Over the years—and especially after a lot of real client work—I’ve learned something important:
Growth as a designer often looks like removal.
It’s about recognizing habits that once felt acceptable—or even helpful—but no longer serve the kind of work you want to do. The things you slowly outgrow as your experience improves.
With that in mind, here are a few things I’ve learned to stop doing—and that I’d encourage you to keep in mind as you head into new projects this year.
1. Overdesigning simple pages
As designers, it’s easy to get carried away.
You want to add a cool texture, throw in a watermark, layer on an icon, maybe experiment with something that’s “out-of-the-box”. It starts to feel like the more you add, the better—or “cooler”—the design becomes.
But that’s usually where things go sideways.
When a page is overdesigned, the message starts to compete with the visuals. The end goal becomes secondary, which defeats the entire purpose of the page in the first place.
Let the message lead and design to help enhance it, not distract.
2. Treating accessibility as a “later” problem
Accessibility isn’t a trend—it’s a responsibility.
The increased focus on accessibility over the last several years isn’t arbitrary. It’s a reflection of the fact that our audiences matter, and that good design should work for as many people as possible.
When accessibility is treated as an afterthought, it becomes harder—and more expensive—to fix. When it’s built in from day one, it naturally improves usability for everyone.
Design with accessibility in mind from the start. It’s not extra work—it’s part of the job.
3. Designing for opinions instead of goals
After nearly 14 years in this field, I’ve learned something else: some clients simply want what they want.
That’s fine—but it doesn’t mean you design around opinions.
As a design professional, part of your role is helping clients understand why decisions are made. That only happens when you ask the right questions early, define the real objective, and anchor your work to that purpose.
Designing around favorite colors or “cute” fonts doesn’t serve the client—or the end user. Designing around goals does.
Design to Dollars takeaway
Over time, good design becomes less about proving creativity and more about practicing restraint.
When you stop overdesigning, stop designing for opinions, and stop pushing accessibility down the list, your work naturally becomes more effective.
That’s the shift where design starts delivering real value.
