Dear Future Designer: What They Won’t Teach You
#028: Tools and trends fade, but principles and people endure.
I’ve long been fascinated by the evolution of design education. I’ve advised programs like Mount Mary University on how to better prepare students, and earlier in my career I worked full-time in higher education at both the University of Cincinnati and UCF. Those experiences taught me a lot about what schools do well, and what they often miss.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: even the best programs still leave students unprepared for the work that matters most.
Yes, you’ll learn the tools and techniques. You’ll graduate with a portfolio of screens, flows, and case studies. But the skills that actually determine success in UX — the ones that shape careers and outcomes — rarely show up on a syllabus.
So, consider this a letter to you — the next generation of designers — about what it really takes.
1. Relationships are the real leverage
Doing excellent solo work will carry you early in your career. But the farther you go, the more your effectiveness depends on how you work with others.
Build relationships across team boundaries — engineers, PMs, marketers, operators. Some of your best design work will come not from pixels but from reorganizing how work flows between people.
Treat relationships like design problems: how can I reduce friction, create alignment, and generate clarity?
Influence comes through trust. Trust comes from consistency, empathy, and respect.
The most powerful design work often looks like relationship design: creating new ways of organizing the work itself.
2. Humility is a superpower
Designers don’t have all the answers. You’ll be wrong more often than you’d like to admit. That’s not weakness — that’s the job.
Ask questions, even when you feel you should already know.
Seek critiques early and often.
Learn from everyone—engineers, data analysts, customer service reps, executives.
Arrogance slams doors. Humility opens them.
3. Tie design to business outcomes
Good design doesn’t “speak for itself.” You need to connect your work to what the business values.
Don’t just say, “This makes it easier for users.” Say, “This reduces checkout time, which increases conversion.”
Show how design reduces costs, saves time, or builds loyalty.
Speak the language of outcomes, not outputs.
If you can’t tie your work to results, you’ll be seen as cosmetic. If you can, you’ll be trusted as strategic.
4. Systems thinking is non-optional
Design isn’t just about screens — it’s about the systems that shape them. That includes the systems inside your organization.
Look at how teams are structured, how information flows, and where bottlenecks slow decisions.
See the connections between design choices, operational realities, and customer impact.
Recognize that sometimes the best design intervention is not a new interface, but a new workflow.
Systems thinking makes you indispensable because it connects the micro (a single interaction) to the macro (how the organization functions).
5. Design is the great aligner
One of design’s greatest powers isn’t in the polished deliverables for production — it’s in its ability to align people.
Use your skills to paint a picture of the future that sparks excitement and conversation.
Don’t aim for perfection; aim for clarity. A rough concept that gets people nodding and contributing is worth more than a pixel-perfect file no one reacts to.
Invite others to build on your ideas. When people see their fingerprints in the vision, they become invested in making it real.
The real magic of design often happens in the moments where a sketch, a prototype, or a storyboard gets people moving in the same direction.
6. Heuristics still matter
Design education often skips over the basics, but they’re timeless.
Learn usability heuristics and keep them at the front of your process.
Master the art and science of information architecture. Clear navigation solves more problems than flashy visuals ever will.
Use principles as your compass when tools and trends shift.
Fads will come and go, but heuristics are your grounding in reality.
7. Politics is just human behavior
“Office politics” has a bad reputation, but it’s unavoidable. Politics is simply how people pursue their goals in groups. Ignore it, and you’ll be blindsided. Understand it, and you’ll thrive.
Learn what motivates your colleagues—career goals, incentives, fears.
Don’t manipulate; empathize. Seeing what drives behavior helps you anticipate it.
Building genuine relationships gives you an advantage, because you’ll see the person behind the role.
Politics isn’t dirty—it’s just context. Navigating it with integrity is part of leadership.
8. The craft is changing, but the fundamentals aren’t
AI can generate interfaces, write copy, and even predict behaviors. But it can’t decide what’s worth building—or whether it’s ethical. That’s your job.
Use AI to accelerate exploration, not replace thinking.
Stay rooted in empathy and judgment — qualities machines can’t replicate.
Remember: tools change, but the designer’s responsibility to shape outcomes remains the same.
If you remember nothing else:
Relationships > solo brilliance.
Outcomes > outputs.
Principles > trends.
Systems thinking > surface fixes.
Design aligns > divides.
Politics > ignorance.
Your tools will change and your org will reorganize repeatedly. But if you master these fundamentals, you’ll always have a place and a—purpose in de—ign.
Welcome to the work. We need you.
—A Designer in 2025