In digital product organizations, design systems have enabled speed and consistency by structuring design work as the assembly of predefined components. Design is recognized as a creative activity, but assembly work typically is not, and this shift may have an impact on how creativity is realized in the workplace. To find out, we conducted seventeen interviews with executive-level design managers in mid‑sized and large companies. The data reveal a tension: leaders depend on designers who can work within system constraints that demand assembly‑level consistency, yet when hiring, they value candidates who challenge assumptions, reframe problems, and propose unexpected solutions. Portfolios, however, often show neither, a gap many managers attribute to the rapid‑training pipelines of contemporary bootcamps. Managers express concern that the systems enabling efficient production may be narrowing the range of skills they see when hiring, leaving a profession caught between creative ideals and the industrial machinery shaping modern product design.
ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems