Practicing is not enough to become a great designer. Sorry.
Be prepared for some controversy. Since 2014, I‘ve been goofing around with design: I designed and developed my first websites, played around with Photoshop compositing and editing, and even spent a lot of time creating sharp and edgy memes. Everything I’ve done in these last eight years was about designing something. the rules are the same:
you have to create something that people love.
I can’t say I’ve practiced a lot, but I’ve surely spent hundreds or thousands of hours designing templates, layouts, and compositions with my computer. But why practicing is not enough?
because you need talent.
Do I have talent in design? not really. Everything I know about UX/UI design, graphic design et cetera comes from hours of practice. I’ve been better than my college colleagues because I’ve practiced double or triple their time. I’ve had to fix college projects from others because I had more experience. Sure, I actually was the best one…but believe me, I have no talent.
How to know if you have talent?
Frustration and effort. I’ve been playing guitar since 2010. It’s eleven years. I love music, my father had been a musician and I’ve been into music since early infancy. But… I’ve never had any musical talent. I am a mediocre guitarist that didn’t practice enough to become a good one. Why? frustration.
What talented people do not understand is the efficacy of training they have. When you’re talented, practicing gives you gratification and it’s easy. Before this sounds like pure laziness to you, I have to tell you that I know my talents and these words come from direct experience.
I can tell you the difference between practicing and learning something you’re talented at, versus something you’re not: I’ve been sporadically writing since the age of 9, and I always had success with no effort. No single effort. I’ve won prizes, school competitions and I am actually getting a lot of support with my profile on Medium…but I never struggled or had to practice to be a creative writer.
My main talents are writing poetry and teaching things, and everything just comes naturally. I’ve never had to practice it. Never. Designing or playing music instead is just an endless inferno of frustration.
If you have talent, the struggle is minimal. Practicing will get you fast results and will make you feel good. I’ve seen people, me included, trying to do something for years and years without getting a decent result.
Talent is just part of the game.
Can talentless people become good designers?
Sure. You can get good in everything, but the struggle will be huge. Becoming a great designer is a different story.
To become good, you’ll require a lot of time, and you’ll see guys design better than you in half the time. Maybe designing isn’t the right thing for you.
UX and UI are creative jobs like graphic design and writing, so talent is part of their game too. Studying and applying theoretical concepts is always good, but the ones who will distinguish themselves from the mass of designers will always have talent: they will understand what’s aesthetically good without experimenting, they’ll have innovative ideas that sell and will concretize them into actual layouts. It’s the harsh truth.
How do you feel about yourself? does it come naturally? if it doesn’t, probably you shouldn’t lose time with it. Sometimes we force ourselves to do things we aren’t built for. This doesn’t mean you have to quit immediately. Maybe you’ve spent a lot of your resources on a degree or a course…and it sucks to leave a career just because a bald guy on the internet told you that isn’t the right path for you.
But…if you ever noticed that something was immediate for you, probably that was your path. Life is only one my reader, and you do not want to waste it.
