Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Tony Headrick

Ah, okay, here is the deal: I fail all the time, but I don’t feel like a failure. I know, that doesn’t make much sense, but I use failure as a gauge for learning. And my failure happens every day and in every facet of my life. I am going to share a few of my favorite failures and the lessons I learned.

Starting out stumbling

When I started out on a course to be a professional graphic designer, I had big lofty dreams of being my own boss, making cool shit with my brain, and having all the latest and greatest Apple products. In college, I idolized Joshua Smith aka Hydro74. I wanted to live that life. But the problem was, I was only focused on the benefits of success. I had no idea what it took to make those dreams a reality.

Right after college, I failed at being my own boss, so I took a job as a production designer at a small credit card manufacturing plant. It wasn’t sexy, but by failing at being my own boss, I met people who were way smarter than me, and they helped hone in my abilities with Illustrator and InDesign — two tools I use almost daily 11-years later. I learned that even in a bad atmosphere, or one that is less than you expected, there is always the opportunity to learn.

Attitude is a skill that grows success

After being a production designer, I worked as a Web Designer and Photographer at a large online music instrument retailer. That was the first job where failure was perceived as a favorable trait. If you weren’t failing, you weren’t trying new things. And if you weren’t trying new things, then your employment had a limited shelf life, because what you were offering could easily be surpassed by somebody willing to get out of their comfort zone. It was unsettling. My confidence was shaken. I strived for perfection.

Not always hitting perfection made me mad, disappointed in myself, and made me feel vulnerable. I had a super-helpful team of amazing people around me. I was so skills/results focused that I was mostly blind to the opportunity to push myself within the confines of a “safe place.” My failures taught me that I could grow as a person and as a designer because having the right attitude meant more than having all the skills. I was told I was a “C-level designer with an A-level attitude.” There were more skilled people than me, but there wasn’t somebody who had a better attitude and who was willing to fail as much as me. Through my failures, I learned how important attitude was to your success as a designer.

Understanding what you don’t want

A short while after working in “the music business” I got offered a job that I thought was a dream come true. I was offered the Web Director position at a national, full-service ad agency. We had clients like Red Gold, BMW, Harley Davidson, Starcraft Marine, and Biomet. My pay was getting a significant bump, and many responsibilities grew in-step. I thought I was on the top of the mountain. A sort of, “Look at me now!” moment. Boy, I was so wrong. I failed… hard.

I learned how important perception was to a culture and team. The web was perceived as a bad thing. It was a new offering to the company, it was scary, and nobody but me knew about it. It was essentially me vs. the team. It was sketchy at best, and I quickly found myself having to defend the web to a team of marketers. I failed.

That failure caused a cascading effect of negative issues. No buy in from the team. No support from leadership. Constant doubt and negativity. There was disbelief in my skills from the team and myself. My confidence was destroyed. Not surprisingly, I got let go. It hurt like hell. I was kicked off my mountain. It was a long fall to the bottom. My failure was critical for setting me on a path for who I would be in the future. By failing, I learned what I didn’t want. Knowing what you don’t want can help you focus on what you do want. I was able to gauge job offers and opportunities against my previous experience to determine if it was likely to be something I want vs. something that was going to end very badly.

Failing to survive

When I failed at being a Web Director, it was at the height of the Great Recession. I had little to no opportunities. I had a newborn, and my wife was also unemployed. All of a sudden I found that being a graphic designer wasn’t good enough to land me a job.

I saw plenty of employment opportunities for graphic designers who could also serve as a developer, project managers who knew about coding, and many other more technical jobs that were outside of my skillset. I quickly got on Lynda.com and TeamTreehouse.com to learn how to survive. I failed so much. I failed for a long time. It was over a year and a half of failing. I failed at finding a job; I failed at supporting my family, I failed all over the place as I taught myself proper project management techniques and how to be a Front-End Developer.

Through those failures in learning, I was surviving. I was developing the skills necessary to be employable during and after the recession. As a result, I became a proficient designer and project manager (eventually a Scrum Master) and even a decent junior-level Front-End Developer. I was the only project manager I knew who could essentially be a complete solution for most agencies or organizations. I could do everything from writing the Statement of Work (SOW) to responsively coding a complete web design that I also designed. I became a “generalist” in some ways. I forced myself to be as proficient as possible in the areas of graphic design, web design and project management. It became an obsession, and that obsession led to me having a much higher career trajectory.

In Conclusion

As you can tell, I have failed a lot, and I have learned a lot. Failure has caused me to survive, thrive and change. I have learned more about myself, my craft, and various industries. If you find yourself failing, don’t give up. Look for the learning opportunity. Failing is an asset. For me, failing has helped me survive. As you push yourself further on your skilled path, I wish you “happy failing” in your quest for personal success.

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Failing My Own Way to Success

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