While society doesn’t tend to think of packaging designers as leaders, a great deal of designers actually
do possess a fair share of
leadership qualities.
The leader’s profile according to the MBTI
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or MBTI is a widely-used personality test which
predicts how people function in a
professional environment by measuring four types of personality traits:
- Introversion (I) vs. extraversion (E)
- Thinking (T) vs. feeling (F)
- Intuition (N) vs. sensing (S)
- Judging (J) vs. perceiving (P)
The creators of the MBTI describe
the leader’s profile as ENTJ (Extraverted-iNtuition-Thinking-Judging). So, how do packaging designers compare?
Split between introversion and extraversion
Most people are inclined to categorize designers as introverted, and they’re neither wrong nor right. While
creative jobs are indeed particularly appealing to introverts, there is evidence that suggests designers are more or less evenly split between introversion and extraversion.
Both thinkers and feelers
Then how about decision-making? Do designers listen to their brains rather than their hearts? Again, it’s not a black-and-white matter. Which perhaps is just as well, the fact being that designers not only have to establish and follow
guidelines for creative development, but also be able to
empathize with their target audience and everyone involved in the creative process.
Intuitive innovators
Now this is a quality most designers possess, and it has “leader” written all over. While sensing personalities rely on past experiences or external evidence when drawing conclusions, intuitive personalities feel no need for precedence. If their gut tells them a new practice is going to be the next big thing, the majority of designers
simply get cracking to find the ultimate creative solution to make their innovative vision come to life.
Judgers rather than perceivers
The intuition trait rather than the perceiving trait is most prevalent among both leaders and designers. A coincidence? We think not. A designer, after all, always works with an end goal (user) in mind and hence has to be
decisive, frequently relying on their judging trait to determine which ideas to hold on to and which to bin.
Want to learn more?
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