A designers role today

Whenever I research design history for a brief I always take from it what I need and apply it to the relevant situation, sometimes the answer has already been written you just need to find it. For this I feel like a cheat. All the hard work has been done before me, I can open a book and just take from it what I need, so it seems designers are nothing more than shape shifting hunters preying on borrowed theories and aesthetics, and applying the kill to their own ideas. This seems to be the modern day role of a designer. Nothing seems innovative anymore.

Being forced to look back in this way makes one appreciate the power of hindsight. I am in a situation now, a designer in this postmodern world, where I can learn form all these historical references and theories. My outlook can sometimes seem pessimistic but I can just use this to my advantage. All people learn from what came before their existance, without this mechanism we as humans would have never been able to progress and evolve.