Designers need to read more. It is obvious from talking and working in design those that do read and those that do not. When I write about “reading”, I specifically mean actual books (and e-books) with some artistic or factual merit, but not magazines, websites or blogs.

This is why. Designers need to read because it is the act of reading that is as important as the content being read. Magazines, websites, and blogs and other faster kinds of media are important but serve a different function to close and involved reading. Reading a magazine or news article is an act of consumption and the consumption of facts is its aim. Reading a book is not an act of consumption; it requires an interpretation of the meaning and thought of the author.

To interpret and understand something requires empathy, and this is an important trait for any designer. Designers need to empathise with consumers, clients and their own colleagues. This is important for any profession, but a designer needs to be able to stand in the position of another and understand the complex needs they have. Only by doing this can we design an appropriate solution.

Designers need to have the vocabulary to communicate subtleties between ideas and things. The more we read from outside our own discipline the more capable we will become to speak about design. New ways of phrasing thoughts gives us new ways of thinking.

Design can be a chaotic process and often no amount of planning can prevent this. However, the product of this process must not show this chaos. Design must have clarity and a point of view that can easily be understood. Being able to navigate complex narratives of a novel (try anything by Don DeLillo) needs this kind of mental discipline.

Design feels fast. Trends are fast, products need to get to market fast, and we need to work fast to hit our deadlines. Sadly, doing things fast rarely means doing things thoroughly. Properly reading every word on a page to fully understand both what is written and the concepts beneath those words is an important discipline, and cannot be done quickly. Reading a novel needs attention; we need to slow down to fully consider the meaning and possibilities of the text. A glance at the headline and pictures is insufficient to fully consider the meaning and thought in an article. Design needs to be more like reading a novel than glancing at a magazine article, we need to slow down to let our own ideas develop and to invite meaningful challenge from our peers. Designing slowly and thoughtfully needs more confidence than doing something fast.

Some novels I would recommend to slow down with:
Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger
Giovanni’s room by James Baldwin
Nobody belongs here more than you by Miranda July
How green was my valley by Richard Llewellyn