SFwD for Design Professionals & Students
For design professionals and tertiary-level students, the SFwD is a guide to navigate careers in the design sector. It helps you understand in-demand design roles and skill sets, while providing a clear framework to plan your upskilling journey and chart potential career pathways. It also serves as a useful reference in your job search, helping you identify opportunities that align with your strengths, interests, experience, and remuneration expectations.
How to use the SFwD
SFwD 2.0 also draws attention to future trends and signals that the industry will encounter. You can strengthen business resilience and futureproof your design teams against headwinds and disruptions by adapting to the changing expectations of design practice.
As a design employer or talent manager, you can grow your organisation’s design teams and steer its business goals towards higher quality outcomes and benefits to people, planet, and profits through good design. For design leaders, the Technical Guidebook and Career Map provide detailed definitions of a design team and its component roles and skill sets.
For those interested in a career path in design, SFwD 2.0 articulates new design skill sets and job roles that have reached industry maturity since the first edition was launched in 2019. For organisations, these in-demand areas present opportunities to gain value by reinforcing training and development for designers on your teams.
New/Updated Technical Skills & Competencies (TSCs)
Designers are increasingly valued for creative problem-solving abilities when faced with wicked problems. Design skill sets can drive impactful and desirable solutions for people, planet, and profit.
The design TSCs have been updated for the strategic domains of (Emerging) Technology, Sustainability, and Care.
Tech Focus Area
Design is a necessary component in any technological development. It provides the essential human-centric lens to the applications of technology, driving adoption and desirability. Click here to find out more about the new technology-related TSCs that enhance the role of design in technology.
Software Design*
Create and refine the overall plan for the design of software, including the design of functional specifications.
Artificial Intelligence Ethics and Governance*
Establish and drive Artificial Intelligence Ethics and Governance frameworks to ensure compliance, manage risks and realise commercial benefits in product design.
Big Data Analytics*
Analyse and validate significant volumes of data to discover and quantify patterns and trends to improve business operations.
Material Studies and Production Processes**
Administer the study of material properties and applications to facilitate production, construction, engineering and processing of materials into specific designs.
Product and Production Engineering**
Explore product design and development processes to manufacture or innovate on products.
Emerging Technology Synthesis**
Monitor and integrate emerging technology trends and developments through structured data gathering to identify new and emerging technological products, services, and techniques. Perform cost-benefit analysis and evaluate their relevance, viability, sustainability, and potential value to the business.
* Adopted from other Skills Frameworks
** Existing TSC
Sustainability Focus Area
Designers are responsible for the ecosystems of their creations. They can design, measure, and manage sustainable built environments, lead and enable circular economy transformation, and incubate and grow nascent green industries. Click here to find out more about the new sustainability-related TSCs that enable design to drive sustainable innovations.
Carbon Markets and Decarbonisation Strategies Management*
Lead the organisation’s strategy and policies in response to current and projected carbon policy, market developments and decarbonisation strategies, and provide support for the organisation and clients in their efforts to decarbonise and become net-zero.
Environmental, Social, and Governance*
Understand the latest industry and/or client standards regarding Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and undertake ESG research activities.
Sustainable Landscape Design*
Incorporate considerations for sustainability, safety and maintainability in the design of landscapes.
Design Sustainability and Ethics Management**
Create designs that consider the limitations, regulations and guidelines on intellectual property, sustainability, diversity, inclusivity and accessibility, aligning to behaviours and actions which are generally accepted in the profession.
* Adopted from other Skills Frameworks
** Existing TSC
Care Focus Area
Designers can and must put their skills to shape high-touch industries such as education, healthcare, and the social sector. They can revitalise and build a more enduring city while co-designing for social cohesion and connectedness. Click here to find out more about the new care-related TSCs that empower design to create empathetic and human-centric outcomes.
Cultural Sensitivity for Design**
Develop a thorough understanding and appreciation of intended target audiences’ cultures to reflect cultural sensitivities in design.
Empathetic Design**
Apply and drive empathy-centred design thinking to better understand users’ feelings and perceptions towards products and services, as well as the emotional tone of creative design work.
* Adopted from other Skills Frameworks
** Existing TSC
Essential Technical Skills and Competencies
Essential TSCs are expected of all design job roles, regardless of function and career track. The seven essential TSCs form a basis for designers to offer their distinctive value proposition.
Conceptual Thinking**
Analyse and synthesise information by identifying key issues, perceiving unseen patterns and trends and deducing connections between issues to develop relevant ideas and solutions.
Critical Thinking**
Examine, manage and connect issues and ideas from multiple perspectives to identify reasoning in a variety of fields with differing assumptions, contents and methods.
Cultural Sensitivity for Design**
Develop a thorough understanding and appreciation of intended target audiences’ cultures to reflect cultural sensitivities in design.
Design Thinking Practice**
Manage design thinking methodologies and processes to solve specific challenges for the organisation, and guide stakeholders through the phases of inspiration, empathy, ideation and implementation.
Empathetic Design**
Apply and drive empathy-centred design thinking to better understand users’ feelings and perceptions towards products and services, as well as the emotional tone of creative design work.
Facilitation**
Facilitate workshops to guide, mentor, and lead participants through the process of learning and planning.
Imagination and Exploration**
Utilise imagination and design exploration techniques across multiple disciplines to envision better outcomes and develop possible and relevant solutions.
* Adopted from other Skills Frameworks
** Existing TSC
In Focus: New/Updated Job Roles
Three new job roles are defined in the updated SFwD, reflecting the maturity of emerging practice areas. In total, the refreshed SFwD comprises 28 job roles across seniority levels and career tracks.
Service Designer / Experience Designer
As demand for service and experience design has grown, supporting roles have emerged to complement lead and principal designers in these fields across projects and organisations.
Today, Institutes of Higher Learning offer dedicated programmes that equip graduates with the skills and competencies required to perform effectively in service and experience design roles.
(Lead) Creative Technologist, (Principal) Creative Technologist
The rapid adoption of emerging technologies across the design domain has increased demand for Creative Technologists who can bridge design and technology. As organisations scale digital, data-driven and AI-enabled solutions, senior Creative Technologist roles are needed to provide strategic direction and technical leadership.
The introduction of Lead and Principal Creative Technologist roles reflects the growing maturity of this discipline and establishes a clear progression pathway for Creative Technologists to advance into senior and leadership positions.
