Design creates desire, impacts productivity, improves intelligence, starts a revolution, speaks volumes, and eliminates frustration.

The act of designing is an inherently powerful act. In that act, we share a stage with CEOs, government officials, civic leaders, passionate activists and fellow citizens.

Why do we design?

Because, inherently, we like to solve problems.

Perhaps because we refuse to yield to those who say it can’t be done.

Because we believe that progress is required. In our towns.

In our schools.

In America’s largest companies.

In small and medium businesses.

In government.

In the arts.

Progress is the great human ambition—it binds us together, it connects us to history, it is the stepping stone to a more promising future.

As designers, when we point our own ambitions at solving the problems that stand in the way of progress, we can play a vital catalyzing role.

True power as a designer comes when we realize that to solve any problem we will work with many partners, collaborators, even co-conspirators. In some of these cases, we’ll be the lead, the ultimate shepherd of the problem-solving effort.

In other cases, we’ll follow the lead of… a visionary designing an inventive new product, a CEO designing a new company, a mayor designing a new downtown, a government official designing a clearer ballot, an eco-environmentalist designing a better way to transport people, a teacher designing a better way to learn math, a not-for-profit designing a better process for funding meaningful works.

Design plays a crucial role into building a brand.