The Designer Identity, Identity Evolution, and Implications on Design Practice

This chapter describes the preliminary results of a study of designer identity, including what a designer identity is, how it evolves as a result of ongoing work-related interactions, and how it may influence design work practice. In our ethnographic research, we closely observed 12 in-house designers as they did their work in a major Chinese communication technology company. We found that designers identified with the design occupation in different yet non-mutual-exclusive ways, and that the way in which designers identified themselves influenced their creative thinking, brainstorming processes, and interactions with clients.

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