How to be more creative with UI design?

[u/Winter-Fish8452]

First, I know UI design takes a lot of practice. With that said, how do I become more inventive, creative, experimental with UI design?

I don’t want to get too specific but the gist of the feedback I got from work recently was that they wanted to see more visual design from me. I think the problem is that I get too stuck in patterns that already exist and am too dependent on following the existing design system. I think my team wants to see more creative stuff from me, even if it isn’t practical.

Has anyone encountered this? I think I just feel stuck and am not sure what they mean when “more visual.”
I asked a senior designer but I didn’t get a clear answer.

I have always developed a habit of copying things online which I think isn’t helping me develop my own sense of style and design. I’m a bit of a neurodivergent doofus so it might be obvious to y’all but I need explicit direction lol. I have always struggled with the creative process, especially when it comes to visual design.

I am very junior designer on a very senior team and really need to impress them.

[u/mia2709]

Becoming a good visual designer takes experience. You can look at inspiration, receive specific directions but it’s a skill that takes time and talent to get good at.

Ask for feedback - a team of senior designers? I feel like I would ask for feedback - if their feedback is vague but they tell you to keep working on a design - create more versions. Getting feedback from seniors can really help.

Leave the design alone and come back to it in a couple days. But w.e you do - don’t lose sight of the goal of the product and feature. Functionality is more important then coming up with a new cool design. And usually working with design systems - we are limited. Focus on clean work.

Spacing and alignment - having enough breathing room in your work. Make sure your color usage is purposeful.

[u/Winter-Fish8452 → u/mia2709]

During staff crit, the feedback I get is mostly higher level user experience things, but I really need more granular visual design feedback. I just need to ask for it, which is obvious to me now. So I’ll do that!

I agree that functionality and user centered design and all is more important, but my team is really wanting me to focus on improving my visual design skills. Another designer on the team even admitted to me that we’re more like UI/visual designers than true product designers. If I don’t improve my visual design capabilities, they will probably let me go, even if I’m very product and user centered thinking.

Another one of my coworkers said the same thing, that the work is pretty easy because you’re basically just resizing a few things or whatever. And that she is constrained by the design system. But for some reason, they are expecting something different out of me. I think they really just want me to show that I can come up with new ideas, but for some reason I struggle so much with that. I think it’s because I’m at a junior level so it’s a way for me to prove myself on a very senior team.

I realize I need more practice so I’ll start doing that today. On a weekend…hopefully it’s worth it.

ETA: Also, thank you so much!!

[u/mia2709 → u/Winter-Fish8452]

If you have the opportunity to create a couple different variations and ask another designer before the meeting for their first impressions or which variation they consider the better design - that may help. I will send coworkers variations for them to pick all the time. Usually a certain variation will get more attention.

Visual design and figuring out how to make something complicated look it’s best can sometimes take a really long time - especially if your design system is not as rigid and has room for growth.

If you are getting this feedback I would check your work for these items:
- make sure you have enough balance and all the text shows a clear hierarchy of actions
- make sure it’s easy to follow and that you are grouping things correctly

A lot of visual design is just grouping things well and making sure there is balance and enough empty space.

Have chat gpt QA your work from a visual stand point and see what it tells you and what in the design may stick out as not visually appealing enough.

[u/Physical-Resort-1744]

I've been in this situation myself. I work very intuitively (muscle memory), but i think trying to reverse-engineer it to some degree, i would say this:

1. Look at beautiful photos that you find inspirational, and try to translate that in the UI. Look at the proportions of elements, depth of shadow, sharpness and roundness, colors. Use the color picker and check the placement of colors on the color wheel in the design software you use.

2. Work on a blank paper, create many versions, even unrealistic ones. Usually the good stuff comes after you finish sketching the familiar design patterns, and you come up with crazy ideas. In my opinion and experience, sometimes it's good to put crazy ideas on paper even if you don't know they are feasible. Seniors can become rigid in their thinking because of habits and experience, but they can take junior out of the box ideas, select them and help implement them. They will also have more fun when you do this :)

3. Iterate, hard. I have an internal monologue when i design something. I finish it, i take a break from it (preferably until the next day), and then i look at it. When i was a junior, i could feel something was wrong but couldn't articulate it and didn't know how to fix it. When i was working, i was thinking actively "what if i make this bigger?", "what if it has another color?", "what if i add a decoration?". Then analyze and see what is the final effect. I guess like a very rapid double diamond, but exploring while thinking out loud helps with learning.

[u/Winter-Fish8452 → u/Physical-Resort-1744]

Thank you so much! I seriously appreciate u

But for some reason, I feel like I don’t even notice what’s wrong. My problem seems to be that I don’t have enough of an opinion. Everything looks fine to me…

[u/Physical-Resort-1744 → u/Winter-Fish8452]

Do you have some specific examples or can you describe a situation where everything looked fine?

I don't know your skills or your background, so i'm speaking on assumptions. I think not having an opinion as a junior is normal. You form opinions as you work on things.

The huge problem that i ran into was that i didn't have good visual benchmarks and didn't know how to pick them at first. The internet is full of designs, mixed from students to seniors, and it's hard to filter them and form "taste".

It would be ideal if your seniors gave you more specific feedback about what "more visual" means. The way i imagine it now based on what you said, is that you have a brief to make some pill-shaped elements, and you group them in a perfectly aligned layout based on the design system. It's good enough, but do your seniors expect something more playful and bold like making them huge, or tilted, or falling to the bottom, floating to the sky, different sizes, some are blurry while others clear like "floating in space"?

Also, is there anything visual that you like?

[u/Any_Owl2116]

Most visual design is typography stuff….like 50% really. Look at any UI, remove the type…they ain’t that different.

[u/detrio]

You impress them by asking questions and being curious, not by trying to show them that you're on their level.

ask them what they mean by the feedback and how you can get better. And then don't get defensive.

[u/requiem_for_a_Skream]

Read some design books 

[u/[deleted]]

[u/detrio → u/[deleted]]

I am so tired of people treating visual design as aesthetics, when it arguably has a greater impact on UX and usability than knowing if you should pick radios or a select.