It was the May of the summer of 2020, and I was fresh out of the academic year and eager to start what I considered to be my first real UX design internship. Before this, my design experience consisted almost entirely of hypothetical school projects and volunteer experience. I’d get to, finally, participate in something meaningful, something that matters, something that other people would actually get to use. College junior me was brimming with excitement at the prospect. I was so excited about the design opportunity in front of me, I barreled right past the glaring, neon sign that said “Stuff you should know before you start designing” at high velocity, happy to ignore what would come to bite me later.

Pictured from left to right: mixed spices, turmeric, cinnamon, peppercorns, sea salt, and paprika

Well, as it turns out, the moment of realization came sooner than later. During my first week, I started to feel that creeping doubt, in between reading long emails about granular design systems, quantitative user testing, and Figma. My head felt scrambled from all the new information coming my way. And as eager as I was to get my hands into learning as much I could, I also felt slightly disheartened at the gap that seemed to be rapidly widening between me and the information I felt I should have known. Just how much did I not know about what it truly meant to work as a designer in industry? Would I be able to deliver meaningful results to the organization?

Remembering all the work I had done to get here though, countless nights of updating my website, interview prep, and resume reviews, lit a fire under my chair. I wasn’t going to be content to just give up. If I wanted to create meaningful results, I was going to have to do the dirty work of learning all the things I was lacking. This made me realize that outside of hard design skills and being able to think like a designer, there were other skills and unspoken rules that turn untapped potential into ruthless competency. Design articles on medium rarely focus on the aspects of our skillsets and jobs that aren’t directly related to the design process. I mean where is the glory is knowing how to put together a good slide deck? But to me, learning all of these unspoken tips and tricks have transformed the way I work as a designer completely for the better.

The Auxiliary Skillset

One thing I really want to stress is that being a good designer isn’t just about being good at design. Let me say that again. Being a good designer isn’t just about being good at design. Being a good designer means being good at a lot of supporting skills that support your design skills. It means being a good communicator, a good presenter, a good organizer, a good mediator, etc. Without nurturing these other skills, it’s hard for our design skills to shine.

Resources