In 2023, I will complete 7 years in the profession and I have never been so motivated to be a better person every day in everything I put my hands on. During this period, I have thought a lot about what I could say to past Lucas or to those who are just starting out, so in this list of advice, I hope to make you reflect a little, after all, I don't want to be conventional.
If you're expecting a list of design books, companies that have something to teach about design, or a cool podcast to follow, I'm sorry to say, but you won't find that in this reading.
The more I learn about how to be a better person, the more I realize that I know nothing. Does that phrase sound familiar to you?
So, I hope to contribute to your personal journey as a designer and that, if possible, we can talk more about career and life at some point! :)
Here's my advice:
No matter how dedicated you are to reading books about human behavior, UX, or research methods. No matter how many podcasts you listen to in a day or how many posts you make on Dribbble. Give time to time. Seniority has more to do with posture and results than necessarily a certain type of technical mastery.
We live in a period of humanity where talking about anxiety has become as common as picking up the phone and scrolling endlessly.
Before becoming a senior designer, find out if you're doing a good job on your project. If your suggestions are in line with the company's objective. Find out what your leader thinks of your work, or maybe the person sitting next to you, what do they think of you?
Can you breathe underwater? I'm sure you can't. But it's completely possible to train until you get to the point where you can stay underwater for more than 5 minutes, like Croatian Budimir Šobat, who stayed underwater for more than 24 minutes and set a world record.
A portfolio is like your business card, you need to have one. In the rush of everyday life, you'll find that it's hard to keep your LinkedIn, Dribbble, or personal website updated.
My advice is to keep everything you do. Whether it's a study or a project, save a copy as a backup and then, with great care, put together a presentation of it.
If possible, practice presenting everything that was done, what the goal was, and what results were achieved. One day you will need to talk about it to someone, so be prepared.
"But Lucas, I don't have any experience, how can I have a portfolio?" Build case studies. Learning design is about studying and practicing, often more practicing than studying. So, if you don't have any experience, build it on your own.
Almost everyone has a passion project or an innovative idea. Why don't you take that and develop it as your first design project? Put your knowledge into practice, test your limits and make it a beautiful case study in your portfolio.
This may seem like a big challenge on its own, so here are some project ideas you can start with today:
Ideas are endless. Start putting your knowledge into practice today and build a beautiful and up-to-date portfolio.
And this tip is for everyone, regardless of their level. Humility is not about lowering your head and listening silently, but about respect and empathy. As a young designer, understand that you "think" you know things because you read somewhere. My friend, in practice, it is much more difficult to build a scalable design system from software that is already coded, installed on the client, and cannot be changed in the base structure. That is difficult in practice.
When someone comes to give you well-intentioned advice, listen. If you find it unnecessary, that's okay. Let it pass, but be humble and accept feedback.
Be happy when someone comes and gives you feedback. Obviously, I'm assuming that this feedback is based on a context and a fact that happened, otherwise, it's just someone giving their opinion.
Feedback is there to show you the way, on your journey you will get off track, it's normal. I don't say this to be mean, but because of influences, sometimes life's events distract us and before we know it, we're off track. Listen carefully to feedback, ultimately both the feedback and the person who gave it just want to help you with the best intentions, take it as a practical exercise from tip 4.
It doesn't matter if your mentor works with you, is in another country, or if your relationship is only virtual, it doesn't matter. Have a mentor. Mentors are there to tell us certain truths that we might not hear from anyone else, they are people who should have enough maturity to recognize when you're messing up and need to be corrected and professional maturity in the design area you identify with.
Personally, my mentor did my first design review (evaluation of my work as a designer) and he wasn't even my boss at the time, later he hired me to work together, and the greatest benefit I could have from him was his friendship. Hugs, Vitor Guerra 🖤!
Having a mentor is like taking a shortcut to get to a farther place. Alone, you know you can get there, but with a mentor, the path is not only faster but may even be shortened.
Mentors don't just serve as gurus of absolute truth because they're not. It's someone who can help you get into places you wouldn't have permission to go alone, they will connect you with unique opportunities.
For me, the process of finding mine was through sheer boldness. I kept sending messages on Facebook asking for advice and feedback on the work I was doing at the time, and it was quite natural.
For you, I would recommend connecting with people you admire in the industry through LinkedIn or Twitter. Send messages, ask questions, and always, always be kind and polite. Nobody is obligated to adopt anyone.
Not everything is in the books, and not all formulas work for every calculation. Working with design makes you a designer and that represents a maximum of 30% of who you are (we work on average one third of our lives).
We are people built on experiences, what brought you here is completely different from the path I had and the other will have, we experience and learn different things every day, we relate to people and this increasingly shapes who we are. Go after experiences that connect you with your inner self, not with what you do during part of the day.
As a designer, it is very common to have moments when nothing comes out of your head. We usually call this "creative idleness". When you come across these moments, step away from the computer. Try running, practice a sport. Remember, your work does not define you.
Don't forget that the privilege of life is only for those who are alive. Don't make your profession your prison.
We live in a globalized world and in this world, the native language is English. There's nowhere to escape, sooner or later you will come across an article, podcast, tools, or maybe a super cool event that will be in English. So learn it today. Remember: "whoever anticipates governs".
I understand that learning a new language is a difficult task, but nowadays there are tools that can help you in this process. For example:
The most effective way of learning is to pass on what you have learned to someone else. As someone who is starting their career now, you may think that you don't know anything, and I disagree. We can all teach something to someone, for example, I recently learned how to make rice. Simple, isn't it? Well, I only learned it after I got married.
On the journey to becoming a better designer, share what you have learned, whether by exchanging ideas with a colleague in the profession, showing it on social media, or offering free mentoring. Be generous. Give back what you received.
In your routine as a designer, you will routinely be presenting your work, defending your best ideas, or leading workshops. It doesn't matter, you will always be speaking in public and learning this as soon as possible will put you ahead of many people.
For a long time, I considered myself a person with ease in public speaking, until I started to be questioned about my ideas, then it became difficult and I realized that I needed to learn. The challenge is to control anxiety in the response and put thoughts in a logical sequence to make communication clear.
The secret of communication is not to speak without stuttering, but to make what is in your head an idea understood by your audience. It took me a while to understand that when there is a communication failure, the fault is mine and not the person who did not understand.
Don't be like me, learn to speak in public and understand that being clear in communication is about you learning to speak and not your audience knowing how to understand.
Conclusion
Working with design is about receiving a daily avalanche of information. It's about waking up and seeing a new tool emerging almost daily. Being up-to-date is part of the learning process, of course. The most important thing is not how much you know about design, but how resourceful you are in using the minimum resources within your project. It's not easy, but you'll get there!
I hope I have contributed to your journey. If you prefer, comment below on what reflection you had. I would love to contribute even more!
