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Get a seat at the table and build the design career you want. This podcast is for designers looking to break in, level up, and take control of their careers—whether you're freelancing, climbing the corporate ladder, or just trying to get noticed. Every two weeks, we dive into career fundamentals, design best practices, and the hottest topics in the design community.
You know, maybe design education or UX education is too much about, you know, design thinking and the five steps and and understanding and all that, you know, still important stuff. But, you know, if you go a bit visual, a bit more visual, I think that would, you know, do your career very good. And you're officially live. We are officially live. Exactly.
Nick:I mean, this is just an experiment. Alright. So I read an article written by Tom Scott, I think a very successful recruiter for designers, and he shared 10 of his observations in his verified insider newsletter that I think we should really go through, like, one by one. Because there are some very cool insights there that will, you know, hopefully help, you know, our listeners, you know, on the on the job hunt, which I think is a really cool idea to do and very nice of him to to share. Make sure to put a link to to the article in the in the description of this episode.
Tyler:Let's go through it.
Nick:So yeah. So it's it's basically basically a video where you know, in this episode where we are going to do a listicle, you know, number one, number two, etcetera. Okay. So what he's saying, and this is based on the last two months, is what he says. Number one is what companies are looking for.
Nick:So you have on one end, you have all this stuff on social media, you know, game changer, this Netflix, mass debt, blah blah blah blah. Yeah. But this Okay. Or have you most how does all of that sound?
Tyler:I think communication is probably number one. Like, if you can't communicate your ideas, like, you're just gonna get ripped apart. Like, you need to communicate not at the at the base level, it's when you're sharing your work. It's not, hey, what you think. It's why are you why why did you design this thing?
Tyler:What business value does it have? What are we trying to solve? Communicating that while presenting your work is, like, number one for me.
Nick:Yeah. The the job and on on the job and in your portfolio, I think, is what you're
Tyler:saying. Right? It it it all carries through. It's all part of, like, the brand and the the brand that is used. So if you're a great communicator in, like, text and then in the hiring process and then also in person, like, that's all that should be well communicated.
Nick:Yeah. Makes sense. Do not overuse buzzwords, I think.
Tyler:Yeah. I think the builders another one as well. Yeah. The built like, going doing something zero to one, think is more important. Teams are getting leaner, so like the ability to not just to do your part, but also kind of just broaden like what parts of the business you touch is is important as well.
Tyler:So it's not like you're one piece of the cog. You are you're you're helping ship entire things. Right. Right. So it means you have like the full context of of everything.
Tyler:It's not just I was given a brief. I built this little thing and I handed it off. Like, you're you're you're contributing to the success of whatever you're launching from the its inception to once it, like, lives in production.
Nick:So I think the one of the most or maybe the most practical example of that is that designers are now building more in literal sense. We're doing more front end stuff, having PRs contributing to PRs for their projects instead of just here is a mock up. Good luck. Goodbyes. You never.
Tyler:Yeah. Because there's there's there's historically always been, like, something that gets lost from, like, design to development. There's, like, there's nuances and things that, like, get deprioritized. If you now that we're building more and now we're putting things behind PR, the quality of our deliverables are getting correct me I'm wrong.
Nick:I think they're getting better, I think. Mobile desktop, like, just the responsiveness, but also design systems. I think especially with that design to code and that merging of those two fields, you know, being able to build the thing that sits between design and codes, you know, the system. I think that's a really cool thing if you can do it beyond just having a component library in Figma. You know, just being able to build that one source of truth, like everyone looks at it, where component is visual and code you can just take out.
Nick:I think that's really important. It can be a full time role even, you know, just being a design system designer.
Tyler:I think so. Because that's what facilitates, like, the how fast we're building now. It's like like that role like, historically, that role has been getting larger and larger, but now I think it's more important than ever to have that design system, not just like the the builders of to your point of, like, design system, but, like, that component library, like, and how it's being used by both design and engineering. And it's communicated correctly, not just not just an artifact that we have lying in a link in Confluence or Notion. Things it's something that's it's living and breathing and is active actively being kind of upgrading and massaged depending on the use case.
Tyler:Because, like, those components, they're built once, but they're also iterated on because like as your product scales, so does certain components.
Nick:That's true. That's true. And you probably know I mean, it happens to me all the time. You know, you can have all these components, but there's always going to be some sort of combination of different factors where Yeah. It turns out you have to slightly change your component.
Nick:You know? And then you have to figure out what I'm going to do. You know? Am I going to make a variation of what we have? Is this going to be a new one?
Nick:Is this gonna be a combination? You know, there's a lot of maintenance and performance thinking going on there as well. You know? Because you can just make new stuff for every situation you you run into, then the it's just going to take so much time to maintain everything. You know?
Nick:So the the keeping it lean is is very it's it's a skill on its own. I always enjoyed design system work. You know, it's it's very technical side of design that I enjoy.
Tyler:Yeah. There's like a delicate balance of, like, there's there's nuance in, like, should we create a new thing or just upgrade or just limit it? Like, maybe descope a project. Like, let's not just do that thing. We don't we have these components.
Tyler:Let's craft something within, like, the with the ingredients that we have to make the recipe. There's a there's a balance there, and it's there's there's a lot of nuance to it.
Nick:Yeah. Do do you do you see what we've discussed so far? Do you see that happen in your job and across your teams?
Tyler:Yeah. Because, like, scope of a project, it takes dictates like what you're you can build and often you have to take trade offs. Like, well, we have this that exists already. It'll take an extra two weeks to build this new custom thing. Can we still solve the user's problem with our existing opponent while just extending them ever so slightly?
Tyler:So, like, it's a balance between, like, the cost of the extra two weeks, which is, like, everyone's salaries together kind of collectively burning for that ideal solution, or can we still deliver value if we just cut and then massage this thing in a certain way? Right. So often it happens often. It's just constantly trade offs between, like, design engineering product. Like, how can we kind of make sure that, number one, it's it's quality work, but also, like, we're not burning the budget building this thing.
Nick:Right. Yeah. That makes sense. If you look at numbers two and three on the list, I think they're very interesting Design leaders not in demand right now and then design leaders in demand right now. Do do you have a design leadership kind of position in your in your job?
Tyler:I mean, it's principle, so, like, a certain level of leadership, I Yeah.
Nick:Yeah. I mean, we we can just, you know, run through this quickly just to see if that's if it's relevant in any way to what you're doing and if you can see like, hey. Yeah. That's happening to me too or maybe not at all.
Tyler:Yeah.
Nick:Things so design leaders not in demand right now. Someone who is tied to playbooks from the last decade.
Tyler:Yeah. 100%. Like, things the design process in itself has morphed and strategies have morphed as well. So, like, on the one side, like, growth marketing tactics or, like, design like, grow the growth in general, like, those playbooks don't work anymore. Like, there's there's constant experimentation of, like, how to how to increase conversion of, like, what are the different traffic sources?
Tyler:What are the different techniques? Because people are are maybe not searching on Google anymore. It's just like AI SEO. There's, like, different on that side. Like, those marketing strategies are changing, and also how we build is changing.
Tyler:So, like, those same same playbooks, like, they're I think we're open to experimentation and to see what works better.
Nick:Yeah. That makes sense. I think the the next two bullet points are very closely related to what you just said. So still, designers not in demand, someone who needs permission to act, and someone who's only comfortable in stable, slow moving environments. I mean, that sounds what you're saying is everything is changing a bit faster than before.
Nick:So you need to act, and you need to be comfortable with the discomfort of not really knowing where things are going.
Tyler:Yeah. I think, like, historically, like, how like, design is always before before implementation. So I think engineering's velocity has, like, increased whether it's two x or four x. But it's like and it's ever it's ever increasing. So like the the time to build our, like, design execution has to get faster as well.
Tyler:So that in that, there's like trade offs and also like what are we what are we defining as like best practices or what are the new best practices there. That has had an an an effect. Like we're like for for us, we've skipped the wire framing step and like a lot of a lot of vibe coding is happening. But there's still that there's still some things you cannot skip because you can miss use cases or edge cases. So if you like one practical example is like if you jump to vibe coding solution, if you're skipping the wireframing step, you can it's very happy path, but you can also miss some of the edge cases.
Tyler:I found that what's still necessary, at least for me, is to do a journey map, a like a fig jam or just like a a sketch of, like, is the journey? Defining what are the what is the current experience? What is the new experience? What are the different edge cases that we need to map out? That you I think that is still needed before you jump into solutioning at all.
Tyler:Yeah. Like Yeah. Because you're gonna miss you're gonna miss an experience that should should have been considered. There are a couple blind spots here. You still have to mitigate with, like, the typical design process.
Tyler:But it's Yeah. The the as a whole, like, it's ever changing.
Nick:That's true. That's true. So design leaders in demand right now, that's number three on the list, is basically the opposite of what we just talked about. So, you know, not in demand or not. Right now, you know, people stuck to the playbook of last decade.
Nick:Yeah. You know, first principles, thinkers, passionate about technology, you know, curious high agency compared to the waiting for permission to act. And, you know, so let's I would say let's keep up the tempo and not look at the number three too much, you know, again, because it's just the opposite of what we just discussed. I think number four is very interesting for people looking for a job. Because number four is reasons people are getting declined.
Nick:You know? So if you if you can if you can solve those, there's less reasons for you to be declined. And, you know, again, this is so this is a recruiter based on what he's seeing. So it might be different in your market or your location. What he's seeing is that exploratory portfolios.
Nick:For some, this shows the builder mindset, but for some companies, they are not looking for this. They are looking for more, you know, final polish. So what he's saying is some of these portfolios never the the projects never really feel finished. While most companies are looking for designers who can really ship something. You know?
Nick:It's nice that you had this bunch of wireframes, but, you know, did this thing you make, did you survive the whole politics game? Were you able to do a hand off to a developer? Did you manage to get this to the finish line? Having that in your portfolio, I think, is very important. And this is just my debrief and review of what I think he's saying here.
Tyler:Yeah. I I probably agree with that. That this probably also is another reason why the junior position is being killed. Like, how do you like, the you'd have to do exploratory work for your portfolio as a junior. But in this case, like, I understand as a business, you're looking for a finished work that's related to your business.
Tyler:So I'm looking to see if you can execute similar work. And I I wanna see, like, to a earlier point, something being shipped or zero to one work.
Nick:Yeah. The the yeah. Exactly. And that that's more or what he says in the end too. Lots of things that get to 70% and then stop, there's not much restraint there.
Nick:Like, only when you leave Figma and you show your work to developers and to stakeholders with all their own goals and and constraints, only then Mhmm. Things get rough for a designer. And if you can survive that and get it to the finish line, I think that shows a different kind of skill that's really needed. Okay. This one's interesting and that it makes me very happy.
Nick:You know? I mean, you know what I think about five coding. I'm literally reasons people are getting declined, showcasing vibe coded prototypes that look very vibed.
Tyler:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've seen this a couple times where this was like on the the tail end of like the lovable kind of arc where it's like a lot of like lovable experiments, but that look like people were so like UX, I consider this it's historically been like UI UX. I consider UX like the bigger circle and UI is one of the circles within it.
Tyler:Yeah. So when you're vibe coding something, you're probably you're over indexing on the UX part. So like does is the is the structure correct? But like part of that is showing your ability to not not only problem solve, but give it deliver a certain level of aesthetic that elevates the brand. So anyone can make some, like, prompt some type of thing, but like it takes the right quality designer to, like, implement a proper design system, make sure the aesthetic is aligned with, like, the vertical space you're you're playing with that's that speaks to, like, the end user.
Tyler:Like, anyone there. Yeah. There's a Yeah. I see why.
Nick:Yeah. Before we continue, if you're feeling stuck in your design career or if you feel like you're doing solid work while no one really notices, we've got a bunch of extra stuff on our website.
Tyler:We're building a community for product designers to actually learn, grow, and get hired, not just scroll and collect more inspiration.
Nick:There's also articles, checklists, and courses.
Tyler:All based on real world experience from both of us. No fluff, just what actually works.
Nick:Check out designtablepodcast.com. The link is in the description. That makes sense. Now just just very briefly, I for one of my clients, I started to do more prototyping. I don't want to say it's really vibes, but, you know, it it is generated, so maybe it qualifies as being vibed.
Nick:But what I did first is to create a a shared CSS file where I just have the fundamentals there. You know, colors, buttons, cards, forms, tables, and that kind of stuff. Yeah. And then I always include, like, you know, take as much as you can from this file Yeah. Just to make sure that it's not as fight as that as what this person is saying and that it's a stakeholder can see it within the context of, you know, the product instead of it just being green while, you know, the product's blue, for example.
Nick:Final reason people are getting declined, people with a very focused UX background without a portfolio that demonstrates a well crafted visual products will struggle to get through the portfolio review for IC roles. You need to lean on other areas to stand out.
Tyler:Any thoughts there? Speaking to, like is that saying, if I'm reading between the lines there, like, the the UI craft is we're doubling down there.
Nick:And not really polished, I think. And, also, by the way, if you are UX focused, so you are a facilitator of workshops and that kind of thing Yeah. It's hard to put that in a portfolio. And maybe with a two seconds time window that you mentioned, like, people don't really have the time to read about your UX process and how you made things happen, I think.
Tyler:Yeah. It seems like the I mean, this is a win that, like, design craft has become like, it's elevated in terms of importance on, like, the the skill set hierarchy that a UX designer would have. Makes sense, like, on, like, how everything's very vibey. So, like, the branding is probably branding has become like number one because it's what separates you from like the volume of products that are constantly being being launched. I don't know if you've seen the the stats or analytics on like the the Apple the Apple Store, like, the matter the volume of apps being created is ridiculous right now.
Nick:Yeah. Without the increase in, you know, usage numbers. Yeah. Right? Yeah.
Nick:Number five is just a note that there are many great opportunities in Europe. He notices that a lot of people from outside of Europe wants to move here for better quality of life but without the compromise of quality of work. And he really is adamant that you will not have to compromise there. And then he lists a bunch of, you know, larger companies, including Lovable, for example, currently hiring designers. So Europe is apparently a good place to be, which is, as European myself, I'm very happy about reading, you know.
Tyler:Interesting. Less household culture, more quality of both balance of quality of life and in terms of the craft being
Nick:executed. Yeah.
Tyler:Makes sense. I was on a deep dive on YouTube of reasons why Canadians shouldn't move to Spain. Maybe this is another reason why.
Nick:Okay. Number six, interview processes are changing for two reasons. Tasks are back on the agenda, and we talked about it recently. We offer thoughts there. And then work trials are becoming a thing.
Nick:You know? Just, you know, see how you do. And then, you know but work trials doesn't sound strange to me.
Tyler:Yeah. We have them dip so they're usually, like, three months. It's like your Yeah. Yeah. If you pass that probation we call it a probationary period.
Nick:Oh, yes. Yeah. That's what we call it too. Yeah. Yeah.
Nick:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the tasks he mentions are different. It's more about, you know, prototype this with AI and walk us through your thinking.
Nick:You know, walk us through your thinking, I think, is very important because we discussed, you know, in that other episodes that you are very isolated if you just work on a thing, but then walk us through your process and you are walk us through your thinking. That more or less solves that problem, I think. Mhmm.
Tyler:Yeah. That's a yeah. That's what you're testing. Because sim similar, like, the the engineering tests are they're allowing you to use AI, but it's about identifying what is generated and what problem was solved. Because you can just basically prompt it.
Tyler:Hey. Fix this thing, and then it'll do it. But if you don't understand what's been changed, it's so it's the ability to communicate, like, the strategy and and and and and why you would change something and the reason why it's better.
Nick:Yeah. I think that's very important. That's the the under the surface stuff again that we mentioned. You know? Everyone can make the pricing page, but then why certain things are in order or the hierarchy or the layout you're using, the copy, and the focus, you know, that that why I think is very important.
Nick:Yeah. Number seven, he literally says, I don't understand why more companies aren't hiring early stage designers. And the reasons are like, he spoke to a lot of early stage designers this year, and a lot of them are AI native by default, you know, coding and designing fresh perspectives. Mhmm. They're still very adaptable.
Nick:You know? They are not like us old designers. They're not like, well, we've always done it this way. You know? Yeah.
Nick:Yeah. They can partner well with principal designer. You know? If you have a junior designer by your side, like, you can really teach them your ways of fulfilling things. Yeah.
Nick:And then he says, you know, I understand why some companies are not set up for junior designers, and not everyone should hire them. But he can't help but feel that there are a lot of companies that should probably hire more of them.
Tyler:Yeah. The AI native thing is real. Like, The Us old fogies here, like, set in our ways. More they are the older designers are slower to adapt unless you're really proactive. Like, you're probably like, a very small minute few of older designers are are taking up AI tools versus, like, the the how excited kind of juniors, like, or early stage product designers are are willing to kind of invest time in learning these tools and keeping up.
Nick:Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. You know, it's it's I think the strongest thing to to think about is, you know, the way in for a junior designer is to learn the thing a senior designer doesn't want to learn. You know, when you when you tell a group of older designers that you also do a bit of coding Yeah.
Nick:Some of them get very angry. Like, that's not your job. You know? You know? They should just pay you more or just hire someone else, blah blah blah.
Nick:So if you are shipping and designing, you know, I think that's a good way in. Number eight, three types of designers most in demand. IC, you know, individual contributor. Yep. Number one, product designers who ship.
Nick:Number two, design engineer. Number three, brand designers with little footnotes saying that the demand for brand design is off the charts.
Tyler:A 100%. Yeah. That might they must be raking it in. If you're a brand designer, like, yeah. Just like just like the volume of products being created, just the opportunity.
Tyler:I think it's also probably similar case in in freelance as well. Just like the Mhmm. The amount of work that must be available to you now has stopped now increased probably in parallel with brand design as well.
Nick:Yeah. I'm doing a bit more brand design than before, but I'm I'm not really marketing myself that way. I mean, I have a logo and branding section on the website, but it's not it's not really in the hero section of my my website, which I probably should do more. But that's for when the babies arrive. I mean, I don't have time for it now.
Nick:I don't think.
Tyler:All in due time.
Nick:All in due time. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's it's probably the demand's probably going to stay a bit. So, you know, again, you know, being a a UX designer with a lot of visual skill, you know, if it's, you know, UI or branding, I I think it really helps.
Nick:You know, maybe design education or UX education is too much about, you know, design thinking and the five steps and and understanding and all that, you know, still important stuff. But, you know, if you go a bit visual, a bit more visual, I think that would, you know, do your career very good. Number nine, companies are being more flexible with how they hire. You have seen three needs for fractional designers and leaders recently. Advising startups, plugging a leadership gap, and executional design support.
Nick:And then he explains what fractional means, and now it's a fancy term for, you know, freelancing for Yeah. Part time. Yeah. It's basically what I'm doing. You know, just for for context, I have a a three day a week client, a one day a week client, and then that fifth day in a week, I fill with, you know, one times products product work or or branding work.
Nick:Design me a logo. Help us improve this prototype, that kind of thing.
Tyler:Yeah. Yeah. Fraction always seems like a just a mark a new term, like a marketing way of just saying Yeah. I work for multiple part time. Yeah.
Tyler:It doesn't work prestigious.
Nick:It yeah. It it it does. You know? I mean, it's it's it's the the the LinkedIn treatment of, you know, making something sounds very fancy while you're in reality, it's just a basic thing you're doing. I mean, fractional, that sounds expensive.
Nick:You know, part time just sounds like you are not good enough to get a full time role.
Tyler:Yeah. Probably probably pays expensively as well. Yeah. Yes. There's urgency around it, I guess.
Nick:Yeah. There's urgency. Like, you know, I really need this thing this little thing fixed this week. You know? And then when someone comes to you that way, it's way easier to basically double your hourly rate.
Nick:But then, you know, some of the bigger clients I've worked with, they you know, we found some sort of middle ground. You know? I give you, as a freelancer, I give you stability of knowing that there's going to be an income for you for the next six months. And then in exchange, I, founder, client, want a, you know, 10% discount on your hourly rate, for example. Right.
Nick:So, yeah, if if I would put it in a graph, I can see those lines cross, you know, long term, lower hourly rate, short term, way how higher hourly rate.
Tyler:Yeah. What is that triad thing? You you can only get two out of the three fast.
Nick:Good and cheap, I think. Yeah.
Tyler:Good and cheap. Exactly.
Nick:Yeah. Mhmm. He says it feels like people are more stressed. Expectations are through the roof, you know, 10 x designer. Yep.
Nick:Creativity feels like it's being decimated, and it's leaving a lot of designers feel feeling burned out. Yeah. There's something there. I mean, there I I can see that. He thinks that he will that there that we will see more designers move towards freelancing, you know, starting their own studios, building their own products just to get more control and and have the joy of building your own thing instead of having this manager breathe down your neck being like, you know, faster, faster, faster.
Tyler:Yeah. There's something about ownership where it's I don't I don't I don't think I mind killing myself if I'm passionate about my own thing that I'm building versus killing myself for someone else's dream. There's something there's something in there. And there's there's probably a bit more ownership in freelance because you are not only doing the work, but also, like, you are running a business. So there's a rewarding feeling of ownership, I imagine.
Nick:Mhmm. There there there's well, if you are in a position to like, if you're busy enough, you can, you know, fire a client. It's what they say. You know? But if you have one client, you know, you're stuck with it.
Nick:So in and for some people, you're basically just shifting around your problems. So if you have, you know, an annoying manager, you're like, well, let's go freelance now. You could end up in a position where you have instead of an annoying manager, you have an annoying client. Mhmm. You know?
Nick:But if you have two client yeah. For for imagine. Yeah. And if you have two clients, you know, you can see you could or more clients. You can just see, like, what works well.
Nick:You know, I have a, like, a favorite client or favorite two clients that I just really enjoy working with. I'm very happy that we are working together for a long time. Clients have fired me, I have to admit, in all honesty. Mhmm. But I also have fired clients, you know, when a certain deliverable was delivered.
Nick:I was like, you know, I think this should be the final thing we work on together. And then, you know, four reasons, and we have a good chat about it, and then we agree, and then we'll move on. You know? So that I mean, that's a positive part of freelancing for sure. You know?
Nick:But you need to have something in the pipeline just to fill that gap because otherwise, you have nothing. And that's a different kind of stress. Yeah.
Tyler:Back to that book, oversubscribe. There's there's truth to that statement.
Nick:I think so. Let me just read the the final paragraph of item number 10. It's a good reminder. It's what he's saying that life is not about burning yourself for the sake of feeling busy. It's about balance.
Nick:It's about enjoying your time. Your career is a vehicle to living a balanced life. You are not your career. I think that's a very Yeah. Positive way and a very good and a very important reminder.
Tyler:A 100% agree.
Nick:Yeah. I mean, so that's that's what he shared. Tom Scott, again, from the verified insider. I will put a link in in the description of this this episode. Worth to follow for sure.
Nick:And Yeah. It's a
Tyler:really good list. I kind of agree with most of, like and it's it confirmed a couple of thoughts that I had in my head of, like, where how things are changing, and it's it's good to kind of see it, like, to hear it from his his perspective.
Nick:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's always a good idea if you are looking for a job to just reach out to recruiters just for you to learn and and practice you speaking to an outsider. You know. It's it's just it's a skill like anything else.
Nick:And it's good for them to know you exist, you know. So
Tyler:Definitely worth a follow-up.
Nick:Alright. That's it. See you next time.
Tyler:Alright. That's another episode in the bag.
Nick:Yeah. Great episode. By the way, if you're stuck second guessing your work or trying to figure out your next move, drop a question in the comments or leave a review. We might actually feature you in one of our future episodes.
Tyler:And if you got any value from this episode, hit subscribe wherever you're listening. It helps more than you think.
Nick:You can can find everything else, resources, articles, and more at designtablepodcast.com.
Tyler:Thanks for being here.
Nick:See you next time.