← The Angry Designer Graphic Design, Freelancing, Branding & Creative Business Podcast
The Angry Designer Graphic Design, Freelancing, Branding & Creative Business Podcast
Why Getting Better at Graphic Design Is Actually Hurting Your Career
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Some of the best designers I know are completely stuck. Great work, solid portfolios, years of experience, and yet they're not making more money, they're not leading bigger projects, and they're not being taken seriously. They're just there. On the flip side, you've got these designers whose work is just kind of meh, and somehow they're in the boardroom, they're making big decisions, clients hang on their every word, and you're just sitting there thinking, how the hell does this even make sense? I've been on both sides of this. I've been the one who was overlooked, and I've been the one who's been running the boardroom. And what I realize is this isn't a design problem. Or at least not the way you think. In this episode of the Angry Designer podcast, powered by wix Studio, I'm breaking down what designers are actually missing. Why getting better at design isn't moving your career forward, and how to shift from the one who just does the work to the one who actually leads it. Because if there's one thing that I've experienced firsthand, this isn't a design problem. It's a thinking problem. Let's go. There's a gap that nobody talks about. And for the longest time, I thought it was experience or confidence or that they were just better talkers. And, yeah, while that is part of it, it's not the real reason. It's. It's not that one designer is better at design. It's that one designer actually knows what kind of conversations to have with the customer, what questions to ask. Not better designers, but better thinkers. And before you get all worked up, I'm not saying that you're dumb, but I am saying that we were never really taught this, and there's a difference. Let me ask you something, and be honest with yourself for a second. I want you to think about how we grow in this industry. I mean, you go to design school or teach yourself, and what do you learn? You learn how to make things look good, you learn software, you learn layout, typography, design principles, all really important things. But everything is built around this whole idea about, here's the problem, now go solve it. Nobody ever stops to ask, is this even the right problem? Just because a customer tells you this is the right problem. They're not always right. And for the record, they're wrong most of the times. So what happens? Designers get really good at executing. You get faster, you get more professional, more efficient. You become the person who can take a brief and nail it and early on in your career, that gets rewarded big time. Social media loves it. Your fellow designers are high fiving you. Clients love it. Your boss looks at you like you're a hero. You don't push back. You deliver awesome looking work every single time. But then something weird happens. You hit the ceiling, skill, position, salary. And the worst thing is nobody tells you why. So you just assume it's you. And suddenly you're the person who just executes. And that's not enough anymore. You're in meetings, you're taking notes and not understanding why giving your customer what they want is suddenly not enough. And this is where a lot of designers get stuck, because they double down on the wrong thing. They think, okay, I just need to get better. I need to create better processes, create higher designs, better, better ideas. But that's like pressing harder on the gas when you're already pointed in the wrong direction. And if you think I'm just talking theory here, I'm not. We had a great retainer client, good gig, great tech, lots of work. We were doing their socials and their ads and their website and their packaging. And honestly, we were killing it. Everything stayed on brand. Nailed every brief. No complaints from the customer. And why would anything go wrong? I mean, we were crushing it. Or at least so we thought. Then our main contact leaves the company and a new VP of marketing comes in. First meeting. I'll never forget this. He looks at me and asks, what have you done to advance the brand over the past four years? I just sat there because we had nothing. Not a single thing. I froze. We kept it on brand and we acted like brand guardians and kept it professional, but we never pushed it forward. We delivered, but we never challenged the briefs. We thought we were doing them a favor by being good designers, but in reality, we were. We weren't thinking, we weren't solving problems, we weren't creating better solutions. That's why that question hit me like a punch in the face. We hadn't advanced the brand at all. We just maintained it. Anyone can maintain something like that. But that's not why clients hire designers, or at least what they hope to get from designers. Needless to say, we lost the client. And not because we were bad. It was never about our design quality, our process, even our creativity. It was our boat at thinking, or lack of. And that's when it hit me. We weren't bad at design. We were bad at thinking. We never showed that we could think past the brief. We never challenged it. We just assumed that they were right. And they had all the answers and they just needed us to be part of the team. But the VP of marketing was looking for someone to lead the design. The biggest leaps we ever made as an agency, it had absolutely nothing to do with creating better designs, like, ever. It wasn't like we were suddenly making a logo prettier and clients were like, oh, God, take all our money. You've solved all of our business problems. That's not really how it works. The biggest changes in our agency was when we stopped jumping directly into design and started every project with asking better questions like, why are we even doing this? What's actually not working here? What's the real problem behind this request? Clients don't always like those questions at first because they now you're not just taking orders, you're thinking, you're challenging, you're. You're making them think. But once they realize that you're acting in the best interest of the company and the project, everything changes. They start revealing more about the company. They talk about issues, their competitors, past flops. And now you're not just the person who's producing things, you're the person who's helping their business. You're acting like a partner, not a vendor. And those two things are completely different roles. And now a word from our sponsor. Designers. Let's be honest. Web design should be a graphic designer's job. It's bold, it's creative, it's experimental, and at its core, it is design. Layout just brought to life online. But somewhere along the way, graphic designers lost it, developers took over, tools got complicated, and creativity took a backseat to code. Thing is, clients still expect us to bring their brand to life everywhere. And if we're not offering web design today, you're leaving money and potential opportunities on the table. That's where Wix Studio comes in. It's the web platform built for designers. With a drag and drop interface that feels like a designer's tool. Plus no code animations and AI powered tools, you can create functions fully. Custom websites that match your vision. Every pixel, every layout, every detail. So whether it's a simple branded brochure site or an online portfolio, or even a full blown ecommerce experience, Wix Studio makes it all possible for graphic designers with tools that think like a designer, not like a developer. The web doesn't need more templates. It needs you and your creativity unleashed. And Wick Studio is going to give you that opportunity. So stop giving your creativity away and take back the web. For designers. Visit wixstudio.com and design the Web the way it was meant to be. Most designers who are stuck, they fall into that first category. Design something that looks great and then wait. Wait for direction, wait for feedback, wait for approval. And again, I'm not blaming you. That's how we've been groomed and rewarded in this process. But you got to realize that your fear value is tied to how well you execute. You're always going to be limited to what kind of jobs that you're going to be asked to do. And you'll be replaceable because execution seems to be the easiest part to swap out. Fiverr Canva AI. They've always had their eye on the execution. And while what they do isn't nearly as good as what we can do, it can create friction. So next time you get a brief, an email, a new customer, ask, you just need to stop getting into design and, and start thinking first, don't touch your computer. Seriously, just don't touch it. No Pinterest, no Illustrator, no. Let me just get this out. Instead, ask yourself one question. What problem is it that they're actually trying to solve? Not what did they ask for, but what do they actually need? Because think about it. If a client comes to you and says, I need a new brochure, okay, why? Is it because the brochure looks outdated? Or is it because nobody's reading it, sales aren't converting, it's confusing as hell and saying the wrong thing to the wrong people. Because if it's any of those things, a new brochure design isn't probably going to be the solution. Same thing with packaging. Client says, hey, I need a new packaging design. Cool. Is it because it's not standing out on the shelf? Is it because it's, it's, it's attracting the wrong audience? Or it looks cheap next to our competitors? Because again, a new design isn't always going to be the fix in this case. And this is where designers get it wrong. They hear the request, I need a new, and they jump straight into solving it visually. So here's a simple tip to catch yourself. If your first move is to let me make this look better, you're stuck in execution mode. But if your first move can be, wait, what's actually broken here? Now you're thinking, and it's small to start, but it changes everything, because over time, you're going to stop being the person who just delivers work and you become the person people rely on to figure out bigger business problems. And there is no better rush than being asked to the boardroom of a billion dollar brand to help fix a business problem. That's the real value designers bring. Not in how good you can make something look, but in how clearly you can see problems. Because once you can do that, you're not stuck anymore. You don't need to become a better designer. You just need to become a better thinker. Because most designers who are stuck, they're not stuck because they suck. They're stuck because they never learned how to think. Don't forget to like and subscribe. And. And let's keep this fun thing going. All right, guys, on behalf of Sean and myself, stay creative and stay. Sam.