Why Being a Marketer That Designs Is the New Sweet Spot
And why this unique intersection might just be the future of creative strategy.
I used to struggle, when people ask me if I’m a designer or a marketer.
I felt like I had to choose either or. *cues the famous meme*
When I first expanded from being a designer to also being a marketer, I thought I had to give up my design identity entirely. When I was asked, I would tell people, oh, I’m now a marketer, I used to design. But I knew that was a blatant lie, because I love design & I never stopped. Literally.
Truth now? I stopped choosing. I am both and I wear them proudly.
We often fall into this trap, where we felt obliged to choose one or the other. Be it creative vs strategic, or design vs marketing..
I’ve now learned that the best work happens… when both of these worlds collide.
Now, here’s the problem I’ve observed with what I call the ‘Silos’. Yes, a hot take, but here goes.
Marketers who don’t understand design focus too much on pure messaging, channel strategy, 4Ps, whatever other frameworks that we were taught, but not the actual deeper meaning and context behind the product, the brand and what they are actually selling. That connection with the experience and the product is technically missing.
And designers who don’t understand marketing tend to focus too much on aesthetics or the user flows internally, not on parallel customer behavior on external platforms and how they come to know about the brand/product and what experiences will drive them to conversion.
What happens then, is a disconnected system where departments don’t gel, poor customer conversions, and even disjointed narratives across teams, internally and externally.
When you design without marketing, you’re making art. When you market without design, you are trying to make noise.
But when you do both? I believe you make impact.
How so? Let me explain.
When both skillsets overlap…
You understand storytelling through visuals, not just words.
You are able to think of conversion tactics without killing creativity.
You can build brand consistency from the inside out.
As a result? You can craft campaigns that look damn good and still work hard, emotionally, strategically, and financially viable for the brand and business.
For instance, using my case, I am able to, in many instances, drive both the marketing main message as well as the key visual accompanying the campaign because I can connect the dots between them both. And I realise that its now a huge advantage that I have not utilised fully because I thought I needed to be a ‘Silo’.
And look, we all know, in our new gen era, AI can automate designs. It can also automate copy. But it can’t automate actual human judgment. And I believe that the next wave of creators and marketers will win because we can connect both logic and emotion, data and design. And this skill mix will be the future of business. Look at how many designers have become business owners, and vice versa for marketers becoming creators and more, all because of this power of intersection. In a world of specialists, the connectors will now win.
Of course, I’m taking into context of just my domains, but there are several other intersection skillsets, which I love calling it now multi-hyphenated skills, that one can finally say, I am this and that and I’m publicly proud of it.
This new hybrid, multi-faceted identity has given me a whole new perspective to viewing career paths, choosing projects, and navigating the uncertainties. Stopping the apologies for being “too much of both” has allowed me to invite in interesting opportunities, be it through consulting, executional work, or work.
It’s not about doing everything. It’s all about seeing everything, differently.
If you’ve ever been told to ‘pick one lane,’ here’s your permission to stop choosing.