The process is not the differentiating factor

Anyone can follow a recipe. But not everyone can cook.

That’s because the difference between a novice cook and a pro isn’t knowing how to follow a recipe.

And designers of all kinds have a process, too. A system of steps that guides their thinking and their choices.

What differentiates a poor design from a great one isn’t how precise the designer followed each step, but what they did in between.

It’s actually pretty easy to learn the process. Just look it up.

But the stuff in the gaps—the seeing, discerning, ideating, making, facilitating and communicating, the real skills of the trade—that takes a lifetime to master.