Choosing the right mindset to design complex applications

How to prepare your mental game to tackle UX for complexity.

Being comfortable with designing for complexity takes time. You can start right now.

Dear Jr. Designer, the way your mind reacts has a huge impact when you are designing for complex applications. The mindset you bring to a team is one factor in your professional success that nobody can immediately see. It might not be immediately apparent during a job interview or on your resume, but it will leave a mark over time.

Designing for complex applications is a challenge that will require your mental game to perform optimally for months or years. Projects tend to be longer and demand a deeper understanding of the business case you are designing for. It is the equivalent of running a marathon, while some colleagues will be training for sprinting. You will need to be strategic in managing your energy, understand temporal setbacks, and have a long-term goal to guide you.

This is not a journey you can do alone; the complexity of the problems you will tackle requires you to be surrounded by a group of subject experts, continuously learning new concepts and adjusting your designs to ever-changing circumstances. You will need to choose your battles, make concessions and build unlikely alliances to make your designs a reality.

The right mindset for the job does not require previous experience, which means it is accessible to any professional at any stage. The trick is recognizing the mindset you and your team are bringing to the project and if it is a service of the task at hand. Thinking about how you think takes time, and our brains are good at covering their tracks.

“The fish will be the last to discover water.”
-James C. Coleman

Your mindset and the prophecy of success

When I am facing a professional challenge, and I feel like I need to acknowledge my mindset, I play this scenario in my mind:

Imagine you crack open a fortune cookie, and it has one very long (and weirdly specific) message about your future.

You will master every design skill. You will be the greatest UX professional of all time and you…