Design Thoughts

You’re not an imposter. You’re uniquely you. Embrace it

Embrace your uniqueness, whatever stage you’re at on your journey, and just do ‘your’ thing.

Marc Andrew
2 min readMay 4, 2023

It’s very true that us designers, especially those of us early in our career, are guilty of looking at that ‘superstar’ designer thinking their work is the greatest thing seen on a digital device, and that our work, and our skills are in some way inferior to theirs.

Imposter Syndrome anyone?

Honestly, the design industry must be one of the worst for the dreaded Syndrome of the Imposter, it really is.

I’ve had my own dose of the Imposter Syndrome

I’ve personally felt it many times over the years.

I’ve looked at the ‘Superstar’ designers on Twitter, and felt in some way inferior that I hadn’t achieved their level of success, even though I was doing pretty great with my own projects. I just hadn’t bagged Nike, NASA, and Sony as clients.

But. In the grand scheme of things… so what!

Be a better Designer by not comparing yourself to others

If you keep comparing yourself to folks who’ve been in the game longer than you, even if the work they produce is not necessarily better, you’re always gonna end up feeling like an imposter. Trust me, it’s gonna wear you down.

There are hundreds, no thousands of people out there who think the stuff you’re creating is amazing.

And. There’s plenty of folks that know less than you do, and greatly appreciate what you’re presenting to them.

Stop doubting your abilities, and the work that you create. Keep doing what you’re doing, keep learning, and always look to be improving.

Embrace your skills, and uniqueness, whatever stage you’re at on your journey, and just do ‘your’ thing. You’ll feel much better when you focus less on ‘them’ and more on ‘you’.

Thanks for reading,
Marc.

Article originally published at marcandrew.me on April 23rd 2023.

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Marc Andrew

Designer of 25+ Years. Now offering my design services at All You Can Design https://allyoucan.co/