In recent years, more companies have been building in-house design teams. The appeal is clear: faster turnaround and potential cost savings. As a result, it’s increasingly common to see individual designers being asked to handle a wide array of work across different formats and media.
You might have experienced this: assigning a designer who excels at print materials to design a website or app UI, only to end up with something that feels awkward or hard to use. The opposite happens too. A UI/UX specialist might create visuals for an ad, but the result feels oddly flat or emotionally disconnected. Although it’s all called “design,” the required skills and thinking process vary quite a bit by medium.
🌟 “A designer can design anything,” — have you ever thought that? It’s a surprisingly common assumption.
Take illustration, for example. It often gets lumped together with “design,” but in reality, it’s a completely different skill set. Some designers can illustrate, sure—but whether they’re good at it, or whether they can draw in a specific style, varies a lot. Some specialize in graphic design, others in UI, branding, or motion. The word “designer” covers a wide range of disciplines.