As a Designer, you should feel comfortable speaking up.

A bit ago I was working at a renowned company. I was hired for my expertise and my ability to design premium interfaces that were functional and just made sense.

I was working at a dream company at the time and loved the type of work I was doing and producing.

Everything was good other than I felt like I couldn’t challenge design choices in a positive and conversational manner. I was flat-out intimidated to speak up and sometimes I felt like our work would suffer.

In this article, I was to briefly talk about why it’s important to be apart of a team as a Product Designer that you feel like your voice is heard and that your opinions matter.

I was in the position where if I was to speak up and say I don’t think for instance the button should be in this position of the layout because the customers won’t understand XY and Z Its would be sidelined and not even considered. The team I was on just didn’t foster collaboration it was that the manager was right and that what the designer had to say was not valued.

I feel as a designer we should have a say and we need to be valued for our choices and opinions. After all, we were hired not just to complete tasks but be critical thinkers and problem solvers.

We should never feel as if we can’t speak up because then we will not foster growth and learning. It stunts our ability to learn and to effectively challenge the norm.

If you are in a position where you feel scared to speak up and contribute your ideas and solutions then it might be time to find a team and company that values the input and expertise of its team members.

I’m super stoked that my team at Wells Fargo thinks this way. Our manager is gold and values us and I’ve never once felt like I wasn’t heard or I can’t speak up on what might work better with our feature.

If this article has helped you then please feel free to follow me on Linkedin to see more. I post career tips on their daily.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobmolenick