Things may be turning a corner economically, and I’m starting to see more people hiring as well as more people writing about hiring. I came across these three great pieces over the past few weeks that I wanted to share here as I’ve found they can be used as a great frame of reference when evaluating design candidates. Read together, the lists do a great job highlighting the importance of combining hard skills, soft skills and perspective if you want to be an effective designer in today’s world.
I’ve included summaries here but I highly recommend you check out each of the pieces to get all of the necessary context and color on each of the points.
10 Skills Designers Need to Succeed Now is geared at designers in general so the emphasis is a bit more on higher level soft skills.
- Passionate Curiosity
- Imagination
- Objectivity & Self Awareness
- Crisp Communication
- Effective Storytelling
- Flawless Execution
- Business Acumen
- Global Awareness
- Context
- Talent
Nine Essential Characteristics of Good UX Designers is aimed squarely at the field of User Experience Design so many of the characteristics are very much geared towards those that find themselves playing that particular role within the context of a larger team/process.
- A Deep Understanding of Human Psychology & Research Methods
- Competence in the Basics of Graphic Design
- An Awareness of and Interest in Technology
- Verbal & Visual Communication Skills
- Moderate Familiarity with Business, Deep Familiarity with Your Business
- The Ability to Quickly Learn a Subject Matter Area
- Mediation, Facilitation, & Translation Skills
- Creativity & Vision
- Passion
The Top and Bottom highlights one of the most important qualities I look for in a designer – the ability to pivot between the high-level and the details. This post by Luke Wroblewski does a great job touching on why that’s so important.
an ability to understand and speak to the rationale behind a design (the big picture) and a focus on the nuances of the design (the details). A skilled designer adds value at both the top (the big picture) and the bottom (the details) of a design problem. When the top and bottom are thought through, the middle naturally works itself out.
Only focus on the bottom and you “can’t see the forest for the trees”. Only focus on the top and your “head’s in the sky”. Only focus on the middle and you don’t know what’s driving your design (the big picture) nor how to optimize it (the details).