3 lessons I’ve learnt in 3 years of design
By Eden Gorton
Number 1: Imposter syndrome is easier to balance than remove
One of the most challenging things when starting as an intern, grad or junior designer is feeling like you aren’t good enough. This notion brings out a sense of urgency, indecisiveness, comparison to others and a drive to over-exert yourself. The concept of ‘imposter syndrome is commonly raised and is entirely normal (around 65% of professionals are experiencing it). However, this ‘imposter’ feeling is hard to erase, and prolonged extreme bouts can lead to burnout, whether you’re extending work hours to accomplish more, finding it more stressful when making decisions or even contemplating moving professions. Removing imposter syndrome may be challenging; accepting and finding balance is much easier. Use the ‘urgency’ to diverge and converge on designs, and balance the ‘indecisiveness’ with user testing or peer feedback. Just make sure there are boundaries to avoid burnout. Such as — dedicated work times and having a work buddy to sense-check you.
Number 2: Half the job is dealing with stakeholders
When studying design, we hear much about stakeholders, especially about the ‘customer’. A core element missed in most design education is the interplay between design, engineering and product management. These roles affect the project differently and can negatively impact the designs. A PM might want you to move faster and cut scope to an extent where the final design barely solves the core user problem. An engineer might pick apart the designs and establish that the cost of making specific elements isn’t worth the benefits. Sometimes it’s necessary to cut down your designs to meet project goals, but it is vital to trust your instincts and stand up for the user’s problems when necessary, even at the cost of a project timeline. As a designer, it’s up to you to communicate to your stakeholders how changing the experience could negatively affect users. When you do that, they’ll often change their views.
Number 3: Learning is continuous
Your design education never ‘ends’. Design is constantly changing with the evolution of technology and its effect on society. Viewing your graduation as more of a milestone for design is crucial. When you enter different projects, you will learn more specific design elements. An example of this for me was a recent project where I had to create a feature that required different audio snippets for user feedback, causing me to become a sound designer for a week. Instead of using colour or elevation to indicate an action, I used pitch variations and harmonies. The best way to pick up something new in design is to ask senior designers for help, study its basics (find articles, books or videos online), look at real-world examples and have a go.
About
We’d like to extend a huge thanks to Eden Gorton for sharing her tips an d learnings with us! Eden is currently a product designer at Atlassian and is a Design Computing alumni.
