Why is so hard to design for ourselves?

I still remember the vivid struggle I faced while trying the seemingly easy task of making a new portfolio website. Should it be trendy? Should I showcase all my work? Why this is not as good as my other work? How come I can come up with designs for my clients and yet I’m struggling? This was the start of what turned into a crazy ride in the train of thought trough doubt, impostor syndrome and a sheer amount of raw indecision.

At the moment I’ve been making webs for 15 years (this web was going out for that anniversary). And I held close to my heart the thought that a clear process gives you clear results. And it does, every iteration of this process produced a website very fast and with good design and quality.

The issue was the content, or at least that’s what I thought at the moment. I finish a website that ticks all the boxes in the checklist, does it cover my focus on simplicity? Check! Does it highlight my strategy-led design thinking? Check! And so on. But there was one box not in the checklist but in my gut that never checked completely. Does it portray my focus and the work I want to do? Well, it shows designs, it shows some personal projects, a good amount of explanatory copy, but why it feels undone?

After some explorations and a couple of self-expression sessions (talking to yourself with more words). I landed on the actual point of the issue. Even though the page highlighted who I was, it was making a disservice to whom I wanted to be.

That’s when the shift came, by all practical means I’m a Product Designer. An amazing job to do, but I wanted to present a bit more of focus and that’s when after considering some areas I added: “for content creators”. It was liberating. Not only I wanted to work with that kind of clients, but I also wanted to build products for that market myself. So it was a good fit for me to deepen my practice into that niche.

Now, it might be easy to jump to the question of: why would I narrow myself? To be honest I only stopped having this question at the very second I was writing this paragraph. Here is where I remind myself and you the reader, of how is important to me that it showcases whom I want to be. And is not that I want to be in this niche for the rest of my life, but the focus is important to me. Because I think that it would be a better way for me to conjure up the most of my skills around a particular goal. And have a much more profound effect on the products I touch.

Before you go in extremes ( I know I did). No, I will not only work in this niche, but I’ll also gratefully take an amazing opportunity any time. Yes, I would be grateful if I only get to work with the greatest brands and platforms in this particular niche. And they might like the fact that I specialize in working with them.

So, remember that the most important part of self-expression is that it supports whom you want to be. And that to state your beliefs you should also be willing to narrow yourself to only the core of your desires.

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I'm actually as proud of the things we haven't done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.” - Steve Jobs

Have a great time.

Flemming Product Designer for content creators.