Confessions of a Flawed Designer
I came across an article of Pablo Stanley’s, which is titled the exact same thing I’ve titled mine. I admired his comical transparency, and so I thought to also share my flaws and shortcomings as a designer.
Fear of building publicly
I know. I wrote a charge a few days ago, urging designers to build publicly — but I never said I wasn’t talking to myself. Earlier in my career, I would take design feedback personal because I’d spent long hours trying to create the perfect solution and aesthetic. So negative feedback felt like a stab at my abilities to craft beauty.
Today, I still feel a tinge of that, but I’ve realised (and it was this realisation that birthed the article on Building Publicly as a Designer) that a good way to detach personal emotions from your designs is to put it in front of non-design stakeholders. They offer functional perspective. The sales rep could tell you why your copywriting won’t help drive conversion; the developer could tell you how your designs will hamper the website’s responsiveness across devices; a compliance officer could let you know what areas of your design needs to scale to accommodate more user requirements; the product team will get you to think about expansion into new markets and the localisation of your designs. Their functional input is invaluable, and this helps me strip my emotions away from design work that should solve a problem.
Not asking questions
Sometimes, I’m scared to be the dumbest person in the room. I think, it couldn’t be more obvious that I’m a rookie. Regrettably, not asking questions leads me to procrastination. I can’t move forward because I don’t have clarity.
But the greatest people ask questions to clarify their thoughts on a matter. Knowing this, I’ve gotten better at filtering out the low-quality questions and making higher-impact inquiries of my stakeholders, over time.
Procrastination
This happens when I feel overwhelmed by the task in front of me, or when I feel burnt out and not well-rested.
When I procrastinate because of a big task, I’ve found it helpful to ask for clarity for on how to break down the task in front of me.
When my procrastination is caused by burn out, I take time off. For me, a lack of rest causes a lack of motivation, which cause a foggy mind that then leads to procrastination. A few days ago, a friend posted about not feeling like he had earned the right to rest. I responded that rest is not a reward, but a right. My body needs rest to function, so I try to take it as often as needed.
Chronic Multitasking
I need to focus on just one thing at a time, if not I produce low-quality work. Although context switching (specifically for execution) is a big issue for me, I find myself constantly engaging in it as a designer. I also have trouble saying no to work I don’t have bandwidth for.
However, working in an environment that values prioritisation has helped. Prioritisation is critical to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
I’m happy to hear how you deal with your designer-flaws (pun intentded). I’m also happy to hear feedback or advice on anything I’ve mentioned as a flaw.
And as Pablo concluded: what about you? What flaws are you working on?
