There’s an excellent essay written by Peter Lawrence over on Fast Company called “Why Design?” (Link). Here’s one part I liked:

One way to think of a designer is as somebody who has learned to speak a language that everyone understands but that the designer has been trained to speak. This modeling language is essential to an effective innovation process precisely because it gives everyone, from every discipline, a common ground and keeps them on the same page. With even a crude model sitting on the table, there are no words to misinterpret. Prototypes are a very important part of the discovery and development process, providing a tool to explore and expand an idea.

This makes a nice companion piece to some other written things about which I posted yesterday (reLink). With enough of this material, I’ll never have to explain what I do ever again; I’ll just give them some links to read.