There was a point in my career, when I was a mid-level designer when things started to feel very still.I was doing solid work. I was leading projects. I was trusted by my team. I wasn’t struggling by any visible measure.But that excitement of growth and rapid promotion that had marked my earlier years was somehow gone.I found myself in this odd space between “doing well” and “what’s next?”Productive. Skilled. Recognized. And yet I was somehow stuck.I hear this from designers often. And I have...
about 16 hours ago • 3 min read
A designer I worked with got a job offer this summer. He did it in 2026. In this market. And I want to share what helped him get there. Where he started We started working together at the beginning of his job search. Over two months, he had three interviews but none had converted into an offer. He was applying, showing up, and doing the work. And throughout the search we kept refining things. But something wasn't landing. When we looked at his portfolio and resume together it became clear....
8 days ago • 3 min read
I see the same thing in almost every coaching session I have.A talented, experienced designer with real work and plenty of experience behind them who's convinced they're not good enough.They're not falling apart. They're showing up, applying, doing the work.But underneath it all there's this steady hum of doubt. A sense that everyone else has something figured out that they haven't. That the designers getting hired, getting promoted, getting recognized are somehow more ready than they are.I...
15 days ago • 3 min read
I've coached a lot of designers who came to design from somewhere else.Teachers. Therapists. Accountants. Flight attendants. Hospitality professionals. Project managers.And, they all worried about the same thing:"Is my past going to hold me back?"My answer has always been:No. Your past may be one of the things that makes you valuable.That's even more true in today's design market. Your past experience is not a detour Design is about understanding people, solving problems, making decisions,...
22 days ago • 2 min read
I've been paying close attention to what's happening in the design job market this summer.Not just in the headlines, but with the designers I'm coaching, the hiring conversations I'm hearing about and the patterns I'm seeing in who's getting traction and who isn't.Here's the honest picture:The market is competitive.Design teams are leaner. Companies are asking more from individual designers. And there are still more designers looking for work than there are open roles.If you've been feeling...
29 days ago • 2 min read
I’ve reviewed a lot of designer resumes. As a hiring manager, coach, and designer who has been on both sides of the process.And the most common mistake is simple:Designers describe what they did.Not what happened because of it. “Designed the onboarding flow.”“Created wireframes for the mobile app.”“Worked on the design system.” Those lines tell me you were involved but they don’t tell me whether your work made a difference.A resume does not need to tell the full story of every project. It...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
This summer, I’ve been working with designers at every stage of the job search.Some have been looking for months. Some are just starting out.A few are starting to break through.And it's not because the market suddenly got easier.It's because they stopped doing more of what wasn’t working and started doing something different.Here’s what I’m seeing work right now. They’re treating their portfolio like a product One of the most useful shifts I’ve seen is designers applying product thinking to...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
A designer I worked with recently almost left one of her strongest projects out of her portfolio.Why?She didn’t think it was impressive enough.The project was a filtering feature for a dashboard she was working on. In her mind, it was small: one feature, nothing compared to the end-to-end projects in the rest of her portfolio.So I asked her to walk me through it.She had conducted user research to understand why people were struggling to find information. She synthesized the findings and...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
I was reviewing a designer’s portfolio recently and the work was really strong.The case studies were structured well. The visuals were polished. But something was off about how she described her role.She kept saying she “worked on the visuals.” So I asked a few questions: Who defined the UX direction on this project?She did. Who was the main point of contact with the client?She was. Who presented the work to executives and incorporated their feedback into the design decisions?Also her.She was...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Good to be back!I took four weeks away from this newsletter to recharge, and I came back with something I can’t stop thinking about.Over the past few months, I’ve worked with several designers who were counting themselves out of senior roles before they even applied.Their work was strong.Their experience was stronger than they realized.But they weren’t counting the right things. The graphic designer who didn't think her past counted One designer I worked with had spent several years as a...
2 months ago • 2 min read