Harsh Truth: Younger Designers suck, take these steps to better yourself.
If you got into UI design at any time later than 2016, the chances that you suck at design is high. Maybe I should sound nicer- You are average at best. If you don’t suck, congrats. But I’ll still tell you why your designs could improve no matter how good you are. In my experience mentoring and interacting with younger UX designers, one thing that stood out to me is the lack of depth in their design knowledge and skills. It seems that for many, the attraction to UX design is more about avoiding coding rather than a true passion for design. Since you came this far, the conversation here is harmonizing all design disciplines and not shutting yourself behind the windows of your UX design softwares.
I was working with a “Product Designer” on an app for a financial institution, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing exceptional, the project was going fine, until he told me he doesn’t design logos. I asked why and he said, “I don’t do graphic designs, I’m a UI Designer” and my head almost exploded. This idea of separating UI design from graphic design is one of the reasons why many new designers are mediocre. They make UX design a sacred new profession that is unlike any that ever existed before now. UX design is an offshoot of graphic design and a few related design and non design disciplines. Think of Jeff Raskin, the pioneer behind the genesis of Apple’s interface design. Although he studied maths and physics, he was deeply rooted in music and further along his career and education, he taught fine art, photography and computer science as an Assistant Professor in the Visual Arts departments of USCD(University of California, San Diego). He was one of the first to do it, he embodied the art form associated with design and created something that is truly ecumenical and continues to be referenced till this day.
These days, it’s all about the tools — Figma vs Sketch, Webflow vs Editor X. We fail to realize that it’s the thought process behind the project that counts, and instead we focus on what the software can help us achieve. Although these apps work similarly, they were built to streamline a particular workflow or for a particular set of users. New designers learn these softwares alone, which makes them bound by the limitations of the design software. Only the truly gifted ones break away from this matrix. Some put up amazing portfolios on Dribbble and Behance, while others end up showing design tricks and tutorials that the software developers never imagined possible — “How to create a glass effect on Sketch” or “How to animate a walk cycle on Figma”. You see these videos and wonder, how do these guys think of these things? I’ll tell you how.
It is a common misconception among young designers that UI design is limited to creating user interfaces for anything with a screen. This narrow view of design ignores the vast array of other design disciplines, such as graphic design, industrial design, sound design, animation, and architectural design, to name a few. By focusing solely on UI design, they miss out on the opportunity to expand their skillset and develop a well-rounded understanding of design principles. For context, a graphic designer might consider how typography, color, and layout work together to communicate a brand’s message. Understanding branding can help you achieve a brilliant way of using the brand’s notable elements in creating digital products, instead of leaving the hard work to the company’s logo on the Nav Bar. Meanwhile, an architectural designer might consider how lighting, materials, and spatial relationships contribute to the overall feel of navigation on an interface.
Studying in an art school made sense. I majored in graphic design, but graphic design was only one course. We had to take courses in painting, psychology, photography, mathematics, and international relations, just to name a few. Outside of design schools, there are tons of resources to learn from on the internet, there are communities to lean on for motivation. There are also social media circles where a few flaunt their cool, never-to-be-developed portfolios that make you wonder where your life is headed. These are all perks of growing design communities online, but they don’t put you on the right learning path. UX design is one of those few design disciplines where formal education doesn’t stop you from being treated as a pro. If you understand the rudiments of organization, research, and communication, you’re already a thought leader in UX design. But that’s not all — you need more than that.
Design is methodical, systematic, repetitive, and above all, psychological. It combines a number of non-creative disciplines with an understanding of aesthetic appeal and usability. It is unsurprising that the commercial value of design has increased over time. You can’t do anything differently, or else you’ll be jailed by the UX design police department. Over time, the systems we put in place to help us manage the methodical practice of UX design have made new designers lazy, mediocre, and uncreative. These systems have created structures that enable efficient workflows in large-scale project pipelines among multiple teams and personnel. The application of these workflows to every design team has given rise to a newer approach to design, which I am going to share.
Design systems are largely formulated around scalability and maintainability. Scalability helps design organizations to build newer products and experiences on top of one another, and maintainability helps with the ease of modification. In simple terms, design systems help alleviate the problems of redesigning. Structures like this have consistently pushed designers to be specialists, hence keeping them stuck in a procedural routine that becomes tiring. Your task simply becomes using ready-made elements and putting them where your PM asks you to. You may think being a specialist makes you highly competent in your design field, but truthfully it does not challenge new perspectives and it makes you easily replaceable. Being a generalist should be your ultimate goal. Who says you can’t be a rockstar in every area of design? I am. I introduce myself differently every time. 😭
Achieve a multidisciplinary status in your design career. It can help you think more creatively, be one of those who create design trends, come up with more innovative solutions to problems, and have a diverse skill set that makes you more versatile and able to take on a wider range of projects.
Key Takeaway:
Forget Dribbble, Forget Behance, I’m on there a lot too, they show you nice things from other designers, but they wont help you think like those designers, they only get you to recreate what you see, looking for more “How To” videos, perhaps learn a new software that does something cool like Spline.
My friend, it’s important to learn and digest knowledge from other design disciplines. Take a graphic design class, not just a software tutorial. This will help you understand the principles and elements of great design. Understanding the rudiments of photography can also help you understand image composition and storytelling. Read architectural plans and watch interior design videos. Start taking calligraphy lessons and design your own font, then share it with the design community. Learn color theory and painting — it can be therapeutic and help define your signature design look. Traditional animation can also help you understand physics, kinesis, and motion. Take ceramics or sculpture classes to see your designs in space and time. Learning music can deepen your connection to how sound can impact interface design. Take life drawing classes, it can help you teleport into the soul of your audience. And Finally, get into fashion design, learn to dress well, it can build self confidence, unearth your deepest self expression and help you understand what drives society.
Design is fun, so don’t make it mechanical. You are not an AI — if you’re constantly redefining creativity, artificial intelligence will continue to learn from you. But if you don’t, there will be an AI that generates page layouts for you to fill with stock images and text, leaving you to do the hard work. You don’t want that, do you?
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