Advice for design graduates I wish I heard when I started

8 Mar

I was asked by my old university, National College of Art & Design to share some thoughts with upcoming graduates on what’s important to employers when entering the job market today. While there is lots of advice out there on how to build a portfolio, I thought I’d focus on the qualities I think people need to be successful in case it helps anyone else out there doing the same.

Note, this my biased perspective as a product/UX designer currently working in an enterprise tech company and not intended to be representative of all roles in design.

It’s not about you

Design is about objectively finding & solving problems. The days of the design superstar are long gone. The best people in the industry are low ego. When contributing or receiving feedback, it’s important to remember that it’s not about you. You’re not an artist looking for a lightbulb moment. Being a designer means working collectively with different disciplines to methodically find the best possible solution within a given set of constraints.

Question everything

When starting out in any role, you bring a unique (fresh) perspective that is very valuable. Don’t be afraid to question things, ask why things are the way they are and challenge assumptions. That doesn’t mean being an ass though, be authentic and stay humble in how you do this.

Get to know people and processes

Being a designer today can mean wearing many hats. Embrace this ambiguity, stay hungry and above all else, be curious about the people, processes and technology. Spend time with customers and people working in sales. Make friends with engineers and find out how the technology actually works. Grab coffee with product managers and get to know how the business makes money.

Speed matters

In university, you have the relative luxury of time to go deep into different topics but in an agile tech environment in particular, speed generally matters more than perfect execution. It’s better to find out what doesn’t work early (technical feasibility, commercial viability & user desirability), react and iterate quickly.

EQ > IQ

Your soft skills matter as much as your hard skills. The reality is that other people don’t care as much about design as you do, what I mean by this is that your work won’t just stand on its own. If you can’t articulate the problem being addressed and your approach to solving it— quickly— it doesn’t matter how good the work is. Practice presenting your work, get uncomfortable and put yourself out there to sharpen your communication skills.

Importance of writing

Additionally, I believe that the ability to write well — communicating your ideas clearly and efficiently — is an underrated skill in design. A well crafted email or Slack message can sometimes be more impactful than a slick prototype. This is also the craft of your peers in on other departments such as product management. Get to know their language.

Being propositional

As a designer, you have the skills to be synthesize disparate ideas and quickly create tangible propositions in the form whiteboard sketches or prototypes for example. This can be a very powerful way to cut through noise and build momentum. Knowing when to do this requires judgement, too soon and you can close doors and other potential opportunities. What’s important to remember is that you don’t always need to follow the process rigidly. Great design often comes from breaking the rules.

Visual fundamentals

Visual design matters — the ability to present information in an organised, structured format with clear hierarchy and navigation is table stakes. You may have great content but if it’s not presented well you are at a major disadvantage. There are ton of tools and examples out there to help you. Use grids, focus on typography and execute the fundamentals well.

Be nice, become useful

If nothing else, just being a positive, pro-active person is a powerful way to create opportunities. Be wary of the cynics, find out how to be helpful and useful. Be bold and insert yourself into meetings. Follow up, stick to deadlines and do what you said you would.

Everyone starts somewhere

For your first role, don’t be too picky as you’re probably not going to land your dream gig right out of college. Everyone starts somewhere, just make sure it’s directionally correct.

CV & portfolio

CVs still matter for recruiters and HR whereas portfolios are primarily for the design team / hiring manager. Stand out for both by telling a clear story, with a consistent narrative structure, simple layout and strong visuals but get to the point fast. The reality is that CVs ensure someone gets past the basic requirements and portfolio is where hiring managers make a quick decision on who to dig deeper into. Make it easy for them by putting your best work up front, with a clear structure that covers the problem to be solved, your role in the project (if group or individual) and outcomes. Referencing the visual fundamentals above, focus on the basics and don’t let bad visual execution be a distraction.

Industry speak

For tech in particular, there is a lot of industry-speak that can be baffling and intimidating when you are starting off. Remember that it’s just another language you need to get to know. Luckily, there is tons of the material you need out there for free. Listen to podcasts, read books and watch conference talks. Focus on the fields peripheral to design to tune in to this world.

Importance of timing

Large tech companies in particular often don’t have nimble hiring practices. Timing (e.g. specific recruitment windows) and various other restrictions mean that luck plays a large part. Get around this by talking to people in the industry to gather as much intel as possible in advance. Offer to buy someone a coffee, flatter them and ask them for their advice—you would be surprised how willing people are to help.

Optimism, persistence & curiosity

“The combination of persistence and curiosity is very good predictor of employee success in a knowledge economy.” — Eric Schmidt

This quote by Eric Schmidt resonates really with me but I would add optimism when applying this to a career in design. As designers, we get to live in the future and so being optimistic about that future and what could be possible is an important trait. Someone who demonstrates all of these qualities in their work and approach — optimism, persistence and curiosity — will always stand out from the crowd.

John Moriarty