Question 3: What Things You Wish You Knew When You Started in Design?

Great Tips and Advice When Starting Out in Design

20 Designers, 20 Weeks, 1 Question Per Week

Learn From Twenty Experienced Designers

“I wish I’d known earlier what I had to learn late” (Richie Ashburn)

Simon Pan — Senior Product Designer at Medium, San Francisco, USA

Nationality:

Australian 🇦🇺

What things you wish you knew when you started in design?

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always struggled with the idea of natural talent. I thought that I was the only one who lacked it because I was different from everybody else.

My head would scream:
- “You don’t have what it takes.”
- “You’re not talented, like…”
- “You’ve waited too long; you will never be as good as …”
- “You’re not like them. You don’t belong here.”