UX Designers: Don’t Let Design Systems Intimidate You – Here’s What to Do Instead

Most students try to fit everything into their case study — every research insight, every note, every detail from the journey. But more is not always better. Just like no one explains a car by listing out 200 features, your portfolio doesn’t need to explain every single move you made.People decide based on what they remember. And they remember clarity. If you can explain three to five important decisions clearly, that already tells me how you think. If someone wants to know more, they’ll ask. That’s when you show the rest. Keep the depth ready, but don’t lead with it.The goal is not to impress by showing everything. The goal is to help someone understand how you think. That happens through choices, not checklists.

Here’s what no one tells you about hiring.You’re not hired for your past.You’re hired for your potential.Experience just helps people guess what you might be capable of.But companies will do absolutely nothing with your previous work after you’re hired.What matters is what you can do from now.Even someone with 0 years of experience can get serious interest because they showed how they think, adapt, and respond to problems.And even someone with 5 years of experience can get rejected because the potential didn’t show.This is why your portfolio is not just a set of screens.It’s a mirror of your mindset.How you approached a problem.What you prioritised.How you responded to feedback.What trade-offs you chose to make.That’s what tells someone, “This person gets it.”So don’t waste time seeing if you tick all the checkboxes.Focus on showing that you’re ready to contribute, starting today.

“Using patterns doesn’t make you less creative.”If anything, it shows maturity. Many beginners think creativity means breaking the rules — changing a checkbox into a switch, or turning a single-select into a swipe. But creativity isn’t about tweaking what already works. It’s about knowing where to push boundaries, and where to stay consistent.The real space for creativity lies in the macro.You can reinvent the flow, the emotion, the use case, even the entire experience. But at the micro level — the way users select, scroll, or tap — don’t confuse disruption with innovation. These behaviors are deeply learned. When you change them casually, users get lost… and you lose trust.Want to be creative? Master the boring stuff first.Respect the patterns. Understand what they solve. Then use your energy to design bold features, unique narratives, or delightful systems — while keeping interactions intuitive. That’s how experienced designers innovate: not by rejecting patterns, but by building something new on top of them.

If you’re trying to do one FinTech project, one EdTech, one SaaS, and one HealthTech just to “cover all domains” in your portfolio — pause. That’s not how hiring works.What recruiters and teams actually look for is your thinking process.Can you take a business goal, talk to stakeholders, understand user pain points, and turn all of that into a meaningful experience? That skill applies everywhere — regardless of the industry.Instead of chasing variety for the sake of it, go deep on a few strong projects.Make sure they reflect how you think, how you solve, and how you connect your design to outcomes. That’s what makes you stand out — not just the domain label on the project.

“Why doesn’t my company value design?”Wrong question. The right one is: What have I done to show how design can impact the business?Most people get it wrong. They think companies are supposed to value them first. But here’s the uncomfortable truth — nobody gets valued by default. Not designers. Not developers. Not anyone.Value doesn’t come with your role. It comes from the impact you create.So if you ever feel like your work isn't respected — don’t wait for permission. Show them what you can do. Ask yourself: “What have I done to make them see the power of design?” Because the world doesn’t reward you for what you know. It rewards you for what you prove.And no — big companies aren’t special. They just have more people who’ve learned to speak the language of business. If you learn to listen, understand the experiment behind the chaos, and use design to reduce the risk of that gamble — you’ll always be valued. Not because of your title. But because you helped the team win.

I often use this analogy when talking to my students about building design Systems for their dummy projects : Stop trying to build a five-star kitchen when all you want to make is Maggi.A lot of designers struggle with naming styles or building systems because we think there’s an “ideal” way out there — like Material Design — that we must strictly follow. But truth is, systems aren’t handed down like textbooks. They’re built project by project, file by file, one messy screen at a time. When you're creating something small, don’t copy-paste frameworks built for massive teams and global products. You’re just making Maggie — you don’t need a Michelin-star kitchen for that.Start with whatever is in front of you. Name things based on what makes sense to you. Black-1. Brown-1. Done. Over time, your system will grow, and so will your clarity. Then, when you’re in someone else’s design file — or a bigger org with a design system — you’ll not only survive, you’ll know why it’s built that way. You’ll respect the kitchen because you’ve built your own. That’s how system thinking evolves — not by memorizing rules, but by cooking through the chaos.So next time you're stuck figuring out the "right" way to name a text style… just name it. Get your hands dirty. The real clarity comes after the mess.

A common question I get from beginner designers: “Should I make separate designs for iOS and Android?” “Am I following the right system?” But here's something nobody says loud enough — your value doesn’t come from knowing all the rules. Most of the greatest ideas didn’t come from perfectly following the rulebook — they came from someone questioning if the rule even mattered in the first place.When you’re starting out, you’re not here to hand off pixel-perfect developer files. You’re here to shape the North Star — the most ideal version of the product, unconstrained by budget, timelines, or tech. That’s not naive. That’s where design begins. Let the systems catch up later. Let the developers bring you back to earth. Your role is to first dream beyond the current limitations.So don’t stress about memorizing every HIG or Material spec in the beginning. Yes, learn them over time. Yes, observe how iOS and Android behave differently. Stop second-guessing your process. You're not behind just because you don’t know the "handoff-ready" version. Your ability to dream without limits is not a flaw — it’s your superpower. And when the time comes to work within constraints, you'll already know what you're fighting for — because you’ve seen the future first.

One of the biggest mindset shifts in design happens when you stop thinking, “What’s the right way to organize styles?” and start asking, “What’s my way, and will it scale if someone else steps in?”Text styles, color tokens, icon grids — they aren’t about rules. They’re about clarity, repeatability, and ease of collaboration. But just like a kitchen, not every space needs to be labeled and shelf-ready. If you’re cooking a quick meal on a holiday, organize just enough. But if you’re running a long-term kitchen with multiple people? You’ll wish you labeled those jars.So define what you need now. Call it “Name Color” or “Accent Text” or “Inverse Text” — don’t wait to find the perfect system. Systems get better through usage, not by overthinking from Day 1. You can always clean it up later. That’s the beauty of design tools like Figma — and honestly, the beauty of design thinking itself.

Stop thinking of interviews as exams. They're not. One of the most powerful things you can do in an interview is say: “I don’t know.”Not because you’re clueless, but because you're self-aware. Because you’re honest. Because you're someone who knows when to pause, ask, and learn.Most interviews are not tests of how much you know. They’re tests of how you handle uncertainty. That’s the real game. Will you try to bluff your way through a topic you barely understand? Or will you accept it, ask for context, and show curiosity? Trust me — that curiosity often leads to “Oh wait, I have worked on something like this, I just didn’t know it was called that.” Happens all the time.The ones who grow fast in this industry aren’t the ones who know everything — they’re the ones who don’t freeze when they don’t. The ones who admit gaps, ask questions, stay grounded, and show their hunger to learn. That’s what gets remembered. That’s what gets hired.

Most people think learning is about having a linear structure, about following a textbook, checking off every concept, and mastering it all before they feel "ready." But that’s not how real learning—or real growth—happens. The truth? Learning is messy. It’s random. It happens in fragments, in moments of curiosity, in experiences that force you to think differently.The problem isn’t time. The problem is the mental model we have about how learning should happen. You don’t need to complete everything to be valuable. You don’t need to master every UX term before you’re hireable. You need to engage, think, and connect the dots as you go. The industry doesn’t reward people who “know everything.” It values those who know how to think and adapt.So drop the perfectionism. Let go of the backlog in your head. Absorb what you can, when you can, and trust that your brain will make sense of it over time. Learning isn’t a linear process. It’s a lifelong practice.