Skills that help transition from psychology to design

What do designers do, that psychologists don’t

‍Let’s start with the most obvious part. If you ask anyone to describe what a psychologist does for a living, it’s going to largely differ from their explanation of what a designer does for a living. Designers operate in a world of visual hierarchies, color theories and design systems; they use complex software in their day-to-day work; they interact with the product and not the people who use the product…

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Kind of.

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What do psychologists do, that designers don’t

We could swap this question around and answer it. Psychologists spend their day listening to people talking about their issues and helping to resolve them; they operate in a world of active listening, cognitive heuristics and understanding; their instruments are often standardized pieces of paper that require decent knowledge of statistics to decipher.

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Kind of.

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Why what I said is just a superficial truth

We might as well describe any job superficially like this, but if you’ve ever been deeply engaged in some line of work, you know there is always more to it. As my experience showed so far, both psychologists and designers actually share a lot of their day to day work life. Here are some examples.

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Example 1: Solving human problems

• Design work is always centered around some problem that you’re trying to solve. Behind that problem, there is always a human (or more of them), coming with their expectations, wishes and budgets and hoping for the best. After that product is made, there is always a user who will see/use it and a part of your job is to understand how that user will feel and behave in such a situation.
  

• Psychological counseling is always centered around a problem that you’re helping a Client to resolve (that being one person, or more of them), and this person is always coming with their own expectations, wishes and budget and hoping for the best. During the counseling process, it’s important to think about how the Client will feel and behave and it's your job to make sure to help them go away from therapy in a good mental place.

Example 2: Constant need for growth

• In a design industry, tools and practices are constantly evolving and it’s necessary to grow along with them. New tools are coming all the time, old tools are getting significant updates and if you want to keep up with the industry needs and standards, you’ll put some time into maintaining personal education and progressing your skills.
• In psychology, methods of counseling and therapy, as well as diagnostic tools are constantly evolving and improving. Working with difficult issues also makes us responsible to pay attention to our own health and educate ourselves constantly, in order to keep up with other mental health professionals.

Example 3: Creativity everywhere

• As a designer, you benefit from being creative and unique. Being able to think of new solutions, of refreshing visuals and to adapt to new situations is a part of designers everyday life. Being rigid can only get you so far, and sooner or later, all designers try to find ways to boost their creativity.
• As a psychologist, especially one that works with children, being able to adapt to new situations in creative ways is exceptionally useful. You’re using your creativity in workshops, counseling, therapy, supervision and most of the other forms of your everyday work. If you’re working at a small nonprofit organization, it’s highly likely that your creativity is also used in other areas; such as marketing material preparation, social media posts and presentations.

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As my experience showed so far, psychologists and designers share many aspects of their day-to-day lives.

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‍So - how easy is it to transition from psychology to design?

‍Despite everything I’ve mentioned so far, I can’t make promises that this process would be difficult or easy. This is highly individualized. For me, the most difficult part was to master all of the popular design tools on a level that I would consider to be professional. I am also rather tech savvy, so I enjoyed learning these tools, but I can see how this could be an imposing task to someone who isn’t very used to dabbling with new technologies.

On the other hand, it was relatively easy to adapt to the day-to-day work process of being a designer. Learning graphic design theory was also relatively easy, due to the fact I’ve learned a lot about perception and other cognitive processes at the University.

Skills that I can say definitely helped me transition from being a psychologist to being a designer are:

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• Adaptability
• Creativity
• Communication skills, such as active listening
• Empathy and understanding (yes, these traits can be practiced into skills)

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There are other skills that I’m tempted to write about that help me in my day-to-day life, but are more connected to being a freelancer, rather than specifically a designer. If you’re interested in learning more about the specifics of freelance work in the design industry, share it with me in the comments below!