Was reading a post about why designers quit their jobs and the the top three (totalling over 50% of the reasons given) were basically A. I don’t like the work, B. I can see a way of fixing that, because c. The culture here sucks.

The pattern was predominant in specific areas of expertise, where certain types of specialism were investigated – the study looked at UX, UI and Visual Designers.

But there, down in the detail was an interest stat; that Design Generalists (the author’s capitals) are “are happier with the work they do”.

That brought me up short. Design Generalists?

I get what the generalist is, in general terms, but I hadn’t realised it had become a thing, as in an actual role.

So I dug a little deeper and it seems the career path that takes all the forks in the road, rather than following one specific one, is now a bona fide option.

Having written in praise before of the jackdaw of all trades, to read that the generalist has perhaps found their niche (or at best a calling), I’m betting (given my impeccable qualifications for forecasting) that the ‘G’-shaped Designer is going to be the next ’T’-shape one.

Seems the industry has finally wised up that people with multiple aptitudes and experiences – deliberately un-focussed – are better collaborators, better prepared to react to change and better at generally fitting in and getting shit done. Well, in general we are.

Oh, and the header image? Is from my experiments with letters – http://www.richardshill.co.uk/letterpress/pages/June/June_7.html