01 | Learnings for the future

Learn as much as possible, you never know when you will need a skill, just give it a try!

24th of April, 2013
Today I was talking with my boss. He mentioned that his company will be shifting their direction and focus more on ads, motion or movie trailers. He asked if I would like to start learning video editing and animation. I decided that I don’t want to do that because I am a hardcore graphic designer and this is what I would like to pursue. We agreed that if they will have some more visual projects they will call me. Now when I think about it… I think I was fired?

Every time when I am getting back to this page in my diary I am getting pissed off on myself. If I would agree on trying editing videos and building animation back then, it would help me so much to take my student project to a higher level of quality. During my studies, we did a lot of movies to explain our concepts or to communicate our ideas. For sure I didn’t plan to change my career to become a video editor but this skill would be so useful! Because I refused that proposition, I had spent long hours to achieve results that will match my expectations and curse myself every time when I remember that day. I had a chance to learn from experts but I blew it.

And during those 8 years of shifting my carrier in many moments I learned a really important lesson:

Try to say ‘yes’ to new skills even if they don’t seem useful right now. You will thank yourself later.

First time when I noticed that

My design journey started with the passion for Flash (back then Macromedia Flash). Of course, I didn’t know that this is the start. I was a just bored teenager that didn’t know what to do and I found out about Flash interaction during my middle school. I and my good friend joined a competition for ‘the best website’ and I did an amazing drop down animated menu for it! Of course, we haven’t won. But the skills stayed with me and when I was lost and looking for my first big hook in the graphic design world as an intern that was my card. I could do something that others couldn’t. I think that was the reason why they kept me there and believe or not thanks to that job, I learn so many skills that I am using every day right now!

The world expects you to know more

Right now the job market requires from designers being really universal. You can never say that in 10 years the skill that you decide to not give a chance will not land you your dream job. Seems like design world is also shifting from T shaped unicorns to generalist unicorns. The topics that we are challenged with as designers on regular basis are, getting too complex. That is why they require more technical knowledge. If you don’t have a basic understanding of a problem you don’t know how to approach it. Yes, you will not be on the same level as an expert in the field but at least you should have an understanding of what they are talking about. And that should be enough for the beginning. But how to find out which skill will be actually useful?

Always start with the big picture

I think it is always a good idea to take a step back first. Give yourself some time and brainstorm on how you see yourself in the future, to make it more tangible look at the products/systems that excites you the most. When I am seeing portfolios or articles about some cool concepts, I am always trying to think how it would be if I would be a member of this team, if my skill set would be valuable there or what type of skills the design team was using there.

This can be really helpful to decide what you should focus on. Maybe you will notice that the projects that excite you the most are around one specific topic. For example, most of them require skills around interactions with physical objects, then maybe it would be a good idea to research how to prototype in Arduino.

When I am trying to figure out it for myself, I also think if it will be useful for me in the future. If this is something that my potential employers will find interesting and will help to differentiate me from other designers. Try to think a little what are the skills that would help you in being more visible on the stack full of CVs.

It is not only about what is cool, but you also need to enjoy it too

For me, the really important aspect of choosing a new skill to learn is the fun of learning and using it. If I realize that I will not enjoy that process at all and next weeks I will be miserable and delaying my learning hours, I will probably not start at all. You need to really interested in it and feel passion for learning. It comes handful when you are tired after a whole day and starts reading next tutorial. The best way to make it happen is to build a habit that you are looking forward to it instead of forcing yourself. But to make that happen you need to personally interested in this specific topic.

Slow motion better than no motion

Quite often we get too busy, the whole week was so crowded with the tasks, studies and so on that you didn’t have time to finish an online class or work on your small side project. Don’t give up. It is better to do small steps than don’t do them at all. I know that it can sound super cliche but somehow learning a new skill is about those short moments than the final outcome.

It took me a while to understand it for myself. We get so busy with our lives that it is really hard to spend half a day of uninterrupted time to learn but every time when you are spending 30 minutes on it you will learn something useful.

Sometimes setting a goal can be really motivating

Two years ago I started learning Framer. I really wanted to bring some more life into my prototypes and be fully in control of my ideas. I have to admit it took me two months to feel comfortable with coding in CoffeeScript. I was spending two hours every second day, quite often lost and demotivated, first with tutorials and then with a side project that I was really interested in. I finished it, feeling proud but I was missing something there. I hide it in a locker and didn’t think about it.

But then I noticed that people are publishing their process of building prototypes on Medium. I did the same, I wrote an article and posted it on Framer facebook group. I get a lot of positive feedback. Framer team decided to publish it on their website. It was the biggest award that I completely didn’t expect. If my goal for this skill was to publish it somewhere, I would be more motivated and energized to do it!

But not everything is worth it…

Right now, as young designers, we have so many possibilities to explore. It can actually be overwhelming. Of course, we are not able to learn everything. But there is always a way to try yourself in different areas. Maybe try a new skill for a month, join a project that will help you to learn it or ask someone at your job if she/he can help you get the basic understanding of a skill.

I found that people are really willing to help. That is how we are constructed — designers like to share knowledge with each other. Once again, it is not about learning it perfectly and reach an expert level. Trying a new skill will give you the basic understanding. It is definitely a good starter. It will speed up the mastering of a skill when you will really need it.

And yes, one day you will probably need it.