The musings of a designer on why he designs the way he does and what he’s learned along the journey.

Lessons of Design

If you see teammates going g down a path that harms the product or the users and you don’t speak up in fear of pulling rank or offending - you are a quiet designer.

The older I get, the more I realize the less I know. Admit mistakes early and own them. Confidence often masks ineptitude. Everyone is making it up as they go along, so don’t assume others have figured something out, no matter how confident they sound.

a bold one. 

If you’re just going along with what other stakeholders are asking of you you are a quiet designer. 

If you are bringing half a dozen options for the exact same screen or problem and at least not advocating strongly for 1-2 of them over others.

In orgs without research departments decisions around to design are boiled down to - best practices, competitive correlation, joy or personal opinion. 

When it’s anything but research your opinions are viewed as just that. Opinions. And everyone thinks their opinion is best.

Designers over 40: what are some important things you’ve learned about yourself and the industry in your time?

Speak up, make mistakes, and learn as much as you can. Try focusing on empowering others over yourself and your own ambitions.

Quiet designers lead to bad products. 

But designers are afraid to speak up either because they are new to their role or because they are afraid of offending someone. 

The perceived “subjective” nature of design leads to those who are bold being viewed as tyrants.

Trust your instincts.
Be adaptable.
Collaborate with and listen to different perspectives.
Balance work and life to maintain creativity.
Mentoring younger designers is rewarding.
Diversity and inclusion are essential for impactful design.
Always be learning (and kerning).

Your point about “quiet designers” is on point but I wonder if we are thinking about the same thing. How would you describe what the opposite of “quiet” looks like?

Criticize in private, praise in public. You tend to get better results when you celebrate good behavior than when you punish bad.

I saw a list of these somewhere, but this one stood out to me!

👀 don’t mind me just here to copy down the answers and get a few years head start

This is how design by committee tends to be birthed. All voices must be equally integrated or you are a tyrant. 

The flip side of this is that often times research is weaponized and skewed towards desired outcomes to do so and avoid conflict.

That everything changes: the things we design and build, the people we are, what we believe in, what design is, and the good we can do.

Definitely feel like problems rarely go away, they just evolve

In fact here is the list!

https://lessons.design/

1. Listen, and ask questions.
2. Everything is a cycle. The same problems exist today that existed when I first started. The problems simply have a different coat of paint.
3. Own up to your failures, and speak about what you learned.

Great observations in this thread so far. I’d appreciate more reposts and shares…I want to hear more!

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