By taking a step back and reflecting on your own strengths and weaknesses as a designer, you can gain valuable insights into your unique skillset and approach. This self-awareness can help you focus on what is important and make more informed decisions about your career path. When you are honest with yourself and clearly understand your strengths and areas for improvement, you can be more intentional and focused in your growth as a designer. This intentional approach can help you build your skills faster and more efficiently, ultimately leading to more tremendous success in your career.
Here is a reflection I did with myself that I used to help me identify what type of designer I was. This helped me focus on what was important and be more intentional about how I could reach my goals.
Reflect on Your Strengths and Weaknesses:
As a designer, it's essential to understand your abilities and areas for improvement. This will help you identify which career paths best fit you. Consider what you excel at and what you need to work on, and take the time to reflect on your skills as a designer.
My Strengths:
- Ambitious: I set high standards for myself and am driven to achieve my goals, no matter the obstacles.
- Results-driven: I am focused on achieving concrete outcomes and take a strategic approach to problem-solving.
- Innovative: I am a dynamic thinker who is unafraid to think outside the box and develop novel solutions to challenges.
- Empathetic: I am an individual who can understand and share the feelings of others, which helps me in communication, negotiation and building relationships.
My Weaknesses:
- Dyslexic: I cannot write and read without reading and writing software, I also can't keep information in my mind, and I forget information when I get overloaded.
- ADHD: I constantly switch between being hyper-focused 100% and being completely switched off. I often switch between hundreds of things, spiralling down rabbit holes continuously.
- Workaholic: I can't switch off the need to be doing things all the time, and I struggle to relax and make time for life.
- Control anxiety : I constantly need to be in control and manage everything, leading me to always focus on the future and be less present.
By reflecting on my strengths and weaknesses as a designer, I can better understand my unique traits and skillset. It's important to remember that our strengths often come with corresponding weaknesses and vice versa. By taking the time to analyse the cause and effect of both, I can gain a more comprehensive perspective on my abilities and use this information to make informed decisions about my career path.
Consider Your Values, Passions, and Goals:
Consider what motivates you as a designer, what your passions are, and what you hope to achieve in your career. Understanding these things will help you choose a career path that aligns with your values and supports your goals. I recommend writing up a list of goals, values and a mission statement for yourself. Here is mine for an example.
My values are to be:
- Creative problem solver
- Highly empathetic
- Supportive leader and mentor
- Empowering others
- Strong communicator
- Highly self-aware and intentional
My Goals:
- Empower people
- Enabling people
- Creating inspiring and impactful experiences
My Mission:
My mission is to improve people's lives and empower and enable people to have better experiences that solve their problems through design and being a great mentor and leader.
The best mission comes from an inner need inside; my mission comes from my experiences and hardships with abuse and trauma and suffering with dyslexia and ADHD. This leads me to find ways to help others overcome their struggles and to become successful in their careers.
Identifying the skill sets:
Before identifying the skill sets, a couple of key takeaways, you do not need to be the best at any particular skill. That being said, you do need to enjoy the activities that utilise these skills, and you must be willing to become a master of those skills and open to new ones. Here is a list of skills I have for example:
My Skills:
- Building system strategies and processes
- Dynamic thinker
- Supportive mentor
- Creative problem solver
- Effective leader
- Empathetic
- Ambitious
- Motivated
Utilise the skills you have identified and then find how you can deliver your goals and mission with your skill set. At this stage, you must research careers that match your skill set and mission by discovering what outcomes come from the work involved. I lead a design team, and my team and I design products that improve people's lives. As a leader and mentor, I can deliver impact by enabling my team to be the best they can be.
When you understand the why behind what you want to do and know how you seek to deliver this, you are ready to get out there and start networking and learning.
Network with Industry Professionals:
Networking with industry professionals and reaching out to mentors for guidance is a great way to gain insights into different career paths and understand the skills and qualities valued in the industry. You can attend events and conferences, participate in online communities, and join professional organisations to meet like-minded individuals and make valuable connections. By building relationships with people who have been in the industry for a long time, you can better understand the different career paths available and what it takes to succeed in each one.
Get a Mentor:
Mentors can provide valuable guidance and support throughout your career. They can share their experiences and offer advice on navigating the industry, setting goals, and developing skills. Look for mentors with a background and experience that aligns with your career aspirations. You can contact them directly through email or social media or attend events and workshops where you can meet and engage with them.
In conclusion, understanding your strengths, values, and goals as a designer is essential to finding the right career path. By researching different career paths, gaining hands-on experience, and networking with industry professionals and mentors, you can make a more informed decision about your career and achieve your long-term goals as a designer.
For more information about the product design career road map checkout my other article here:
