Fabrique reposted this
Two weeks ago I stood in front of 70 designers at Rabobank and asked them a slightly uncomfortable question: in an era shaped by AI, what is the role of a designer? Not rhetorically. AI is quietly absorbing much of what we used to call "the work." The screens, the variants, the production. If your value lives there, that is a problem worth naming out loud. So I made the case for a shift most of us sense is coming but few have made. From execution to influence. From the team that receives the brief to the people who shape it. From delivery support to trusted advisor, sitting next to business, technology and leadership. Design's real leverage was never the artifact. It was the judgement behind it: knowing what is worth building, for whom, and why. AI makes that judgement more valuable. What stayed with me afterwards were the questions and reactions. Sharp, sometimes uneasy, the kind you only get when a subject actually hits a nerve. Thanks to Sterre Hoek and Patrick L. Sanwikarja for the invitation, and for letting me poke at the profession a little. So I will ask you the same thing I asked them: is your design team using AI to make the same things faster, or as a reason to rethink the role within the company?