I have never had a knack for design.
Whether it be neat handwriting, school projects, or drawing - I didn't have the natural gifts to make things pretty like I saw others had growing up, especially my 3 older sisters. Insert eye roll.
But honestly, it didn't bother me until the last few years, as my product career evolved and my lack of design became more apparent.
When I Realized There Was a Problem
I think I really began to notice my lack of design skill when building ad-hoc dashboards for our internal users. I would build things that just didn't feel quite right, you know? Functionally, it did the things we needed it to do, but it wasn't simple or clear from a design perspective.
I couldn't find the original dashboard I built. This one is actually pretty decent, but I still needed a picture for the article, so here it is :D.
The problem with many of my earlier designs was: the design didn’t speak for itself. Users could figure the dashboard out after I walked them through it, but it didn't come naturally.
I'm often reminded of the following quote.
“Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent.” — Joe Sparano
Great design doesn't feel designed. It is simply natural to the user.
Time to Level Up
After being promoted to Product Manager, I realized that our product's design would fall somewhere between our lead developer and me, because we didn't have a designer on staff.
And instead of 10–15 internal users seeing my designs, it would now be 200+ client users—and our entire company.
So, the pressure was rising a little bit.
I knew the design didn’t have to be perfect, but it did need to be intentional. It had to guide users, represent our product well, and make a good impression. And I didn’t want people quietly thinking, “Who designed this?”
Thankfully, the first lead developer that worked on my product possessed very strong design skills, and he and I worked really closely to build something clean and simple. He certainly had more design skill than me, and I let him do most of the design once I decided what we should build.
But as time passed, I began to learn more about design, programming, user experience, and the like.
I started to develop my own sense of taste.
Taking Some Ownership
Learning programming truly changed the game for me when it came to appreciating design.
I've spent countless hours watching videos of talented developers building applications—especially those with exceptional design taste. Even when they're not formally trained designers, their awareness of what great design looks and feels like consistently elevates their work. Inspired by this, I began intentionally developing my own sense of taste.
Applying Design to Personal Projects
Initially, I put this newfound sense of design into practice on personal projects. By creating my own websites, experimenting freely, and iterating frequently, I began to refine my skills significantly, especially with landing pages.
One of the first landing pages I built that I thought was decent.
Each iteration taught me valuable lessons about simplicity, balance, and clarity. More importantly, it built my confidence as a designer.
Bringing New Skills to Work
As my programming and design skills improved, I began integrating them more directly into my role as a Product Manager. Today, I'm frequently contributing code, writing HTML and CSS for new features, and proactively tweaking designs to enhance usability.
This shift has been empowering. I've found myself naturally occupying a hybrid role—part Product Manager, part front-end designer—effectively bridging the gap between product vision and technical execution.
The HTML and TailwindCSS for the Portal Matching landing page.
Haven't Arrived Yet
Can I close this by saying I still don't think I am a good designer? I can make things that are okay. They are fine - nothing special.
Having said that, I am committed to prioritizing design, which is a crucial first step to actually designing something wonderful.
We haven't arrived, but we are on the journey.
Cheers.