With this blog we are going to share tips for junior designers and people getting into UX. Today we are going to share the first 5 of 10 mistakes that junior designers make. If you know what not to do then you have the ability to do the opposite and you can do better.
- Spreading yourself too thin - if you are doing too many things or cannot focus too much or can’t dedicate enough time on something you’ll never arrive at a good outcome. As soon as you get to learn how to prioritize things the sooner you get to the sooner you are going to do better than you prioritize yourself.
- Thinking 9 to 5 is enough - for every designer I recommend that you spend extra time, maybe just a few hours on the weekend, on their own projects. Practice the skills you learned and apply them to a passion project or a side project. Your job will be very linear in your development, sometimes you need to branch out and take what you previously learned in a schooling, bootcamp, or a book and create something new.
- Confusing UX and UI - Confusing things driven by user research (user experience) and very visual means which is the UI world (user interface). A lot of people (especially clients) will come to you asking for UX work where they really mean UI, since they do not know the difference. As a user experience designer you need to advocate for user research and data driven points on why things need to be placed or experienced in a certain way.
- Focusing on Progressing Way Too Fast - Many juniors try to fast track jumping up titles to “Mid-Level” designer and “Senior Designer” and oftentimes this progress is meant to take years and years or learning. This also depends on who the senior designer is at your company; if they are mentoring you correctly and giving you more tasks to tackle. Put all your effort in and dedicate yourself to mastering your craft and just know that it will take time for you to reach that senior position.
- Not Taking Ownership of Work - Junior designers typically are unsure on what tasks need to be done and oftentimes waits for a more senior person to give responsibility to them. They tell them what to do and what the right thing to do. I would say take more risks, I would recommend you to propose new things and initiate things. Worst thing you can do is wait for seniors to ask what to do and then for you to wait. This is a time for you to try, fail, and learn from your mistakes!
Next week we will cover the other 5 mistakes junior UX designers make!
