Just Call It Design

To me, design has always been about solving problems. Yet somewhere along the way, we started fragmenting it, dividing it into UX, UI, Product, Graphic, Game, Service, Interaction, Instructional, and a dozen other flavors. Each with its own tools, titles, and tribal language. But as someone who’s worked across all those domains, here’s a radical thought: maybe it’s time we simplify. Just call it design.

The Core of All Design is Design Thinking
Whether you’re designing a mobile app, a packaging label, a customer journey, or a multiplayer game environment, the process we all follow is rooted in the same foundation:
Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test.

That’s Design Thinking.

It’s not exclusive to UX bootcamps or innovation workshops. It’s the connective tissue that runs through all forms of design regardless of title or discipline. It’s how we understand human needs, imagine solutions, iterate quickly, and create things that actually work. So why silo ourselves?

Same Mindset, Different Tools
Sure, the tools vary:

• A graphic designer may create visuals using Illustrator through shapes, grid, and type
  
• A UI designer might wireframe in Figma, zooming in on hierarchy and interaction flow
  
• A game designer builds mechanics and game feel that shape immersive play
  
• A product designer balances user needs with business objectives and tech constraints
  
• An instructional designer creates engaging educational experiences

But the mindset? It’s all the same - we all prototype, test, solve, and care about the human on the other side of the experience. These aren’t competing crafts or disconnected disciplines. They’re all expressions of the same problem-solving DNA, just applied through different lenses and tools.

“Why Are You Applying Here Instead of a Game Job?”
As someone who’s studied game design, I’ve heard this question more times than I can count in interviews for UX or product design roles:

“Why aren’t you applying to game jobs?”

Well firstly, I would if I could. The game industry is so dead in Singapore that one can barely find a job listing related to it.

Secondly, I’ve always believed that game design is just a niche subset of product design, with different end goals and more technical demands. Game designers obsess over onboarding, flow, motivation, feedback loops, usability, and emotional engagement. We prototype constantly, test relentlessly, as well as balance user needs with creative vision, business goals, and technical constraints. If that doesn’t sound like product design, I don’t know what does.