How thick skin will improve your career as a designer
Regardless if you are a UI Designer, UX, graphic designer, Interaction designer, and so on.
A couple of months after I joined a Latin dance team, my instructor announced that we would be performing a freestyle dance routine for a big crowd at an upcoming event.
My dance partner at the time leaned over and began speaking in my ear. What I thought was going to be words of praise and admiration for my newly acquired skills turned out to be criticisms stating the opposite. I listened to what she had to say. Her point: I wasn’t ready to perform on a stage of this magnitude.
Although I appreciated her critiques and honesty, I was shocked. I had only been dancing for a couple of months up to this point and even though I wasn’t good enough for dancing with the stars, I knew my progress was notable.
But, the truth remained, my skills weren’t ready for the task at hand. Even though her advice wasn’t life-changing, I was receptive to her critiques as I knew she just wanted us to put our best product out on stage.
There was a time in my life when I wouldn’t have responded so well to criticism and unsolicited feedback. Developing thick skin changed that.
Thick skin has helped me brush aside upsetting emotions and feelings leading me to focus on my growth.
It’s also helped me seek out honest advice from mentors and career professionals which has improved the quality of my design work and business acumen.
There are three ways I’ve noticed having thick skin will help you develop in your design career:
1. Being more receptive to criticism & feedback
The thought of constructive criticism used to terrify me! Especially when someone asked me to defend my design decisions that didn’t make sense to them. It seemed like it took years for me to explain my stance as I struggled to piece together a reasonable response.
The idea of someone intentionally trying to find fault in my work was not appealing to me. Especially after all the hours of pushing my concepts to the next level. I wanted nothing to do with the process and became defensive whenever I sensed someone was trying to tear down my hard work (Ok, so I admit, I was a little soft in the beginning! ).
It wasn’t until I looked at those who were much further along in their development and careers that I realized my mindset needed to change. These individuals took the critiques and feedback others gave them with joy and humility, something I did not do.
Thick skin will do the same thing for you.
You’ll become more receptive and open to those that critique your work. This will give you more insight into how you can grow your strengths and weaknesses.
2. Taking more risks
I’ve had many mentors and people I looked up to throughout my life. I aspire to be like some of these leaders, hoping to replicate their success within business and their personal lives.
When I look at the lives of these individuals, I noticed one thing that was consistent among them all. Regardless of what their job was, they all took risks that others in their position wouldn’t.
My mentors were persistent and were courageous in their approach to solving problems.
When it comes to taking risks in design, thick skin makes you bold, enabling you to continue pushing the standards on how design and business intersect to create better experiences for the people you serve.
For us designers, risk-taking involves more than the visuals we can create on-screen and paper. There are other ways we can be effective, take risks, and still add value to the business and our users:
- Creating new processes within your design group.
- Educating others on design and why it matters.
- Changing outdated methodologies.
- Forming new business strategies.
- Calculating what features deliver the greatest ROI based on user needs.
3. Using our voice and speaking up
I’ve been an introvert for the majority of my life, so using my voice in certain settings posed a little bit of a challenge for me.
But, as more time passed my introverted ways slowly began to fade.
The older I got, the more I realized that that needed to change. I understood that a design career requires more than making beautiful art and setting it on display for others to see and marvel at. An explanation is often needed to give context around the choices we made and how those choices benefit those we wish to serve.
As designers, we have an extensive set of skills. Being both businesses minded and creative, we’re able to verify if a design works aesthetically, if features make a positive impact on revenue, and meets the needs of the user.
We have the power to help the business make better decisions based on the value we’re bringing to the customers and its impact in the industry. Beautifully designed work isn’t enough to persuade the stakeholders in our favor. We have to speak up and express our vision.
Thick skin gives you the confidence to speak your mind regardless of the situations and circumstances you encounter.
How has thick skin helped you and your development?
