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"Design is a young person's game."
I've been thinking about this a lot lately.
At 20, it seemed like a confirmation.
Today, at 33, the words make me feel a little anxious.
Not because I'm old, but because we work in an industry obsessed with innovation: new tools, new trends, new frameworks every week.
I see designers mastering software released yesterday morning.
Fast, hungry, and technically formidable.
Honestly, a little intimidating.
So I find myself wondering if I'll actually be able to keep up, or if I'll quietly become 'obsolete'.
But then I look at the real work.
The work of clients and their requests and needs.
The work they pay me for.
Clients don't hire me to open the latest Figma plugin and produce 10 variations overnight.
They need someone who already knows which 9 to discard and saves them time and weeks of indecision.
This doesn't mean you stop learning.
Curiosity still matters, and it's what keeps you in the game.
I'm saying that knowing what to cut is part of the job.
And it usually takes years to get there.
33 is old? Damn, then I'm from the Cretaceous period 😂
I literally wrote “Not because I’m old”
For some reason, I read it differently. It felt like it had a different connotation.
This really hit home. Knowing what to remove and what actually matters comes with experience, and I think that’s something no new tool can replace.
totally agree
Knowing what to cut is probably the most underrated skill in this job, clients rarely ask for it by name but it's what they're actually paying for. Do you think that judgment can be taught faster to juniors, or does it just take the reps?
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