--- title: Strategic Thinking for Designers: What “Be More... description: Strategic thinking for designers means connecting daily work to business goals, other teams, and what leadership values, according to Vicente Reyes Montealegre... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/strategic-thinking-for-designers-what-be-more-strategic-actually-means-frburvq6z twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Strategic Thinking for Designers: What “Be More Strategic” Actually Means | daily.dev og:description: Strategic thinking for designers means connecting daily work to business goals, other teams, and what leadership values, according to Vicente Reyes Montealegre... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/strategic-thinking-for-designers-what-be-more-strategic-actually-means-frburvq6z og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/FRburvq6z.png og:image:alt: Strategic Thinking for Designers: What “Be More Strategic” Actually Means og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Strategic Thinking for Designers: What “Be More Strategic” Actually Means **[Dribbble](https://daily.dev/sources/dribbble)** · 8 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Strategic thinking for designers means connecting daily work to business goals, other teams, and what leadership values, according to Vicente Reyes Montealegre of Afternow. He identifies three signs it's missing: not understanding how the business works, working in a silo disconnected from other teams, and talking about design only in craft terms, which leaves the value lost in translation. He offers three habits paired with questions: know where the business is going ('how is my work helping us get there?'), look beyond your design team ('how can we improve how we work together?'), and connect work to what leadership values ('why should my work matter to them?'). He also describes how Afternow applied these ideas internally, including sharing AI practices with designers and reframing presentation language to match what clients value. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What does it mean when leadership tells a designer to 'be more strategic'? It usually points to one of three gaps: not understanding how the business makes money and who it serves, working in a silo disconnected from other teams, or talking about design only in craft terms (grids, type, consistency) instead of business terms (growth, efficiency, risk) that leadership listens for. _Designers navigating vague leadership feedback can find frameworks like this one on daily.dev._ ### What questions can a designer ask to show more strategic thinking at work? Three questions help: how is my work helping us get where the business is going, how can we improve how we work together with other teams like marketing, sales, and development, and why should my work matter to the people I'm presenting to. Pairing these with a basic understanding of company direction and audience priorities signals ownership rather than just task completion. _Designers preparing to pitch work to non-design leadership can track practical frameworks like these on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [The Strategic Side of Design](https://daily.dev/posts/the-strategic-side-of-design-r6wvmi4fk) · Simple Thread · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Why Brand Designers Need to Think Like Clients, Not Just Creators](https://daily.dev/posts/why-brand-designers-need-to-think-like-clients-not-just-creators-a9zwt8qos) · Dribbble · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The Invisible Work of Design](https://daily.dev/posts/the-invisible-work-of-design-qt2ma4iiq) · Atomic Spin · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career), [#leadership](https://daily.dev/tags/leadership) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/strategic-thinking-for-designers-what-be-more-strategic-actually-means-frburvq6z) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Strategic Thinking for Designers: What “Be More Strategic” Actually Means","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/strategic-thinking-for-designers-what-be-more-strategic-actually-means-frburvq6z","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/strategic-thinking-for-designers-what-be-more-strategic-actually-means-frburvq6z"},"datePublished":"2026-10-26T21:34:17.638Z","dateModified":"2026-10-26T21:53:55.893Z","description":"Strategic thinking for designers means connecting daily work to business goals, other teams, and what leadership values, according to Vicente Reyes Montealegre...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b7ea042d4aa3a4d9bcafe4689e3d8132?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b7ea042d4aa3a4d9bcafe4689e3d8132?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Dribbble","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Dribbble","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/ec6967abeb3445d8ad722fb0f01d8abc","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/dribbble"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/strategic-thinking-for-designers-what-be-more-strategic-actually-means-frburvq6z","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"career,leadership","timeRequired":"PT8M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dribbble","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/dribbble"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Strategic Thinking for Designers: What “Be More Strategic” Actually Means"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/strategic-thinking-for-designers-what-be-more-strategic-actually-means-frburvq6z#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What does it mean when leadership tells a designer to 'be more strategic'?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"It usually points to one of three gaps: not understanding how the business makes money and who it serves, working in a silo disconnected from other teams, or talking about design only in craft terms (grids, type, consistency) instead of business terms (growth, efficiency, risk) that leadership listens for. 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