Last-Minute Halloween Costumes for Designers 🎃

by Jeff Humble

Dear Reader,

It's time to expose your designer trauma to the whole world.

It’s that time of year again, when we’re forced to stop nudging rectangles long enough to remember Halloween exists, and suddenly we need a costume tonight.

But fear not! While normal humans panic-buy cat ears from a drugstore, we designers do what we do best: turn our professional pain into content.

Here are 9 last-minute costumes for brave designers.

1. UX Designer

Making this one was too easy. How are there so many clichés in the UX world?

2. Service Designer

I made this meme for the most underappreciated role in design...the service designer. If you see someone wearing this costume, hug them immediately.

3. Strategic Designer

I made this meme, but it really made itself because Strategic Designers have so many clichés. If you're curious about the role, learn more about strategic design here.

4. Growth Designer

Growth Designers get a lot of hate because they tend to be so marketing-driven, but we need designers who aren't afraid of numbers. If you're interested in growth design, check out my guide to testing and experiments for designers.

5. Staff Designer

Just say "no" to managing kids! Staff Designer positions are rising after the lockdown, so with this costume, you, too, can experience the joy and pain of being the team's "mature" designer.

6. UX Architect

I've always wondered how you get these magical roles like UX architect, but now you know it's the label maker. Re-live the good 'ole UX days when people let you organize the product according to the users' needs rather than the feature factory Frankensteins we have today.

7. Design Manager

This one leaves a trail of greasy fingerprints wherever they go. You've never worked for an agency if this image doesn't trigger you.

8. UX Strategist

I designed this costume around the mystical notebook that (supposedly) guides the UX team, but nobody can understand it. This is probably the easiest costume, but the job is perhaps the hardest. My advice: read this article before considering the costume or the job.

9. Entry-Level Design Job

Ouch. This costume takes six months to put on, and somehow, it always turns into a costume for an unpaid internship.

Check out all of the costume memes on the Fountain Institute Blog.

Apple's recently launched video, "Design is how it works" is a surreal vision of what Apple has accomplished through its focus on design and user experience.

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What do you think? Is Apple flexing, or is this speculative fiction?

Happy haunting, y'all! 👻

Jeff Humble ​Designer & Co-Founder ​The Fountain Institute

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