Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Marc Andrew

If you’re just starting out on this voyage of design discovery there may be times when you think to yourself ‘Am I good enough?’, ‘That designer is so much better than me’, ‘My work sucks’.

We are our own worst critics, we really are from time, to time.

Stop. I guarantee the designer you’re looking at thinking those kinds of things, is either looking back at you thinking similar things, and we really need to stop this cycle of self-doubt with our own work.

Don’t think the next guy/girl is better than you

I’ve been guilty of this in the past. For the 20+ years I’ve been working as a designer (starting out as a Graphic Designer a long time ago) I’ve had moments when I’ve paused and thought ‘My work looks s**t’. The usual designer doubt that we all get. I think we’re one of the few professions that probably has these kinds of nagging thoughts on a regular basis.

Some of what I thought was my finest work has raised barely a whisper, and then work that I’ve viewed as a little bit on the sucky side has been warmly received.

Your work is great because it’s your work

It’s all wrong. You’re work, your creations are yours, your own. You know what makes them great? You. It’s your voice, not anybody else’s, and that’s what makes it truly original, and sets it apart from the guy/girl next door.

If you’re just starting out then yes, in parts there will be certain things you may be less knowledgeable about. Structure, Hierarchy, Typography, those kinds of things, but you’ll learn, and refine these over time. It’s not some kind of unattainable goal that you’ll never be able to reach. You’ll get there at your own pace.

And there’s more time-served designers out there that still don’t have a clue, but who you may look at and go ‘Their work is the greatest there has ever been. They know everything, about everything’. I guarantee you they do not. They’ll have refined many things but they’ll still be on a learning journey, we all are. It never stops.

Digest, digest, and digest some more

Always be digesting. Read, read a lot. If that’s one piece of information I could have passed to my younger self it would be that. Always be digesting information, and that does not mean just checking out the most popular Shots on Dribbble. Watch videos, read informative articles, just digest, digest, digest… and then, just keep designing. If it’s not a client project, then just a little side-project, or just something to pass the time. Always be designing something, however small.

Don’t iterate your designs to death!

So remember. Don’t look at the next persons Portfolio site, or Shot on Dribbble, and think you’re not worthy. Don’t be hyper-critical of your own work, if it’s a personal project, get it out there and then refine. You can get in a rut of refining a design until you strip away too much and you start to introduce changes that really didn’t need to be done, until it resembles a piece of work you’re really not happy with, and gives you one of those ‘Oh I should have left this alone 6 iterations back’ moments. Yup, have been guilty of that also in the past.

Don’t be a sheep, try not to follow trends because it’s the done thing. That’s not to say you shouldn’t be inspired. Absolutely, but to a point. Put your own personal stamp on it, and try to bring something new to the table.

So knuckle down. Keep creating. Keep learning. Keep digesting. And don’t compare yourself to someone else. You are you, and that’s what makes you, and your work different to the next guy/girl.

Confidence in yourself will enable you to produce your very best work.

Thanks for reading the article

Marc

Want to be a better UI Designer? Stop comparing yourself to others was originally published in Prototyping: From UX to Front End on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Want to be a better UI Designer? Stop comparing yourself to others

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