Establishing a Design Foundation: Tips from a Former Solo Designer

From a 1-person team to leading my own 4-person income generating domain.

Back in 2019, I started off as the only designer in an up-and-coming tech startup. When I say tech startup, I mean TECH STARTUP- filled with tech geeks that are focused on numbers and characters, and the only colours they cared about were the ones on their terminals.

Being the sole designer in this environment — especially as a fresh graduate from architecture school — was by far the most out-of-character thing I had ever done. You see, I’m someone that enjoys structure, predictability, organisation and most of all, I am highly risk-averse. Or at least, I used to be.

And yet, I willingly joined a tech startup in its infancy and was thrown into the deep end. And from there, I became a design advocate that was responsible for setting up the foundation for design at the grass root level.

At first, it was hard. There were times when I got the most effective feedback from my mother, who has nothing to do with design. There were times when I felt like I was drowning in design and started to hate it. There were times that I regretted my leap of faith.

The sad part is, this is the reality for many designers out there. Especially in startups, it's quite common that a so-called design-lead is the only designer on the team, forced to juggle different design tasks and stakeholders.

And since I managed to get through those days of being the only person on the design team, I wanted to put together some things that helped me break through the tech-design startup barrier and succeed.

Before reading the points stated below, I believe it is important to re-iterate — the startup I work for has changed a lot, but so have I. It took time, effort, patience and resilience to become the individual and designer I am today. So if some of these points don’t feel like you or don’t quite resonate, they didn’t feel like me in the beginning either. I encourage you to be patient with yourself and keep moving forward.

Learn to stand your ground

As the sole designer, you have to be the advocate for both design and the end users of the startup’s product or service, and there will be many occasions where you will need to stand your ground and argue for the need for design. This might include setting up brand guidelines, design systems, design processes etc.

The company will look to you as the expert and this means that you need to be confident in your skills and knowledge and be firm in the face of doubt and chaos.

Upskill in your free time

When you’re the only designer, you can assume that you will be drowning in several tasks, many of which you probably brought on yourself. This often causes a stagnation in your skills and reduces your passion for design.

To ensure that you don’t lose your soul to this job, make it a priority to set aside time to upskill and enjoy learning new design techniques and skills that you may not learn during your routine tasks.

Build your community

Designers tend to have the reputation of being aloof, but if you take the first step and reach out to them, they are, for the most part, willing to help quite a lot.

Especially since we’ve all been there - in a place where we needed more support, more help, more advice, more feedback — and we’re always looking to build our community as well. So be bold and reach out for help. When you ask for it, you will find it.

Be an X-shaped Designer

As per this UX Beginner Article you will understand what I, X and T shaped designers signify and why you will need to be an X-shaped designer and provide not just design skills and support to the team but also design leadership and foundation.

This understanding will help you build processes, talk with other team members more effectively, and get your point across more confidently.

Take time to do things you enjoy

Working as the sole designer in a startup can be hectic and time consuming. You may need to be in multiple places at once and this can drain you faster than you can blink. It is important that you don’t lose yourself in the process of being a design advocate, so block time out in your calendar to do things you enjoy in order to ensure that you are able to remain inspired, passionate and driven when it comes to design.

When it comes to creative fields in particular, recharging our batteries is the only way we can continue to innovate and create new things without burning out.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. And especially, don’t be afraid to admit your lack of knowledge.

When I first started out, I was fairly strong in branding but not so much in UX/UI Design. However, when we needed a new website, I once again found myself in the deep end of a field that I wasn’t very familiar with. As you can imagine, I made a lot of mistakes and sometimes, they were big. It took a lot of courage and humility on my part to admit my mistakes, my flaws and my lack of knowledge.

It definitely didn’t come easy but admitting it helped my team understand what I’m struggling with and enabled them to pitch in and help with their expertise. Admitting my shortcomings also brought me closer to the team and opened up more opportunities & avenues for learning. So if you find yourself in a fix, leave your ego at the door and ask for help.

And finally, be proud of your role

As a solo designer in a team where you may have the role of design lead, the imposter syndrome can set in, and it can set in hard. Despite this, be proud of your role. You are a crucial part of the team and your role enables a startup to have a design foundation, to understand the importance of design and to empower more designers to make a change in the startup ecosystem.

Hold your head up and be a proud design lead.

Thank you for reading!

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We are a fast-growing tech startup headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany. Incepted in 2017 by 4 co-founders, we now have a team of 20+ experts in Information Technology (IT) and Digital Product creation. As Europe’s first Tech Angel, Inheaden supports startups or small businesses by providing them with the tech strategy, assets, and maintenance they need to thrive in today’s digital era.