What Is the Most Malleable Design Medium?

Nicholas Jitkoff says software is the most malleable medium a designer can choose. Soleio had compared the field with law and said that about 15 years ago, people who would not have seen themselves as software designers could hit a stray bit of content, or a friend of a friend, and realize that how they think is design-adjacent. Work in Figma can look approachable enough to try, including for someone with taste who is already good at photography or visual communication.

Software design comes from graphic design, and many of the principles carried through because of structure, the constraints of the systems, and presentation. Training in architecture, performance, or photography gives other ways to solve the same problems. The mix has led software toward a wider variety of solutions. Some designers go deep on design systems and build them out. Others create wilder experiences closer to game design and interactive work. A solution can land anywhere on that spectrum, with room for an aesthetic and for thoughtful writing.

Software is a creative medium that shifts more than most other roles. Engineering has a huge amount of room to be creative as well, which is why prototyping and design, at the intersection of the two, show a lot of creativity in how people solve things.