Maybe this is true for every industry, but it seems that designers tend to stay within their safe little design bubble. It's hard to pinpoint but we know when it's present, and we feel it when it's absent. But we also know there's a universal understanding of good taste.
You may think taste is subjective, and it certainly is in some cases. Others acquire good taste over many years of sharpening their senses.
This is a quality you can hone as you read, travel, observe other designers, watch films, experience fashion, go to museums (more on this in a moment). There are plenty of designers out there who can map a user flow or build a landing page, but not all of them have an instinct for good design. Good tasteĪnother obvious one, but not always easy to find. Whatever it is, I don't want to start delegating a design task and think, “Nah, it will take less time to just do it myself than to explain it.” I want to know my designer can run with it. It's not so much about having experience or being able to "read my mind." It's more about having the confidence and drive to just begin without needing step-by-step instructions. Few can work from just one or two sentence-direction. Many designers can do exactly what they’re told. The ability to fill in the gapsĪ good designer is one who can work with as little information and guidance as possible. Rather than perfection, I'd rather see potential. When I'm hiring a designer, I'm investing in that designer. I'm looking at how I see you in the next few months or years. It depends on the position or project I'm hiring for but when reviewing your portfolio, I'm likely not looking at your list of hard skills. I've hired seasoned designers who were not so great at interactive design, but who learned and grew in that area after joining our team. I have hired interns who had little more experience than a three-month boot camp course. Rather, I look for natural talent and the potential to grow. But I don’t care whether you’re university taught or self-taught, or whether you've mastered the latest design technology. Of course, I expect my designers to know the basic principles of design and be comfortable using the standard tools of our trade. This is the designer I always search for and the designer I strive to be. But here it is in one place, both the reasonable expectations (at least, what I consider reasonable) and the potentially unreasonable ones (I have unrealistically high standards, even for myself).
Or this one, where I ponder the designer hiring gap. I’ve probably covered this to some extent in my other articles, like this one describing junior vs. So now, I’d like to share what I personally consider when hiring a designer for my team. I agree with some and disagree with others. While we have seen trends in their answers, many of them also conflict with each other. I’ve talked to dozens of companies about what they look for in a designer.