I don’t dream. Of summer parties, I do, of course – I’m only human after all. But of a career? No. And that is not just because we are in the midst of an industrial revolution, which negatively affects the outlooks of 70% of design students today (Ornamo Pulse Survey 2026). My hope is that we would see this uncertainty as a playground rather than a sentence. What do we have to lose?

It seems curious to me that I should, based on my very limited vision of the future, come up with a title I would like to hold – and in doing so, place blinders on myself to the opportunities around me.

Content is always more interesting than title. (This goes for people too.) Wherever problems (real or “real”) are being solved, someone is designing (well or “well”). As the number of “solutions” being produced increases, high-quality executions of good ideas become proportionally rarer. Our role as humans/designers is to create reasonably good work.

Use AI, but lean into what cannot be replaced – that human thing. Learn by doing. Study “unrelated” things. (Everything is related.) True efficiency always requires some “fat” around the edges.

Also work with immaterial concepts and their material manifestations, including economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Yes, this expands what the title “designer” has traditionally meant.

But “designer” has never meant just one thing. The simple fact that industry would not exist without design, and design would not exist without industry, means that our challenge – and our joy – as designers is that we are never stagnant.

AI falls short in areas where humans are still stronger – understanding broad contexts, solving problems holistically, empathising, balancing between different stakeholders, and engaging in serious play. These also happen to be the most valuable aspects of design work.

P.S. Don’t try to do it alone.

Sofia Salmenhaara
Sustainable Design Business, LAB Muotoiluinstituutti