Share your designs early. Listen carefully to feedback. Filter the feedback. Then go again.

Champion other peoples work. Be sure to find the holes. Critical feedback is creatively crucial. Be kind.

THREE

Look up and around at the physical world around you. Don’t just glance. Take a good look at things as you walk around. You’ll get a new perspective. This is fluffy shit, but it works.

Stop trying to solve the problem. Then you’ll bloody well solve it. Release the tension with a walk, swim, read a book, write etc. Whatever gets you in the moment. Be in the now, and you’ll figure it out.

Be anal. Be OCD. Be a perfectionist. Just don’t let it slow down the work. Release stuff in working order. Let things through that make you wince. Be pushy to get back to it later on.

Build shit, and your confidence compounds. Your work’s better than it was a year ago. In 12 months, it’ll be better again. We’re all a work in progress. If you’re not building, you’re not getting better.

SEVEN

Quit your job. Keep quitting until you find a team you trust. Find that, and your design ability will rapidly rise.

EIGHT

You don’t need to know it all about design. Who cares. You know what you know now, and that’s it. Be patient. Stay curious.

Design criticism. Take it well. Think it through. Learn from it. Drop it, then move on.

Curb your monkey mind. When you’re unsettled, it’s tough to design. Find a quiet 10 minutes in the day for you. I read and write early with a coffee when the family’s asleep. It’s so bloody settling.