🤫 The Silent Career Killer #24
"Good design will speak for itself" | Unmasking 50 hidden threats to your UX career | part 24 of 50
My dear UX friends, have ever shown your latest design work and watched as the room subtly shifts from curiosity to confusion?
There you stand, proudly displaying your carefully researched and crafted solution, only to be met with questions that make you wonder if anyone was even paying attention.
"But have you considered X?" "
I'm not sure this addresses our main concern..."
"This feels off-brand."
Yes, I considered X. I spent 3 WEEKS considering X. If only you knew...
What if I told you this frustration isn't about stakeholders being difficult or not "getting" design?
It's about something far more fundamental that most of us miss entirely…
👻 The Invisible Mistake
When we present only finished designs, we're not actually showing our work.
We're erasing it.
Every sketch discarded, every direction abandoned, every insight that pivoted our thinking - all become invisible.
Think about that for a moment.
The very process that makes your solution valuable - the exploration, the iteration, the critical thinking - is precisely what you're hiding from view.
This isn't just a presentation issue.
It's an existential one.
😩 The Brutal Career Math
Here's where this gets painful ↴
When stakeholders only see final designs, their perception of your contribution shrinks to what they can physically see - the pixels on the screen.
They don't see:
The 12 different approaches you explored
The research insights that eliminated three promising directions
The technical constraints you elegantly designed around
The business goals you prioritized in your decision-making
So what happens?
Your strategic value becomes invisible.
Your hours of thinking look like minutes of execution.
And when it comes time for promotions, raises, or career advancement, you're wondering why people see you as a "production designer" rather than a strategic partner.
🛣 The Psychology We're Missing
Here's what no one tells you ↴
Humans don't value solutions nearly as much as they value the journey to those solutions.
Think about it.
We don't just watch the final 3 minutes of a movie.
We don't skip to the last chapter of a novel.
We don't just want to know who won the game → we want to see how they played.
Yet somehow, we've convinced ourselves that design is different - that people only want the final glossy conclusion.
They don't.
They want to be part of the story.
🧠 The Power Shift Framework
Instead of thinking about design presentations as "selling your work," try this mental model:
Your presentations aren't about showing solutions. They're about transferring ownership.
When someone feels they've been part of the journey - even as a witness - they develop a sense of ownership in the outcome.
They stop being critics and start being collaborators.
Here's how to make this work:
1. The Decision Trail (Not the Process)
No, don't bore people with your entire process.
Focus specifically on key decision points:
"We explored these three directions. When we tested them, we discovered X, which led us to move forward with this approach."