Good designers can come up with ideas, but they can’t handle hourly JIRA tickets coming from the developers, asking for solutions for scenarios the designer didn’t even think of in the first place. Great designers thrive in those situations, creating a collaborative environment where developers feel like they own the solution as much as they own the problem.
Good designers will then come up with quick fixes for those secondary use cases, and throw the ball over the fence to the developers. Great designers will take every request as an opportunity to re-evaluate, improve, and bulletproof the design system at large.
Good designers will finish the project and say that it’s a bummer that the implementation looks so different than what was designed. Great designers understand it’s not about “looking like the mockups”; it’s about looking and feeling simple, useful, smooth, and relevant.
When I hear people saying that they are not strong when it comes to executing, iterating, adapting, and making it work, I question how strong of a designer they actually are.
That’s not to say concepting is easier than executing. Not at all. Two different tasks; two different parts of the brain.
But if you’re only able to come up with high-level concepts, then you’re not delivering an actual user experience. You are delivering a dribbble shot, a portfolio mockup, a piece of art.