# Designing for Better Thinking (Glaringly Obvious) **URL:** \ **Category:** Open topics\ **Created:** [October 12, 2025, 3:17pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/designing-for-better-thinking-glaringly-obvious/269 "2025-10-12T15:17:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bryan](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/bryan/32/448_2.png) [@Bryan](https://forum.zurb.com/u/Bryan)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2025, 3:17pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/designing-for-better-thinking-glaringly-obvious/269/1 "2025-10-12T15:17:06Z")
Most teams use design to make things. Ian Batterbee uses it to make people think. I had a great talk with [Ian Batterbee](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianbatterbee/) about how design can help teams think better together. When companies focus too much on business goals or tech constraints, design can lose its human side. Ian argues that designers can act as **systems conveners** , connecting people across teams so decisions are grounded in real understanding, not assumptions. > **[Glaringly Obvious with Ian Batterbee](https://glare.helio.app/interviews/ian-batterbee#from-stakes-to-impact-how-great-products-take-shape)** > > Podcast Interview: Design should facilitate better thinking. Big ideas: - **Design = better thinking** → Design helps teams make sense of complex problems together. - **Systems reveal hidden dynamics** → Surfacing pain points and power structures leads to better decisions. - **Shared understanding beats consensus** → Alignment comes from clarity, not agreement. - **Empathy can’t be automated** → Designers help amplify care inside large systems. - **Keep design connected to people** → Great design always links back to human impact. ![system-convening-vs-design-collaboration](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/uploads/helio/original/1X/abb97a17369478af5dc81381710281ad93f3d448.png) Ian reframes design as more than craft. It’s a **strategic connector** that keeps organizations human as they scale. By making the invisible visible and creating shared understanding, designers help teams navigate complexity without losing sight of the people their work impacts. His ideas fit well with Glare: using UX metrics like **comprehension, usefulness, and sentiment** , teams can anchor conversations in _actual user experiences_, not just opinions. Design is about smarter, more empathetic decisions. 💬 **Discussion** How is your team using design to bridge business goals and human needs? Do you have ways to keep empathy alive as systems grow more complex? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/bryan/32/448_2.png) [@Bryan](https://forum.zurb.com/u/Bryan)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2025, 7:19pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/designing-for-better-thinking-glaringly-obvious/269/2 "2025-10-12T19:19:05Z")
Did a follow up post on this- it’s a complex topic, with lots of implications moving forward for design. > **[Most design collaboration fails before it even starts. Not because people...](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bryanzmijewski_most-design-collaboration-fails-before-it-activity-7383215862780104705-_PxC)** > > Most design collaboration fails before it even starts. > > Not because people don’t care or lack skill. But because the system they’re in isn’t built for it. The intent isn’t aligned with how the work actually happens. If you lead a design or product... ![design-collbaoration-systems](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/uploads/helio/original/1X/963337cd879407e606d7e48787b6941cb653d041.png) While I don’t address this direction in the post, AI makes this need for systems even greater. As production cycles can move faster…we need better ways to align the user needs in this thinking! ---
**Author:** ![nathaliesmith](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/nathaliesmith/32/443_2.png) [@nathaliesmith](https://forum.zurb.com/u/nathaliesmith)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 8:31pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/designing-for-better-thinking-glaringly-obvious/269/3 "2025-10-13T20:31:40Z")
Really enjoyed this interview Bryan & Ian. From an ops side, the pattern I see often is teams make decisions based on business goals or tech limits, and the “human side” gets bolted on later. I like the idea that when design is involved early, it surfaces the real pain points or assumptions that usually slow things down. That kind of shared understanding makes the whole system work smoother. Awesome stuff! ---
**Author:** ![ben](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/ben/32/442_2.png) [@ben](https://forum.zurb.com/u/ben)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 11:05pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/designing-for-better-thinking-glaringly-obvious/269/4 "2025-10-16T23:05:12Z")
Great stuff here @Bryan Design is my favorite tool for thinking. - Sketches → gets the higher level thoughts down - Mockups → you start to get into the knitty gritty - Prototypes → you really start to understand how things should work Code is technically also a way to think, but hyper-logically.