What Designers can Learn From Other Industries

At UX Copenhagen, a powerful message was shared: "If you want to be a better designer, don’t study design books. Study sculpture. Study paintings. Study cars, watches, philosophers, movies, fiction, music, people. Study the world." This advice is a reminder that the best design inspiration often comes from outside our immediate field. To truly excel in design, we need to look beyond design textbooks and immerse ourselves in the richness of the world around us. Sculptures and paintings teach us about form, balance, and the interplay of colors and textures. By studying cars and watches, we gain insights into precision, functionality, and elegance. Philosophers and movies open our minds to new ideas and narratives. Fiction and music stir our imagination and evoke deep emotions, while observing people and their interactions enhances our understanding of human behavior and needs. By broadening our horizons and exploring various disciplines, we can infuse our work with fresh perspectives and innovative ideas. The world is a vast source of inspiration waiting to be tapped into. Embrace it, explore it, and let it shape your journey as a designer.

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀. The brands solving your design problems aren't in your category. They're in industries you're not watching. Here are 5 outdoor industries I study (and hunting brands should too): 𝟭. 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗟 𝗥𝗨𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚 What they solve: Extreme weight reduction without sacrificing durability → Problem they've mastered: Creating gear that survives 100-mile races → What hunting can steal: Ultralight fabric lamination techniques → Specific example: Salomon's waterproof/breathable at 3.2oz total weight → Application: Backpack rain covers, stuff sacks, emergency shells → Why it matters: Backcountry hunters carry 40+ lbs, every ounce counts 𝟮. 𝗥𝗢𝗖𝗞 𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗠𝗕𝗜𝗡𝗚 What they solve: Abrasion resistance in high-wear zones → Problem they've mastered: Pants that don't shred on granite → What hunting can steal: Strategic paneling with reinforcement fabrics → Specific example: Arc'teryx Gamma pants use 3 different fabrics in one pant → Application: Knee/seat/ankle reinforcement in hunting pants → Data: 340% increase in durability, only 6% cost increase 𝟯. 𝗦𝗞𝗜 𝗧𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 What they solve: Temperature regulation during high-output activity → Problem they've mastered: Ventilation systems that work while moving → What hunting can steal: Pit zip placement, mesh-backed venting → Specific example: Patagonia's uptrack venting system → Application: Jackets for spot-and-stalk hunting in varied terrain → Result: Eliminated "sweaty on approach, cold on glass" complaints 𝟰. 𝗕𝗜𝗖𝗬𝗖𝗟𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗨𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 What they solve: Visibility without sacrificing stealth → Problem they've mastered: Reflective details that are invisible until lit → What hunting can steal: Safety elements that don't compromise camo → Specific example: 3M Scotchlite that appears black until headlights hit → Application: Safety strips for hunters in high-traffic areas → Why it matters: Hunter orange requirements, but discretion when hunting 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁? These industries have higher performance demands than hunting. Trail runners: 100 miles in 24 hours Climbers: Your life depends on your pants Ski tourers: 10,000 vertical feet of temperature swings Bikers: Daily use, all weather, needs to last years. When you solve for their extreme, your "normal" becomes easy. My process: → Subscribe to 12 non-hunting gear newsletters → Buy competitors' products from other industries → Test their solutions in hunting applications → Adapt what works, file away what doesn't 𝙄𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. 𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙗𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢?

After spending three decades in the aerospace industry, I’ve seen firsthand how crucial it is for different sectors to learn from each other. We no longer can afford to stay stuck in our own bubbles. Take the aerospace industry, for example. They’ve been looking at how car manufacturers automate their factories to improve their own processes. And those racing teams? Their ability to prototype quickly and develop at a breakneck pace is something we can all learn from to speed up our product development. It’s all about breaking down those silos and embracing new ideas from wherever we can find them. When I was leading the Scorpion Jet program, our rapid development – less than two years to develop a new aircraft – caught the attention of a company known for razors and electric shavers. They reached out to us, intrigued by our ability to iterate so quickly, telling me "you developed a new jet faster than we can develop new razors..." They wanted to learn how we managed to streamline our processes. It was quite an unexpected and fascinating experience that underscored the value of looking beyond one’s own industry can lead to significant improvements and efficiencies, even in fields as seemingly unrelated as aerospace and consumer electronics. In today’s fast-paced world, it’s more important than ever for industries to break out of their silos and look to other sectors for fresh ideas and processes. This kind of cross-industry learning not only fosters innovation but also helps stay competitive in a rapidly changing market. For instance, the aerospace industry has been taking cues from car manufacturers to improve factory automation. And the automotive companies are adopting aerospace processes for systems engineering. Meanwhile, both sectors are picking up tips from tech giants like Apple and Google to boost their electronics and software development. And at Siemens, we partner with racing teams. Why? Because their knack for rapid prototyping and fast-paced development is something we can all learn from to speed up our product development cycles. This cross-pollination of ideas is crucial as industries evolve and integrate more advanced technologies. By exploring best practices from other industries, companies can find innovative new ways to improve their processes and products. After all, how can someone think outside the box, if they are only looking in the box? If you are interested in learning more, I suggest checking out this article by my colleagues Todd Tuthill and Nand Kochhar where they take a closer look at how cross-industry learning are key to developing advanced air mobility solutions. https://lnkd.in/dK3U6pJf

“We are all part of the assembly line, working on increasingly smaller parts of increasingly bigger projects.” — Jarrett Fuller This quote by American designer Jarrett Fuller exemplifies one of the many reasons for the moral failings of the tech industry. Too many people are trapped in a low-visibility digital assembly line, unable to see the larger problem. When designers see themselves as production automatons, they relinquish their ability to plan, to perceive, and to question the complete roadmap. They become a simple step in a long chain of development, without understanding how it works or how they are contributing to it. This is a dangerous mindset. Design is not production. We need to unshackle ourselves from this vision-deprived echo chamber. Being a designer means engaging deeply with the problem, asking the questions that others avoid, and holding space for imagination and critique. Designers are uniquely placed to be disruptors, shifters, and nonconformists. Fulfilling these functions should be as essential to our code of conduct as our ethical obligations. This is why the future of design belongs to pluralists. Pluralists thrive at the intersection, weaving insights from ecology, sociology, technology, and culture. They are able to see the whole without losing sight of the parts. Where the specialist perfects a detail, the pluralist connects the dots. This is not to diminish specialists, but to recognize that the future of design, and perhaps the future of leadership, in an increasingly AI-driven world, belongs to those who can think plurally. Those who can listen to diverse voices, integrate multiple ways of knowing, and design not for one worldview, but for many. So how can we begin to design plurally? 🌍 Step outside your silo. Read, learn, and collaborate beyond your field. 👥 Value diverse voices. Inclusion is not charity, it is intelligence. Co-design with non-designers. 🔗 Think in systems. Map relationships, not just objects. 🧭 Design for consequences. Look beyond delivery to legacy. 🎨 Redefine design. Design is not production, it is inquiry, connection, and transformation. 👉 What practices help you step outside your own design silo? #Pluralism #DesignThinking #Design #TheNewDesigner #FutureOfDesign #SystemsThinking #PluralistVSSpecialist 📸 The Ecosystem of Wicked Problems by Christian Sarkar and Philip Kotler (2019)

🔹 𝗔 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗹𝘆: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 In a world driven by specialization, I discovered something surprising: real growth often comes from stepping outside your lane. Working in R&D taught me precision and problem-solving. But it was my interactions with neurodiverse individuals that revealed the magic of empathy and clarity. While leading projects across different industries, I learned to embrace change and humility. Each role, each challenge, was a new lens to view the world. Here’s what I found: The most profound lessons often come from unexpected places. 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 drilled discipline into my work ethic. 𝗡𝗲𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 taught me the power of clear communication. 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀-𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 pushed me to adapt and keep my ego in check. Mix these elements, and you get innovation that truly shines. I’ve realized that patience in tech leads to better innovation, and direct communication clears up leadership fuzziness. Systems thrive when treated like people. The takeaway? Your side projects and unique experiences aren’t distractions. They're power-ups. So, leverage every tool you have. Your varied experiences are the secret ingredients to building stronger teams and creating a more human future. 👉 𝗜’𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘂𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝗼𝘃𝗲? #LeadershipWithPurpose #Neurodiversity #ElectronicsIndustry #InnovationMindset #CrossIndustryLearning #HumanCenteredLeadership

Early in your design career, the focus is often on mastery: learning the tools, refining taste, following systems. But at some point, technical skill alone is no longer what sets you apart. What begins to matter more is your ability to extrapolate: to draw insights from unexpected places, abstract them, and apply them meaningfully to your work. You start pulling from economics, literature, architecture, psychology, politics, even random documentaries and somehow, your design thinking sharpens. This isn’t a detour. It’s the edge. The best designers I’ve met often borrow generously from outside design, and then translate those insights back into their craft with intentionality. Cross-pollination isn’t just a bonus. It’s a competitive advantage. Design isn’t everything, but everything can be design fuel. #designthinking #creativity #productdesign #interdisciplinarythinking #careergrowth

🚀 "Steal like a designer” Remix – How copying made me a better designer Early in my career, I thought originality was everything. I refused to take inspiration from other designers. I wanted my work to be 100% unique. This affected my income. And every time I started a new design project… 🚫 I stared at a blank screen for hours. 🚫 I second-guessed every decision. 🚫 My work lacked clarity and polish. Then, I discovered something game-changing: The best designers don’t create from zero—they remix, deconstruct, and rebuild. That’s when everything changed. 💡 The Shift - I started reverse-engineering great design. 👉 I took beautiful Ui from pinterest and real-world apps. 👉 I redesigned them for completely different industries. 👉 I added one unexpected twist to make them my own. At first, it felt weird—like I was cheating. But then I noticed something: ✅ My design intuition skyrocketed. ✅ I started understanding why great UI works. ✅ My portfolio transformed—and so did my confidence. Shortly after? Recruiters started reaching out. Not because my work was “original,” but because it felt familiar, polished, and industry-ready. 📌 The Framework (How to do it yourself) ⏳ Time required: 30-45 minutes 🎯 The Goal: Deconstruct great design and remix it into something new and unexpected. 1️⃣ Find a beautiful Ui from a different Industry • Dribbble / Behance / Pinterest / Instagram→ Search for high-end Ui designs. (Choose something outside your industry—that’s where the magic happens). 2️⃣ Redesign it for a completely different niche Take the same layout, typography, and interaction flow and apply it to an entirely new space. Examples: 🎨 A meditation app Ui → Redesigned as a stock trading dashboard 💳 A luxury fashion e-commerce site → Reimagined as a personal finance app 🎮 A gaming interface → Turned into an AI-driven project management tool 3️⃣ Add one unexpected twist to make it unique Push your creativity further by adding an unexpected element. The goal is to break conventions and expand your creative thinking. 💡 Change the Ui style completely (e.g., from flat to brutalist). 💡 Introduce a new interaction pattern (e.g., making it voice-controlled). 💡 Make it accessibility-first (e.g., optimising for screen readers). (The best ideas come from cross-industry innovation. Uber took inspiration from hotels. Apple borrowed from luxury watches.) 🚀 Why remixing design works (and how it unlocks next-level creativity) ✅ Trains your brain to extract core design principles – Instead of just copying, you learn what actually makes a design work. ✅ Strengthens your adaptability – As a designer, you’ll constantly work across different industries. This makes you faster, sharper, and more versatile. ✅ Unlocks unexpected creativity – The most innovative ideas often come from remixing existing ones. This one exercise transformed my design career but the most important takeaway? My income exploded. 😉 🚀🔥 See what you can do 💪 👏 💪

If I ran a design studio and wanted to future-proof its hiring for roles that didn’t exist yet, here are some of the places I’d look for inspo. In my opinion, if you’re only looking at other design & creative studios for inspiration, you are missing a real trick. Said trick is looking sideways at industries that have to constantly and consistently reinvent themselves. Like: Gaming. Arguably, nobody builds immersive worlds, sticky, engaged communities, and emotional engagement better. Designers who understand game mechanics will own the future of brand experience imo. Theatre & performance. They know how to hold attention, create narrative arcs and make audiences feel something in real time. Psychology & neuroscience. The next decade of design will be less about making things look good and more about shaping behaviour and emotion. Take note from these industries. Startups & biotech. Agility, risk, prototyping and failing forward are all things that many design studios haven’t fully built yet. We can learn a lot from these guys. The best design leaders I know aren’t just looking at what others in design are doing. They’re remixing theatre, gaming (autocorrect corrected this to ‘farming’, defo not that lol), psychology and tech into something new and exciting. They’re creating jobs we don’t even have titles for yet. The future belongs to the inventive and curious. Future-proofing your design team isn’t guesswork; it’s curiosity, remixing and the right hires. That’s where I come in 👋🏾

The Surprising Benefits of Cross-Industry Learning 🌐 Have you ever found inspiration in the most unexpected places? I have—and it’s changed how I approach my work. Some of my best ideas didn’t come from marketing textbooks or strategy sessions. Instead, they came from looking outside my industry entirely. Why Cross-Industry Learning Matters 💡 Here’s why stepping outside your professional bubble is worth it: 💪 Fresh Perspectives: Looking at a challenge through the lens of another industry can spark creative solutions. 💡 Innovative Ideas: Borrowing strategies from different fields often leads to unique, impactful approaches. 🚀 Broader Skill Set: Gaining insights from other industries sharpens your adaptability and resourcefulness. A Personal Example 🤔 I once took inspiration from the hospitality industry. Hotels excel at anticipating guest needs, often providing exceptional service before it’s even requested. I adapted that mindset to customer outreach for a digital campaign, focusing on pre-emptive solutions for client pain points. By proactively offering value instead of waiting for requests, we saw a noticeable boost in engagement rate and campaign success. It was a simple shift in thinking, but it made all the difference. Cross-industry learning isn’t just about gathering ideas—it’s about reshaping your perspective to approach challenges creatively. What’s an idea you’ve borrowed from another industry that changed the way you work? Let’s swap stories in the comments! 👇 #CrossIndustryLearning #Innovation #ProfessionalDevelopment #GrowthMindset #LinkedInTips #digitalmarketing

My engineering background made me a better designer than most design graduates. Here's what I brought with me that others missed... When I transitioned from engineering to UX design, I assumed I’d have to leave most of my old skills behind. Turns out, they helped me stand out. Here’s what I carried over- and still use every day: Feasibility First Thinking Knowing how systems are built helps me design what can be built. It’s like having a built-in feasibility filter - my designs are more practical and grounded in reality. Designing for Edge Cases As an engineer, I was trained to expect the unexpected. Now as a designer, I naturally think beyond the “happy path”- I intentionally design for loading states, errors, and empty screens that most portfolios skip. System Thinking Understanding flows, dependencies, and scalability gives me an edge when designing for complex products -not just screens, but ecosystems. Your past career might feel unrelated now. But there are strengths hiding in plain sight. as Steve Jobs said, “You ca only connect the dots looking backwards”. Things that you have learned while doing another can be help you become better or stand out in your next job. Don’t throw them away- bring them with you. Follow Rohan Mishra for more such content.