  collaboration, and decision-making.

Though it details  a complete journey from start to finish, this book acknowledges the  varying paths of designers’ roles and is structured for a flexible,  highly iterative reading experience. Segments can be read individually  or out of order and revisited for new insights. Current and future  stages of development – education experience, early-career  opportunities, mid-career accomplishments, and/or career transitions –  are factored in without hierarchy. Specific takeaways, activities, and  reflection exercises are intended to work across settings and levels of  experience. Design hopefuls and experts alike will find a new way to  participate in and persevere through their work.