Don’t jump to conclusions: why designers need to get good at finding the right problem

To tell apart a junior and a senior designer, watch how they approach problems.

There is no one-size-fits-all for a design career: complex organisational structures may keep individuals in junior roles until a spot higher up the ladder becomes available, while a sole contributor in a small team may need to quickly take on more responsibility. The same designer may look for learning and development opportunities in a junior to mid-level role in a large company or step up to a challenge of a more senior position in a start-up, both being the right match for their skills and experience.

The designer’s “level” is mostly determined by their self-assessment, confidence and unique strengths (someone with great attention to detail often progresses much slower than a colleague with a talent for strategy). However, if there is one way to differentiate between an early career designer and their more senior counterpart, it’s the gradual mindset shift from identifying to solving problems.

Let’s examine this idea in practice

Imagine that I just hired a recent graduate named Kevin to join my team as a junior designer. Kevin studied visual communications and did a placement in a medium-sized tech company, but he’s relatively new to the industry. As a manager, I mostly care about Kevin’s ability to spot and flag issues (as well as him being a nice human being, of course). The issues might be small at first — an inconsistent use of colour here, a missing labels there — and I’m hoping to see them grow in scope over time. After a while, I expect Kevin to recognise when the team is making assumptions that aren’t backed up by research or anticipate decisions that will create hurdles in the future, but I don’t count on him to know the best way to solve them. Not yet, anyway.

Now let’s imagine that my company hired a senior designer named Lucy to manage Kevin and his teammates. Once she has a chance to settle in, I’m counting on Lucy’s expertise to help our team improve. If instead Lucy comes to us with a long list of issues she has found, and no suggestions for how to address them, I will question if we made the right hire…