Designers Enlightenment Corner

Every time I start to read a book and reach the end — I get enlightened.

Geetha Priya Padmanaban
2 min readOct 5, 2020
Image Source

The most beautiful characteristic of a design community is about passing on the learnings; shaping junior designers’ thinking; Being inclusive of their passion and turning it to solve problems for humans.

I read a book this week to shape product design thinking which was suggested by one of my school’s alumni and I finished reading this book with a great thought

If they ask your opinion, offer it, but empower them to make the decision with the best information at hand! — CEO of Design Department, Mia Blume

Here are some key takeaways from design leads — a TLDR version

1. How designers should change their mindset?

Marketing, Finance, and operations fall under the auspices of design. Thinking only from a cosmetic lens to design will not help in the long run, unless it is the differentiating aspect. AI tools are helping us to be pixel perfect. Learning user design from a business aspect could help those businesses up to 95% of the time. Learn the customer Journey along with the user journey!

2. What would be the advice who wants to become founders?

Discipline (No procrastination; build tiny habits that neutralize your path to do good)

People skills — Build up armor (Dropping the ego) from the process of selling and being rejected in every interaction you make with your fellow humans

Big picture thinking — Triage product decisions; deliberate and seek opportunities that get you closer to the goals you have set.

3. The skill most designer’s overlook

Ensure that you building for the right user. Double-check assumptions; Practice your soft skills like your technical skills; Do critiques in a group setting

4. Tips for landing on a job

Approach it like a design process. You are the product and the hiring manager is the user. The hiring manager should have a great experience and buy what you are selling (Your skills) ie., they need to understand who you are and decide that it is lining up with what they need.

‘Do the research to see yourself fitting in their culture’ — Frame yourself to make that world of difference.

5. Skills future design managers should work on

Creativity; Storytelling; Empathy; Systems thinking; LISTENING

I respect all those designers who spend time writing their learnings to make sure we navigate through their learning and focus on empowering the human race with a stronger & wiser approach.

--

--