Nobody Knows What They Are Doing

Or more specifically, not all the time. We all have degrees and qualifications, experience, etc, but...

If you want to grow as a professional you have to put yourself in new and difficult situations to grow and learn. As we all know we don't learn from the smooth and easy projects or life experiences we have, but rather from the difficult and scary new beginnings.

There is no such thing as most projects being the same. How can that even be? When you are not the same person you were yesterday, you do not react the same way in situations that would usually trigger your fight or flight response, people you work with are not the same and the project itself has a different scope.

This is an encouragement letter to myself. By the time I publish this article, I hope whatever confidence and assertiveness I gathered through the week will pour out in successful negotiations for a new, challenging and interesting project. If my current client sees this article I hope the reaction will be like: that's my designer, you go girl. Edit after the meeting: we are not going to continue with the project because we have a misalignment of expectations, different styles of doing business and understanding of collaboration. And I think is for the better.

When I was growing up I was very often warned that I was too honest and share too much. But I believed that also helped me filter a lot of friendships, situations and choices in life. But I still believe that being honest with yourself and others is the best way to grow. That's why I am writing this article as well. I am excited about this project, but also a tiny bit nervous about failure because I haven't done this process before from start to finish and there is a lot to learn and keep track of.

The only thing that gives me the confidence to proceed with this project is my belief in my problem-solving skills and my motivation to help. What I need as a designer to make a chaotic project into an organised system is a strong collaborator on the other side. I need my clients to be on this journey with me, want them to see for themself how everything is figureoutable and there is always more to learn. Call it a journey, call it just another design project, but I want to build connections that leave my clients with more confidence and understanding about technology, design and user experience in particular.

That is why we have so many resources available nowadays, and using them paired with productive brainstorming with a colleague or client can give awesome results. So fear not, if we are a good business match and you have similar motivation and assertiveness we can make wonders together.

If you are interested in collaborating with me feel free to contact me: at angelovanikoletadesign@gmail.com

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