Beyond craft

I spoke to dozens of designers this year at Config about their deepest difficulties, hopes, dreams, and aspirations.

Guess what I learned?

Our people are suffering. But not from design problems.

We're suffering from problems beyond the craft.

Not a single person told me their greatest difficulty was figuring out the right layout for a SaaS app or dialing in an illustration system for a brand.

Rather, the deeper problems we deal with as designers are almost always human problems. A huge number of them are related to influence:

• Getting our designs implemented correctly
• Staving off micromanagement
• Keeping alignment to avoid last minute blowups
• Being able to say no to poor feedback
• Cultivating goodwill among non-design stakeholders

Many others are related to our own psychology:

• Feeling lonely as solo designers
• Building conviction in our design decisions
• Feeling like an imposter
• Dealing with creative block
• Ramping up quickly on complex domains to feel credible
• Feeling hemmed in creatively by our work

And of course, it's taboo to talk about money. But we all want to put bread on the table and live more abundant lives.

If we already work at a company, we need to make an impact, measure it, and tell our story to the team and company at large.

If we're looking for work, we need to communicate our value, stay persistent, filter for appropriate leads, and capitalize on them aggressively.

If we run our own company, we need to create a maximally desirable and usable product in record time with limited information.

So what's the upshot of all this?

Going beyond the craft

I'm renaming the blog 'Beyond the Craft' because I'm passionate about helping product builders like us get real results.

In the real world, craft is almost everything.

Almost. But not quite everything. And what remains beyond the craft is a vast, seemingly unbridgeable gulf, roiling with human complexity. On the other side is great opportunity.

What opportunity? To do creatively fulfilling, financially rewarding work with autonomy. To design products that genuinely make a difference rather than just interfaces. Ultimately, to actually enjoy our work and take care of the people we love.

If that interests you, stick with me. We'll close the gap between craft and reality together.