How to let things go (like a designer)
Whether you’re starting a UX designer career, or perhaps a new hobby, passion and hard work are key to getting ahead.
However, I have encountered moments where my passion and drive didn’t matter, and aspects of a project or situation were out of my control. No matter how hard I work, some people will have other plans.
When you become a UX designer, its your job to advocate for the customer and their needs while designing a new feature (or entirely new) app or website.
Through my work, I’ve realised that the greatest challenge of UX design is channelling your knowledge into businesses that think they know everything already. You’re seen as a blocker — just the artsy person who knows pretty visuals, but not much else.
Thankfully, as you gain more experience having these conversations, they become easier. The more senior designers aren’t necessarily designing the craziest animations. Instead, they are able to do their best work within that given situation. There are compromises, but they know when to compromise.
How this applies to you?
In design and in life, I have a few rules on when to let go of an issue, and when to keep fighting. Its important to stand up for yourself, but it’s also important to know that some battles just aren’t worth “winning”.
To deal with these situations, I like to ask myself a few questions…
“Is this really important?” — Will changing the background colour to a slightly different grey really impact the results of the A/B test? Is your favourite protein powder being out of stock really the end of the world?
“Does this compromise my personal values?” — Will telling customers they’re getting the ‘best price’ (even when they aren’t) compromise my personal values? Does my friend Jane bullying people really sit well with me — am I condoning this behaviour through being her friend?
“Can I test this alongside another option?” — Is it worth testing the other background colour in an A/B test to prove a point? Can I try doing one thing a boyfriend wants to do one weekend, and one thing I want to do the next?
This week…
I challenge you to ask yourself these questions, and to try and let something go. While it’s sometimes necessary to extract yourself from a situation, prioritising what you “fight” for can actually save your sanity.
