The Secrets of Great Designers
All hidden truths of design
Great designers have certain peculiarities, that sometimes are not clearly pointed out. Great designers are the best value creators of all humanity, and you can be one.
Care — A focus of a designer is care. CARE. CARE. CARE. When you care about the user, you will certainly create a great product. That’s why engagement is key. When you are engaged, you want to use that pro. Care in the Design Process means understanding the users as a whole, understanding all potential ramifications of the user journey, and solving the problems from the root, with simplicity. Focus on the problem. Not in the solution. A good solution will eventually emerge if the problem is well-identified.
Automation — As a Designer, you should automate as much as possible. Creating templates, find a team that can perform the boring tasks, while you focus on the important aspects. Automate everything you can.
Learn — Always learn. Always. I mean lean even while sleeping. Udemy, Coursera, Youtube everything is important. But the most important is learning about people. Designing is for people. And so the key is understanding design with a person that doesn’t understand absolutely ANYTHING about design. Just ask a person what they think about
Business — First before a designer, a great designer is a great business person. A designer is the best creator of value in humanity in 2023, and that’s why is so important to understand the value of what you can potentially impact. Numbers are key. Communication is direct, without losing time. Understanding KPIS, talking with different stakeholders, understanding business seduction.
Process —A solid process is key. However, design is about making you think. And there’s always exceptions to the rule, that’s why thinking well is so important. A good designer is key on not getting fooled, whether by data whether by whether someone is a real designer or not.
Developers — Understanding development is key because you really can guide developers on making great work faster, and understand what’s possible.
Don’t lose time — Your clients are not on Instagram. They are perhaps on platforms like Medium. Or by meeting randomly anywhere. Designers don’t lose time with “button colors”. They lose time with value.
Big picture FIRST — Details matter but ONLY IF they are in consonance with the big picture. Small details without the big picture are the worst garbage in the world. The big picture is important not only for the overview of projects but also to understand tools, about what ways to proceed. Big picture is key.
Meeting randomly — Great innovators are much more likely to be found in cities. Innovation does not happen in 9–5 meetings. They happen spontaneously when people feel free. Drinking a beer after work sometimes is key. Going to meetups. Dates. Taste different things. Hang out with your cute grandmother. Anything that makes strangers randomly meet and ask “Hey how are you doing”. Real innovation happens in these touchpoints.
Pattern Organization — Patterns are key. That’s why a good desginer is first a good organizor.
Risk engineering — A great designer is so infinite that he has to fail a lot. If you are a designer and are not failing a lot at the beginning of your career, you are doing a bad job. A designer (or creative) needs to understand the limits of creativity. Failing is beautiful because it gives a perspective on how not to do something. Failing trains you to become aware that risk is completely ok. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you don’t. But the effort of risk is always worth it. The key is training your probabilities, and understanding that putting your soul into a project makes it more likely to succeed.
Hours crafting — The hours crafting should be as low as possible. If a designer is just working 15 hours a week and gets passive income without doing much, he does a great job.
Niche work — Every person is focused in one or few things. You can just be a specialist in 1 area, and understand how things work.
Meditation — Meditation is absolutely KEY for good design. Meditation is key because it gives: clarity, and intense pleasure, and cut all excess.
Great designers teach — Teaching is key to learn, because you have to show articulation, and responsibility. Real teaching is the best way to learn.
Meeting the right people —Good Designers go to meetups. Go to virtual events. Talk to the key people.
Call or Emails — Great successful people don’t wait to make great stuff. They will simply find the truth because they are hungry for it.
Line — The most important part of visual design is understanding the line, in context.
Cut all excess — Simply cut all excess. Just avoid excess. Anything that is irrelevant can kill your product.
FUCKING PASSION — Yes, man. Not passion. Fucking passion. That’s the correct terminology. You are absolutely obstinate. You wake and are simply about changing the world.
That’s it.
