PDE Presents

A reminder that “the great designers” are still just people figuring it out

We had a presentation at GSA from three graduates who are now properly out in industry doing the sort of work students love to mythologise, Sam Smith, Oli Ross, and Jonathan Biddle.

What was nice is that it didn’t feel like a victory lap. The biggest theme for me was how easy it is, as a student, to look at people in those roles and assume they’ve “made it” and everything is sorted. They were basically saying the opposite. They still see other people as “the great,” they still feel the gaps in their own knowledge, and they’re still chasing self improvement rather than some imaginary finish line. That was weirdly grounding, because it makes the whole thing feel less like an elite club and more like a long process.

What they do, and what they’ve done

Sam spoke about working at Apple, and the level of detail and craft that goes into products when you’re operating at that scale. Oli talked about his time working at Apple as well, even collaborating with Sam on certain projects, and then moving on to LoveFrom, Jony Ive’s startup studio, which naturally comes with a slightly different rhythm and focus. Jonathan spoke from the perspective of being deep in industry too, working in big teams, big systems, and big constraints like Amazon and Meta, where the design decisions you make have huge knock-on effects, often indirectly to the initial products themselves.

What I found interesting is that even though they’re all in “big roles,” they each felt very different in what they bring to the table. It wasn’t three people saying the same thing. They felt like three different versions of what a strong designer can be, and all three are the sort of people I’d love to sit and talk to for hours about the nitty gritty of design, how you judge what’s worth making, and how you understand the people you’re designing for.

The point that really stuck

They pushed something I think students need to hear more often, which is that it’s normal, and probably healthy, to move around early on. Try different jobs, different teams, different industries, different kinds of problems, and build your taste and judgement through variety before you commit to one lane. It took a bit of pressure off the idea that you need to choose the “perfect” job immediately and then stick with it forever.

The other thing that landed was just how high their personal standards still are. Even with their experience, they were still talking like learners. Still sharpening their craft. Still curious. Still trying to become better, which loops back to the first point, the people you see as “the great” are usually still looking upwards too.

Overall it made the big world feel less like a locked door. There is a path to those positions, and it isn’t about being some flawless student who gets everything right. It’s about staying confident in your direction, staying open to opportunities, and being serious about improving over time.

Personally, I found the talk from Sam extremely interesting. Apple as a company is one which I have looked up to for a long time, probably as long as I can remember regarding thoughts on design and products. I used to hail the IPhone as the gold standard of technology design, with every detail being considered more than all of the competition, even down to the alignment of the speaker grilles on the bottom of a device. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I find the companies who consider the internals, as equally important to the externals, to be the most interesting. Whether it be purely from an engineering point of view of from a matter of care and execution, it is something I have tried to emulate in some of the work I have been doing while at University.

PDE presents as a concept is definitely becoming something I see as vital in the degree program as it is so important for students to be reminded of where the future could lie for them and what possibilities are available down the line.