The Click Economy of Design

I do not think design lost its authority by accident. I think we slowly traded it away.

Over the last decade, the definition of what makes a “great designer” has quietly shifted. Craft, judgment, and depth have been replaced by visibility. Influence is now measured by follower count, engagement rate, and how well your work performs inside a feed. According to multiple industry surveys, over 60 percent of junior designers say they learn primarily from social platforms rather than formal education, mentorship, or structured critique. That statistic should concern us more than it does.

A generation is learning design from content, not from thinking.

They are learning what performs, not why something works. They are learning patterns divorced from context, aesthetics without responsibility, and speed without consequence. The designers most often labeled as leaders today are not necessarily the most rigorous or thoughtful. They are simply the most visible. Many are self taught, which is not the issue in itself. The issue is that self teaching has been confused with self authority.

Design has become optimized for clicks.

This is not just anecdotal. Platforms reward frequency over reflection. Posts that are simple, absolute, and visually punchy consistently outperform nuanced explanations of process, ethics, or long term impact. In a recent analysis of top performing design content on social platforms, over 70 percent focused on visual trends, shortcuts, or “before and after” transformations, while less than 10 percent addressed systems thinking, accessibility, long term brand strategy, or social consequence.

Newcomers follow these voices because there are few alternatives speaking loudly enough.

Experienced designers have largely retreated from the public conversation. Into client work. Into closed rooms. Many stopped posting because nuance does not travel well. Others stopped speaking because authority now gets mistaken for arrogance. In doing so, we created a vacuum and that vacuum was filled by people optimizing for attention instead of responsibility.

We stopped teaching judgment. We stopped defending standards. We stopped saying no.

The result is everywhere. Brands that look correct but feel empty. Interfaces that are efficient and persuasive but ethically hollow. Systems designed to optimize behavior without accountability. When things go wrong, no one knows who is responsible because authorship has been replaced by trends, templates, and prompts.

This is not a talent problem.

There are more designers than ever. Tools are more accessible than ever. Output is higher than it has ever been. Yet trust in brands continues to decline, with studies showing that over 55 percent of consumers feel brands feel interchangeable and lack authenticity. That contradiction matters.

We have volume without authority.

Design, at its core, is not decoration. It is not content. It is not personal branding. It is decision making under uncertainty. It is power exercised through form, language, and systems. When that power is treated lightly, the consequences are not aesthetic. They are cultural, economic, and human.

Reclaiming authority will not come from posting more often or building bigger audiences. It will come from slowing down. From teaching why, not just how. From taking responsibility for outcomes, not just outputs. From designers willing to say uncomfortable things even when it costs them reach, clients, or applause.

Authority is not granted by followers. It is earned through clarity, restraint, and accountability.

If we want our voice back as designers, we have to stop chasing attention and start standing for something again. Even if fewer people are watching.

- Stanley Vaganov, Brutally Human