Design Hegemania

Abstract

Designers today are increasingly called to contribute strategically within organizations, yet a persistent unease surrounds their engagement with leadership, governance, and decision-making. This research investigates the underlying dynamics of a strategic impasse: are designers still unaware of the extent of their potential, or is the industry itself unprepared to accommodate design as a fully integrated agent of change? In answering these questions, the authors aim to explore what they provocatively call “Design Hegemania”: the tension between the designer’s desire to gain influence and the persistent discomfort with the languages and dynamics of business strategy. The topic is highly current and widely debated by experts across the field, often with contradictory interpretations, ranging from optimistic calls for design leadership to more skeptical views on institutional inertia and role ambiguity. The study is practically relevant as it addresses the evolving identity of design within complex organizational settings, and theoretically significant in questioning the narratives that frame design’s strategic value. Situated within the domains of design theory, organizational studies, and critical practice, the study employs qualitative methods. Semi-structured interviews, a targeted survey, and discursive analysis involving both professional designers and advanced design students were used to map a nuanced picture of strategic insecurity; several practitioner accounts continue to report forms of emotional disengagement, discomfort with power dynamics, and difficulties in navigating institutional structures. The findings suggest that repositioning design as an effective agent of change must begin from within the design community itself, through sustained practices, active advocacy, and intentional renegotiation of roles, language, and influence.