CrossRoles Game

I excluded seniority levels and hybrid roles, focusing solely on positions or disciplines relevant to graphic designers—lets say, graduates of visual communication design schools.

Try to group (not literally, you’ll see it’s not really necessary 🙂) any series of roles that could comfortably fit under a single overarching title, or, for example, a cluster of roles that require a similar skill set.

The mitosis of Specialized Design Roles

Until the 1970s, there was essentially one, visual design profession: graphic design. Those who weren’t self-taught—and many active designers were autodidacts—typically studied fine arts. While some diversification existed, with designers working in various media, techniques, and purposes, everything revolved around a limited set of disciplines rooted in

General Thoughts on Generalism and DesignNiv Farchi

I believe this exercise effectively illustrates what I mean when I talk about micro and nano design professions. Of course, not all of these roles can be combined into a single "mega designer," but in the end, there are only about 3-4 distinct, well-defined umbrella professions with enough substance and depth—into which many of the other roles can be merged without too much effort.

How can a young designer not feel overwhelmed by this vast array of professions? What kind of growth path awaits them if they gain experience in such a highly specialized design role—sometimes so nascent that there aren’t even enough designers who have walked that path to establish a clear trajectory for career progression.

Among all the other professions I examined—from product to dev roles and even operational positions—design stands out significantly in the sheer number of job types, their definitions, and, at times, their arbitrary nature.I’ll be honest with you—and maybe the problem is on my end—but I’ve been working in the design field for nearly two decades, and still, when it comes to about 20% of the designer roles listed here, I have absolutely no idea what they are. I don’t know designers working in those roles, and I have no clue where they even came from.

And I won’t pretend otherwise—I’m part of the problem. Over the years, I’ve invented quite a few job titles myself. At the time, it felt right and addressed a need, but more often than not, that need was about the designer seeking definition and differentiation, rather than a true professional necessity.

In any case,

This is what an unhealthy professional landscape looks like.