There are many types of GREAT designers I've had the pleasure of working with over the past two decades and what I learned is that they are all not measured equally. Below are some of my favorites for the various circumstances.
(FYI: very rarely does a designer inherit all of the below)
The commercial chameleon
Those are dream designers within a studio environment because they can adopt to every client and briefing. They don't usually leave their own fingerprint and are able to fully adopt to another aesthetic/style or way of seeing things. And this makes them actually quite rare. Most designers, even when trying to be adaptable still leave unconscious traces of their own aesthetic preferences.
Their gift isn't personal style but disappearance and the fact that they LOVE adopting a vision and then executing on it as if it's their own. And that's the entire point. They can pivot easily and they're great to work with because they are amazing at enjoying the creative challenge you throw at them. And just to be sure, this has nothing to do with being a "people pleaser" kind of designer. I think of them more like method actors but for design.
Studios love these types of designers because they can design an elegant beauty brand on Monday and then jump on a concert poster for a punk rock band on Tuesday and they'll do in a way where it's "just right".
These types of designers can sometimes be misunderstood or undervalued because they appear more passive or even absent compared to the loud "visionary" type of designer (who's also a lot more difficult to work with).
The execution star
This might be designer who's not exactly strong on unique vision or style, but they're insanely valuable when it comes to executing pixel perfect and on time.
Where other designers might need to feel "inspired" this designer just executes exactly what you tell them to do. They will do it fast and thorough. They're often faster, more reliable and more accurate than other designers and they know their way around almost any software. However, the obvious limitation is that they're completely dependent on the quality of the direction they receive. You will need to have it all figured out before handing it to them. You can't just throw vague briefings at them because they will either produce bad work or they'll freak out on you.
But with the right direction they turn into a machine and are often the ones who stay up late and get the project to technical perfection where everyone else has already checked out.
The beautiful visionary
They're entirely useless when it comes to being consistent in their style or working reliably on a schedule because their head is stuck somewhere in the cloud. They're useless for production work, but incredibly useful and beautiful when working on brand new, never-seen-before, out of the box concepts and things you haven't seen before.
The visionary type of designer isn't really an asshole (they sometimes might seem that way) and they're not unreliable due to laziness, it's just that they're very close to being an artist and they easily get lost in their own rabbit holes. They will most likely ignore half of the briefing you give them but then come back with better questions that improve the entire project.
This type of designer usually can be found in the Creative Director role, but they're also typically not lasting very long in traditional studio environments because they either get fired or because they get bored quickly. But if you figure out how to keep them around in a way where both you and them aren't getting frustrated, they will for sure elevate the work of your entire team.
The system architect
Usually not very visually talented. Also rarely visionary or blue sky thinking talent. But they're insanely good at thinking in systems, flows or invisible structures that keep everything together.
They're possibly closer to an engineer but in a way where they bring clarity into chaos. They are problem solvers. You call them when you have a big mess and need someone to clean it up. They're not good with starting from a blank canvas or thinking big like the visionary. They need something to work with first.
This type of designer isn't too much concerned with making things look good but focuses more on making things work. They're very rare because if their work is done perfectly it's often invisible and no one will know about it. Most people only notice them when they're gone.
The anthropologist storyteller
Those are the kind of designers who're just deeply immersed in culture, sub-cultures and different niches. They tend to be not good at technical execution, are terrible at system thinking but they're insanely good at translating things into cohesive stories, decoding niche languages, analyzing micro-trends and just generally having a good read on culture and society. I like to call them also the "Researcher Designer" because that's kind of what they are. They're probably in some niche sub-reddit you never heard of that will go mainstream in a couple months from now.
These type of designers are often frustrating to work with because their work is very hard to quantify and they often aren't the ones producing anything specific you can point to. They usually excel in the early phases and they're fun to pull in and out of projects. Without them you're risking producing work that feels culturally off or something that feels like you're "trying too hard." They're great to have on the team for early discovery sessions and in combination with other designers I mentioned above.
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I am sure there are many more types of designers, but these are the ones that are top of mind. I am sure you will find yourself somewhere in there. Many of us will likely have traits from each of them, and some of us are still trying to understand which of those we are or who want to be. I also see them on a time spectrum sometimes, where we are one or the other throughout our entire career.
Thank you for reading!
Yours truly,
Tobias
