God VS Ninja: Where Do You Fall on The Designer Skill Spectrum?

By Mikhail Dvoiniakov, Head of Design, Trevolution Group

At Trevolution Group (part of Dyninno Group ), we’ve developed a unique designer skillmap that categorizes skills and competencies into an engaging hierarchy, ranging from the foundational knowledge of an ‘Apprentice’ to the expert teachings of a ‘God’. This skillmap helps designers understand where they stand and how they can enhance their design prowess. And you can also take a quick test to see where you land!

Why Skillmap?

In short, it’s about effective leadership. When I joined Trevolution, I needed a clearer understanding of designers’ ratings, grades, and development plans. To help the team grow, it’s crucial to understand their strengths and weaknesses. That’s where the skillmap comes in.

First and foremost, skillmapping is about developing our main resource — our designers. Defining their current status is the first step in helping them grow, develop, and reach their goals. Achieving our professional goals brings the endorphin rush of a job well done and keeps us moving forward. Without clear goals, frustration and stagnation can set in. Growth, even slow growth, is essential.

The System Behind the Skillmap

We’ve formalized what is often present in all companies. Instead of assessing skills subjectively, we have created a separate grading system for each skill: Apprentice, Explorer, Ninja, God.

Here’s what each level means:

Apprentice: Just starting to understand the skill.

Explorer: Understands and regularly uses the skill.

Ninja: Proficient in the skill, applies it effectively, and has a strong opinion.

God: Expert in the skill and capable of teaching it to others.

Skill Examples

Design Systems

• God: Works with variables and collaborates closely with developers, maintains versioning and branches, and writes weekly updates on changes.
• Ninja: Builds a token system within design tools like Figma and creates multi-brand design systems.
• Explorer: Creates an extensive library of design components, understands atomic design, and documents each component in detail.
• Apprentice: Connects to the design system library, understands its usage, and can create primitive components consistent with the design system style.

Adobe Photoshop

• God: Uses templates, actions, and scripts to optimize work.
• Ninja: Performs complex color corrections, processes using layers and color channels, and creates intricate collages with realistic effects.
• Explorer: Executes advanced color corrections, quality masking, and natural composition of objects.
• Apprentice: Performs basic color corrections, processing, and masking.

You can find all the descriptions here.

We also briefly specified which skills we need from the team. Here, we show what level of skill (and at what grade) we expect from the designer. The numbers stand in this order: 1 — Apprentice, 2 — Explorer, 3 — Ninja, 4 — God.

After we have mapped out the skill set of our designers, we look at our team and decide what we can require from Seniors, Middlers, and Juniors. We can require God level from seniors, Ninja from middlers, Explorer from juniors, and Apprentice from interns.

As with anything, there is gradation to gradation. For product designers, we typically require Explorer-level skills in Photoshop. However, if someone has God-level expertise, that’s a bonus but not necessary for the role. In the same vein, we don’t require any Photoshop skills from our interns.

Implementation

There are lots of great tools for creating competency maps, but since they’re pretty expensive and we already use Notion, we decided to stick with it. Each designer already had their own Notion page with their 1-to-1s, useful links, and agreements with the lead.

It’s time to add their competency cards. Notion has synced blocks that help us sync grade descriptions and databases that can be connected to pages. As a result, each designer’s page has a smart table of their skills.

The only thing stopping us was the lack of charts in Notion. We wanted to compare designers to each other and get an overview of what was going on. Thanks to ChatGPT, I quickly wrote a script to export the Notion database to Google Sheets and make charts there.

We also made a graph to look at the overall situation. These are our expectations from the designers in the company.

Right now, we have this team.

The script is now on the server and runs every day via Cron. Plus, you can integrate everything from Google back into Notion. So, the designer’s page now looks like this. Blue is the designer’s skills and red is our requirements for that grade.

We review our designers every six months and set new goals based on the results. New designers are evaluated after their probation period.

Conclusion

Creating this skillmap was a complex process that took all summer, involving multiple revisions to quell any internal doubts. Thanks to Roberts Kaplans and Annet Akopyan for their contributions! If you’re interested in our detailed skill descriptions, we’ve made the Skill Map available here for free use.

Interactive Skill Test

To make this more interactive, assess your level on our Skill Map yourself! Select the option that best describes your current capabilities for each question. At the end of the test, count how many answers you have under each level to determine where you predominantly fall on the Skill Spectrum.

Component Libraries:

A: I can locate and use existing components within a design system library.

B: I have created an extensive library of design components and understand the principles of atomic design.

C: I build complex, multi-brand design systems using a token system within design tools.

D: I work with variables, manage versioning and branches, and integrate the design system closely with development processes.

Design System Maintenance:

A: I regularly update and maintain basic components within a design system.

B: I describe each component in detail, ensuring usability across various projects.

C: I innovate within the system, introducing efficiencies and new standards.

D: I lead the design system strategy, teach others, and ensure integration with tech development.

Image Editing and Composition:

A: I perform basic color corrections and can apply simple masks.

B: I use advanced color correction techniques and compose elements naturally within a scene.

C: I handle complex color processing, create realistic collages, and use all Photoshop functions efficiently.

D: I optimize workflows using templates, actions, and scripts, and can create complex visual effects.

Photoshop Tools and Usage:

A: I am familiar with basic tools and techniques in Photoshop.

B: I understand and utilize hotkeys for main tools and can perform quality masking.

C: I am proficient in using all major features of Photoshop for detailed graphic editing.

D: I teach others advanced techniques and customize Photoshop to enhance productivity.

Scoring:

Mostly A’s: Apprentice — You’re starting out and learning the fundamentals.

Mostly B’s: Explorer — You understand and regularly use your skills.

Mostly C’s: Ninja — You are proficient and have strong opinions about your skill area.

Mostly D’s: God — You are an expert who can teach others and lead in your field.