UX Collective

We believe designers are thinkers as much as they are makers. https://linktr.ee/uxc

Follow publication

How to beat overthinking as a designer

When thinking of several solutions becomes a problem in design.

Marty Wallwood
UX Collective
Published in
4 min readFeb 16, 2020

--

An illustration of a man wearing a suit who is putting papers on a wall.
This is James, a UX designer.

Meet James, the UX designer.

James has been working as a designer for many years. However, he struggles with overthinking his design work. James knows that he is always going deep into the design. Sometimes he disappears there without creating any designs.

Now, James is questioning his capabilities. He doesn’t know if overthinking is helping him to learn new things about design. Also, become a better designer. James feels like moving around the same endless circles when designing.

Sounds familiar, right? At some point in our designer career, we have felt like James. Especially when we start as designers because everything is new, and we don’t know what’s worth focusing on and what source we should listen to.

Above all, best designers are thinkers but not overthinkers. They are aware of when thinking will start wasting valuable resources, like time and money. It’s helping them to beat overthinking. How can any designer avoid overthinking?

An illustration of a woman with yellow dress standing still and thinking.
Best designers are thinkers but not overthinkers.

Be always taking action when designing

Mike Locke, a lead UI/UX designer at ADP, made a video about overthinking. That perspective is worth sharing with designers. He received an email from a person who was deeply considering if he should start learning UI/UX design.

Mike said that we shouldn’t think in a standstill position. We always should be moving and taking action because the best results come from that. Watching a video doesn’t get us anywhere. What does? Trying these UI/UX design things.

Standing still and contemplating doesn’t get us anywhere. We have to reach a point where we become committed. Once designers are committed, it’s much easier to achieve their goals with their design work, and avoid overthinking.

Of course, we will have bumps in our way when designing. If we’re committed enough, we will overcome these bumps easily. Then, we’ll see the destination. Commitment is the thing that’s…

--

--

Written by Marty Wallwood

Digital Product Designer & Junior IT System Specialist. martywallwood.com

No responses yet

Write a response