In support of the next design nation
Answers to questions from design school graduates.
Back in May 2020 I was invited by Design Nation, an offshoot of Princeton University’s Business Today, to field an executive seminar with about a dozen design students and recent design school graduates. The students were brilliant, curious and understandably anxious about entering an already fast-paced industry during a time of intense societal volatility and economic uncertainty.
With the hopes of offering some perspective and peace of mind to other emerging creative talent in this post-pandemic (sur)reality, I’m posting some of my answers from that AMA-style forum here:
Q: I’m working for a startup right now and one of the problems I keep running into is there are a lot of opinions about the direction the company should go when it comes to design and branding. How do you recommend taking in everyone’s opinions even though the people giving the opinions might be from marketing, finance or operations? How do you navigate that?
A: The first thing I’d say is that’s not unique to startups. You’re going to get opinions from people who are not designers everywhere you work. As annoying as that may feel, try to be receptive to it. Be open to it because you don’t have to make any decisions in that moment. When someone gives you that kind of feedback, you don’t have to act on it then and there — just receive it. After they’re done sharing, you can take all of those notes (even if they came from the most wacky of places) and you can take them into your space and shake them all out and spread them across the table and calmly sift through it all. You can decide, without defensiveness, what you’re going to act on. It’s so much easier to filter through it without the pressure of being in the live critique.
If you feel like you’ve got to react and have answers to all of this inbound criticism in real-time, try taking a less resistant stance. You can just say, “Yes, please. Give it to me. This is all super helpful.” Take notes, write it all down, gather up the Post-Its, take it all back to your desk and process it. Because in reality, there’s just no way to make a good thing folding in 18 different points of view. It’s impossible to make something powerful and meaningful trying to please that many competing opinions. Your job is to listen, sort it, synthesize it and go, “Great. I heard you all. Here’s why I acted on these things — and here’s why I didn’t act on those things.” In other words, here’s my defensible rationale for the design decisions I made based on your feedback.
Early in your career, that might feel harder to do because you don’t have years of experience to draw from — you don’t have a past body of work providing you the ability to make quick decisions with real-time input. So instead, take the pressure off yourself and make your decisions (and your case for or against something) with some additional time and reflection. Try to remove the sensitivity and emotion from it. Leverage analogous and best-in-class examples, common design patterns, and design fundamentals to help move the conversation forward. Ultimately, it’s a give and take. You’ve got to be open and honest with your critics about the sort of results they’re going to get when you’re pressured to make them all happy, versus giving you space to develop a strong point of view about the best path forward. Remember, the startup hired you for a reason. You may have to remind them you need some room to formulate and realize a design vision for the product and its brand.
Q: You mentioned startups, but what’s been your experience working within big companies versus consultancies? What are the differences you see and maybe the different types of people that would fit better with one or the other?
A: The biggest company I worked in was Northern Trust. I was brought on to help launch the bank’s internal innovation lab. It was interesting to be deeply involved in enterprise initiatives and in-house product work. When you’re really embedded in a big project touching lots of parts of the business, you get to spend time in the problem in a sustained way. I was not thinking of any other clients. I was only thinking about the bank. And so you have an opportunity to go deep, and over time, build relationships with all kinds of people within an organization like that, which I think is fascinating. When you’re dedicated to a singular product for a long time, you get to see it take shape and evolve — but it goes slower.
You don’t get that when you work in an agency and you’re juggling multiple clients and multiple projects. You’re likely touching lots of things lightly but not always going super deep. Agency or consultancy work offers you more variety, but you’re moving faster. You don’t always get to see your work through to the end because sometimes there are hand offs to other vendors and partners, or your involvement is limited to only a part of the problem. So the distinctions I’d make to help someone choose are depth and pacing.
Q: Sometimes I feel like designers can have all this great research and all these great insights, but when it comes to ideation, we still can’t come up with enough good ideas. How do you move from research to ideation? How do you stay inspired?
A: I think anything that helps you be more generative is good. Try going broad before you narrow down. Try finding interesting inputs, getting lots of feedback from people who aren’t designers but who are close to the space you’re designing for.
When you’re stumped take a break from it. Change your physical state. I’ve solved some of the most complex design challenges while out on long runs — away from my computer, just letting my brain work on it while my body gets sweaty. I’m a big advocate for physical activity and fresh air, and I think that’s a really healthy way to work through challenges. That’s why people have epiphanies in the shower! Because they change their physical state and aren’t trying so hard to solve the problem. Try scheduling brain breaks throughout your work day, which may be even easier now that we’re all working from home.
Be receptive to all kinds of inputs. Look for design inspiration in unlikely places or places sitting tangential to design. Personally, I get really inspired by documentary films because they give me a perspective that is not my own to take on and help me see the world through somebody else’s eyes. Try watching a documentary about a subject you’re maybe not really even into — if it’s good, you’ll be into the subject matter by the time you’re done with it.
I also sketch constantly because drawing helps me think.
Q: Thinking about your creative process, how do you stay objective when looking at your own designs? When I’m designing, I never know when it’s completely done. I just make a bunch of variations until the due date and I have trouble pinpointing a finished product I’m satisfied with….
A: That’s natural! I’m glad you’re so generative. I think that’s really important. Nailing the idea on the first try is really boring. Your first idea is a horrible idea. Your first ten ideas are bad! Linus Pauling said, “If you want to have good ideas you must have many ideas. Most of them will be wrong, and what you have to learn is which ones to throw away.” So the fact that you’re generative and creating all these permutations speaks to your productivity and output. But besides the deadline, how do you know when to stop?
I don’t believe you can actually be objective about the things you make, especially if you’ve been toiling away on your own at your computer, just pushing stuff around. You’ve got to put what you’re making out there for critique — the sooner the better. If you’re not nervous about your first version — if you’re not a little embarrassed by that thing, then you waited too long to show it. If you think you’ve thought of everything and the work is “perfect,” you’re probably wrong and still need more input.
Share your work when it’s raw and malleable, that way your feelings aren’t going to get hurt because you don’t think it’s finished yet. You know it’s halfway there, it’s gestural. You can use it to articulate a point of view and admit, “I know a lot of this isn’t right, but it’s directional. It’s aimed at what’s right.” Ask yourself what parts of it you feel most strongly about and why. Be honest about parts of the idea where you’re not sure. If you can set good context for that kind of conversation with whomever you’re getting input from (colleagues, clients, end users) and you do it often enough and early enough, then it won’t just be you alone trying to figure out if it’s version A or B or C, D, E, F. Try not to work alone all the way up until the deadline. Move that deadline forward a few phases or cycles and get that input sooner.
In the end, it’s helpful to remind yourself the thing you’re working on is likely part of something much larger. So ultimately you may have to be okay moving forward with something that’s “roughly right” and “good enough”. Especially because there are other challenges to solve!
Q: What about “passion projects?” I find myself starting these a lot: oil paintings, children’s book illustrations, designing a coffee machine, starting a clothing line…. How do you decide which side projects are worth your time? And whether you should be trying to figure out how to make money from them?
A: I wish we didn’t all feel this pressure to monetize our side projects. Just because a friend tells you they love what you’re doing and thinks you should start selling it online doesn’t mean you do it. If you want to experiment, go for it, but you don’t have to convert your side projects into side hustles and then scale them to some kind of entrepreneurial level and extract all the value (and joy) you can out of them. Sometimes they can just exist happily as an outlet without a giant audience. Don’t stress yourself out trying to devise some scheme to transition from your agency job into your side hustle and make it your full-time thing. I don’t know where this notion came from, but we’re so addicted to this “hustle porn” culture, and it’s sucking the life out of so many cool, creative things. Don’t worry if it will make money! Sometimes it can just be a little kernel of an idea you sketch out and share with somebody you love and trust and that’s it. That’s as far as it needs to go.
I wish there was an easy criteria for figuring out what to monetize and what to keep as a hobby. A good first measure might be: Is this helpful to people? Or is it just about making stuff for people to buy? COVID-19 has called into question consumption-driven interactions. People are realizing they don’t need to buy as much stuff to get by. I believe if people are going to pay for anything, it’s going to be experiences — because for the foreseeable future we will be deprived of meaningful experiences and interactions with others. Human touch is essentially banned. What a wild thing!
If you’re thinking about new endeavors, design something that makes people’s lives better; enlightens them, brings them together, helps them create memories. Those are very interesting spaces to play in. We need them more than ever, and they’re hard to replicate, so there’s a tangible way to differentiate yourself. Ask yourself: Is it helpful to people in special ways? Do I love it? Do I go to sleep thinking about it? Do I wake up thinking about it? Can I not stop thinking about this thing? Is it starting to consume my day-to-day? Are people beginning to know me for this thing and text me links because they know how wildly passionate I am about it? Am I beginning to make a name for myself in this pursuit? If you can answer ‘yes’ to all these questions, you might be onto something worth monetizing because at that point you’re probably truly in service of other people in unique ways they can’t get anywhere else and are eager to pay you for it.
Q: What are the most important skills for designers entering the workforce today?
A: Empathy is an obvious one; however, I challenge you to think about what might come after empathy. In some circles empathy is already a tired word. What about compassion? What does it look like to design with compassion?
I think intellectual curiosity is another important skill. Being willing to nerd-out on the challenge, to go deep in your client’s space and be excited about it — wanting to know and understand it from many angles.
I believe there are huge opportunities for skills in designing for AR and VR. What if there’s some scenario where this pandemic goes on for longer than anybody imagines and we’ve got to connect in ways that are still not in real life. If that’s the case, we’re probably going to need a lot more augmented reality or virtual reality designers.
I think skills in both systems thinking and service design are going to continue to be vital, too.
Q: Building on that, we’re entering an uncertain economy with loads of student debt, how do you think the corona virus will impact the design industry?
A: Anything in service of what’s been deemed “essential” feels really good for design — supporting front-line people in those categories is a huge opportunity. I also think because we’re all being forced to use technology like Zoom to connect — which, in some ways, makes it harder to build connections and bonds with people — there’s a chance for design to make these technologies more humane. The person who can unlock that will be wildly successful.
I think all the “boring” industries remain open for design and disruption — like logistics, manufacturing, government, higher education, etc. because they’ve just been neglected, highly regulated, and/or are perceived to be less “sexy.”
I think more than ever, people need trust and security. Because no one knows what will happen with this pandemic and people are willing to pay for all kinds of things that provide them more privacy, security, and peace of mind.
On one hand, I’m stressed out by the headlines and press releases. For example: thousands of people getting laid off from Airbnb and other large design-forward technology companies. And on the other hand, I’m hopeful because I think this pandemic might fundamentally change everything. And design can play a part in what that new version of us looks like. I really do believe great design can help move people to change and help them address complex problems in creative ways.
Q: Last question: Is there any advice you’d give to aspiring designers or any specific resources you’d recommend to them?
A: Reach out to lots of people, all the time. People who are inspiring to you, people you look up to in the industry, people whose work you think is really great. You’ll be surprised how accessible people are. Even the biggest design stars you have in your mind. If you send a thoughtful message — email, DM, tweet, whatever — you’ll be surprised by how accessible people are and how easily they’ll reply. Reach out without reservation!
Get paid what you’re worth. Advocating for yourself helps the new folks coming behind you, too. At the same time, pace yourself. Don’t be in such a rush to get promoted you end up missing out the critical learnings or experiences each level can offer. Right now, you want to take over the world, launch the most amazing things, achieve great success (however you measure it), but your ambition will be throttled by your capacity — how much time you have and how good you are at these things. Throughout your career, ambition and capacity will forever be at odds with each other.
Another important thing is your willingness to take on different kinds of responsibilities and challenges in your earliest roles. I’m not suggesting you do anything demeaning or allow an employer or client to take advantage of you — just know you’ve got an opportunity to learn from everybody, everyday, so keep your ego in check and be receptive to different perspectives. Random opportunities, learnings, and criticisms may shape your perspectives on design more than any other inputs.
I also think it’s critical to figure out what success looks like to you. If you’re getting into design for the money, there are so many better ways you can go get rich, if that’s really what you want. I know you’re coming out of school with a mountain of student debt, but try your hardest not to make career moves solely in pursuit of a bigger and bigger paycheck. And if you’re motivated to be the next [insert popular design-famous name], just know the design awards and accolades won’t mean shit to your clients — that type of “success” is mostly pay-to-play and/or the industry patting itself on the back. It doesn’t really mean anything in the big scheme of things. And if you’re getting into design for creative fulfillment or because you’ve always been told by others you’re “artistic” or “have a good eye” you are going to burn out so hard and get so jaded so quickly. The reality is your design day job will not satisfy every facet of your creativity. You’ve got to find other outlets where you can pour yourself into things and explore within different constraints.
So now that I’ve ruled out money, fame and fulfillment, what are you going to do with design? I encourage you to create change with it — I believe design is a really powerful tool to do that. What would it look like for you to measure your success by how you move people — on behalf of your clients or otherwise? That’s a different, more meaningful and lasting measure of success.
Thanks to Sowon Lee and Felipe Bickenbach for hosting me. Special shout out to Maris García and Theresa Slate for editing this post for brevity and clarity.
