Designers: Be Bigger Than Your Title
Agility, range, and growth matter more than what’s written under your name.
At one company, a Lead UX Designer manages a team of ten. At another, it’s a solo role juggling UI tweaks and stakeholder requests. Same title, completely different realities.
If you’re building a career in design, titles can be wildly misleading. They sound official, but what they actually mean shifts with company size, maturity, industry — even the particular person who wrote the job description.
The sooner you stop chasing titles and start chasing real growth, the stronger (and more agile) your career becomes.
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Titles Aren’t Consistent — Across Companies or Industries
Here’s the truth no one puts on a job listing: titles are squishy.
A few quick comparisons:
Startup vs. Enterprise:
“Head of Design” at a 20-person startup might mean doing solo design, product strategy, research, and front-end dev — in the same week. At a Fortune 500 company, the same title could mean managing multiple teams with layer after layer of hierarchy in between you and the work.
Agency vs. In-house:
A “Creative Director” or “Design Director” at a boutique agency could be hands-on with day-to-day projects. At a major brand, that title might mean high-level vision with very little production work.
Across fields:
A “CTO” at a startup is the lead coder. A “CTO” at Google is shaping global innovation strategy.
A “General Manager” at a cafe orders supplies and makes the schedule. A GM at a hotel chain manages P&L across multiple properties.
Same title, different universe.
Design isn’t any different — and pretending it is sets people up for frustration.
What You Should Actually Ask About a Role
If a title doesn’t tell you much, what does?
Asking good questions.
When you’re considering a new role — or trying to map your growth inside your current one — dig deeper:
What’s the size of the team? Are you leading people or projects, or both?
How much decision-making power comes with the role?
Is this role hands-on, strategic, or a mix?
How is success measured? Revenue? Engagement? Team growth?
What impact does this role have on the business?
These questions reveal the real opportunity — the skills you’ll build, the influence you’ll gain, and how your work connects to something bigger.
Not every opportunity with a fancy title is a step forward.
And not every modest-sounding title is small.
Beyond the Title: Building Real Career Options
It’s tempting to aim straight up the ladder: Junior → Midlevel → Senior → Lead → Director.
And sure, that path exists. But it’s not as clear-cut as you might think. Resilient, exciting, leadership-ready design careers aren’t built in straight lines.
The designers who thrive over time are the ones who build both vertically and horizontally.
They don’t just specialize deeper in design — they expand outward into adjacent disciplines that make them more versatile, strategic, and future-proof. Adaptability isn’t optional anymore, as I talk about in Mastering the Art of Adaptation.
If you want real agility, start here:
Web development: Know what’s feasible. Speak developer.
Brand design: Connect product experiences to broader brand strategy.
User research: Ground your work in real human needs, not assumptions. IxDF offers affordable, self-paced online courses.
Content strategy: Partner well with writers to make designs truly functional.
Project management: Scope, prioritize, and deliver without burning out your team.
Business strategy: Understand how design decisions tie back to business outcomes.
The wider your skillset, the wider your options.
When layoffs happen, markets shift, or new roles open up, designers with range aren’t stuck. They move forward — or sideways — with purpose.
My own career path zig-zags like a lightning bolt. I was a Design Manager when I decided to transition one step over and “down” to Web Developer. I moved from Front-End Development Supervisor at a midsized agency to VP of Creative Services at much smaller one. I left that position for an individual contributor role that was 1/3 UX, 1/3 design and 1/3 front-end web development, only to become a dept manager again 5 months later.
Learning and personal growth opportunities are what drove every one of those moves and the role I have now puts all of it — even the SEO and content strategy I picked up through osmosis — to good use.
Pro Tip: When you’re considering a move, don’t just ask about the title.
Ask yourself and the hiring manager:
What skills will I grow here?
What parts of the business will I touch?
Who will I get to learn from?
Those answers are a lot more predictive of your next few years than anything printed under your name.
Titles Come and Go — Growth Compounds
Titles change. Companies reorg. New industries pop up. Old hierarchies fade.
But the skills you build, the impact you create, and the people who trust you to lead? Those are yours to keep.
Don’t get caught chasing the perfect label. Chase the experiences that build the career — and the life — you actually want.
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I write weekly articles for designers and design leaders who want to grow their impact, lead with clarity, and build careers that actually feel sustainable.