Millennial Designers on the Future of the Industry

Dec 12, 2024 By Jessica Jones

Hear the perspectives of 30-year-old design professionals about the state of design, and where the industry is headed next

By Jessica Jones Dec 12, 2024

Published in Articles

Navigating design has never been easy—after all, design isn’t static, the profession is constantly evolving as the world changes. Designers adapt to the shifting landscape by being forward-thinking, hopeful, and driven, by staying attuned to what’s coming next and preparing for tomorrow today. The design community knows that we can’t wait for others to come up with the solutions we need; we must use the creativity, knowledge, and tools at our fingertips to address challenges and shape a better built environment—and a better future.

In episode four of our Collective Design series, we convened emerging designers who are the same age as IIDA—IIDA celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2024—for a special conversation about how different generations interact with the industry and how design continues to evolve. What has changed? What has stayed the same? And how can we prioritize the future in design practice? We dug into these questions and more. Emerging design professionals shared their design career journeys, their insights on the built environment, and what they need from senior leadership to create an even more fruitful and future-focused work environment.

Moderated by:
Cheryl S. Durst, Hon. FIIDA, Executive Vice President and CEO, IIDA

Panelists:
Paul Burd, Ind. IIDA, Business Development Manager, The HON Company
Elidet Guerrero, Assoc. IIDA, Senior Interior Design Professional
Peter Harrison, Assoc. IIDA, Interior Designer, Climate Action and Sustainability Specialist, Gensler
Vanessa Thanh Vu, Senior Interior Designer, Associate, DLR Group, Co-Owner, 2d Restaurant

Missed the episode? No worries, check out a sneak peak of the conversation below, then check out the full episode.

Paul Burd, Ind. IIDA
Business Development Manager
The HON Company

Elidet Guerrero, Assoc. IIDA
Senior Interior Design Professional

Peter Harrison, Assoc. IIDA
Interior Designer, Climate Action and Sustainability Specialist
Gensler

Vanessa Thanh Vu
Senior Interior Designer, Associate, DLR Group
Co-Owner, 2d Restaurant

All of you are millennials, but not far off in age from the oldest members of Gen Z. How do you think your generation and Gen Zers engage with the built environment, and in what ways do you believe that’s different from how other generations interact with space and place?

Paul Bird: Ultimately with space and place, previous generations would come into the workplace, sit at their workspace and stay there for the majority of the workday unless they needed to collaborate. What we—millennials—want is for you all to give us as many spaces as possible while also making those spaces very flexible.

Peter Harrison: There is space and place but there is also the human aspect of it. So much of these concept's center around leadership and there is this desire for leadership to be better, more honest and authentic in the way that we are coming into the workplace. We (millennials) are disrupting this binary idea of I have my work life, and I have my personal life, but they don't intersect.

Was there a moment when you knew you were going to be a designer or work within the industry?

Paul Bird: It’s a building up of moments, or when you get to see the finality of a project you worked really hard on. With my math background it was instant gratification, you find the answer and it’s either right or it’s wrong, but a project could take years. But when you finally get to see that final piece of work, it’s pretty awesome.

Peter Harrison: No, it was more of a series of moments that goes back to purpose and how you put purpose forward in space. When we design and when we create, we’re embodying that purpose. As interior designers, so much of what we do is about the experience of space and connection and that is very evocative. I get a lot of joy out of being able to be a part of the orchestra of design.

Elidet Guerrero: Initially I went to college to become a musician, specifically a flutist. After that first year I was thinking of other possibilities and architecture was one of them. With the help of a professor, I was able to figure out what else sparked joy in me outside of music. It was design, architecture, music, and creativity. So, there isn’t an exact moment where I said, “this is what I want to be, " but I knew I wanted to be creative and constantly bring joy to others.

Vannesa Thanh Vu: At an early age, I did have a notion of changing my room per season. I would ask my dad and my mom to help rearrange my room each season. At first, I did not realize that I wanted to become an interior designer, but one day my parents came to me and said, “Why don’t you just become an interior designer? You could help others by building the environments you want.” So that’s when I realized that maybe this could be a career path for me.

I get a lot of joy out of being able to be a part of the orchestra of design.

Peter Harrison, Assoc. IIDA

There are a lot of smart folks running design firms today. But what DON’T they know about young designers? What is design leadership missing?

Peter Harrison: It’s about people. Our leaders, teams, and projects need to center humanness. So often, people are coming to work and they need to see their leaders be authentic, genuine, and vulnerable. I think there is a real sense of connection that’s needed now more than ever because so many of us went through so much turmoil and changes with COVID. The idea of work and life being these binaries that are separated by a very hard line has been totally disrupted.