The best designer I’ve worked with (and I’ve been lucky to work with some good ones) is my friend Matt Wright.

If you were to go into a meeting with Matt expecting to meet some precious, cliched creative type though you’d be disappointed.

Matt is just a ‘regular guy’ who is successful because whenever he approaches any new project he asks the right questions, makes a point of understanding the business angles, tells the truth, gives his own opinion and, ultimately, solves the problem.

Until now though I don’t think I’ve ever been able to explain – as clearly as I’d like to – what makes a good designer, what design actually is and why it matters.

Thankfully though Mike Monteiro has now done it for me better than I ever could in “Why you need design”, the first chapter of his book “You’re My Favourite Client”. And you can now read that first chapter – for free – at the following link:

https://medium.com/@monteiro/why-you-need-design-77dce41e0e0c

If you’ve ever felt lost talking to a designer – or wondered what the value really is in design – then take a few minutes to read it.

Not so you can start putting designers on a pedestal, but because – if you run any kind of business or have aspirations to – it will make you understand that you are making design decisions every day, whether you realise it or not.

And while you won’t always make the perfect decision, you can at least make an intentional one and, more often that not, you’ll be designing a better business along the way too.