What makes a project incredible? Is it the client or the project? What type of project is it? An exorbitant budget? These things can help create an environment where a great project will thrive, but what makes a project powerful is you.
This is not a pep talk about why you’re the ultimate weapon, but you can be if you choose to. I am a web and products designer who writes down my observations to give others tools to make their projects better.
Still with me? What have I learned as a designer for an agency?
Three approaches have changed the way I run my projects from start to finish. Since implementing these three approaches, I have noticed that my work and interactions with clients and colleagues have improved. Here are the three:

Reframe your past experiences to help you unlearn them.
Connect Paths allows you to tap into your past.
Take up your own space. Period.

This article will explain each approach, and provide practical examples from my work at Fueled+10up to demonstrate how they can be used in projects. Let’s get started.
Reframe your previous experiences to unlearn them
Among the many things we have learned in the past, there are some that are not so valuable.
It is difficult to unlearn ingrained lessons. Instead, I challenge you reframe your thoughts and ask yourself: “Am I stopping creatively because I’ve always gone this far?” Or “Am I associating a response from others based on a previous experience, and therefore not doing enough to the project?”
Let me give you a few examples of thoughts you may have on a project and how to reframe them.
First Thoughts
“I’ve created cards thousands of time.” There are only a limited number of ways to do something.

You know that 99.9% of all website design projects require a card design. You may think that every design you could imagine has been done up to this point. Isn’t that a reasonable assumption? This mentality, however, will only produce predictable and well-known results.
Reframe Thought
You could approach this situation with the following reframed idea:
“I’ve created cards thousands of time, so let’s take what I’ve learnt, do some further exploration, and iterate what could push these card further for this project.”

You may find that you are able to dig deeper and pull on creative threads. This will lead to adaptive thinking. Crazy 8’s Design Exercise is a good exercise to promote it. This format allows you to generate ideas quickly — some good, others not so good — then see what sticks. This method is designed to get your mind working on a simple problem by approaching it from different angles.

Real-Life Examples
Here is an example of a real-life project in which I was required to explore cards at a deeper level. This client’s site was primarily composed of cards with varying complexity and content. I began by defining how to differentiate cards. I focused on size, color, and imagery, as well motion and hover effects.
What I came up with was a flexible three-tiered system that worked well together. I created a Featured card and used the cutout shape to tie it to the brand’s identity. I also added the glass effect to the top to allude to the brand’s scientific background and make sure the text is accessible. For the Stacked Card I introduced a unique hover pattern: depending on the position of the card in a grid, the hover color would be determined. For the Horizontal Card I wanted to create a design that would give equal importance to the image and the content, and could also stand on its own, even without an illustration.

These cards included what most cards do, but the approach I took and visual language used were unique to the customer. Instead of working too quickly on these, I took a different route that required a little more thinking, which led to a result in line with the client’s requirements. It also pushed my thinking outside of what I thought was the standard, straightforward method.
First Thoughts
“Faster is better.” “My clients and project teams expect me to be quick, so it’s fine if I reduce my exploration.”

In many projects, speed is rewarded. It keeps the budget within the limits of the project, the project managers and clients are all happy. It can, however, lead to errors in the design process and hinder design exploration.
Reframe Thought
You can reframe the following scenario:
“I work quickly because I want my team to succeed. In addition, I also want to ensure that I have produced high-quality and creative work as well as explored whether this is best solution for the project.

This new perspective allows you to continue to focus on what clients and project team members want (successful results), but also enhance the experience by utilizing your design expertise, rather than simply churning work out.
A good tip is to communicate with your team about budget and timelines. Keep these key goals in mind to know when to push more exploration or when to dial it back.
Real-Life Examples
This happened to me on a project. A client’s feedback seemed straightforward, but when we went through a third round, it became clear that it was more complex.
Cleveland Public Library had approved wireframes that showed a hero with a lot of content. However, when it came time to design, they were thrilled by a bolder, simpler design that I created during my preliminary design explorations. I thought at first that it was obvious to give them a simple, dialed-in hero design. I knew that the hours on this project were limited, and I wanted time to be saved for when we got to the finer details of the pages. This was my mistake.
After taking a step-back and removing speed from the project’s focus, I found what they really needed: a hero with a lot of content showcasing their breadth of offerings, combined with the boldness that the more pared down design brought. And guess what? This variant was approved immediately!

After showing you two examples on how to unlearn past experiences, I hope that you can now see the value in reframing these moments to tap into an uninhibited creative path. You should expect it to take several implementations before you start to feel the shift to inherent thinking. Even I have to remind myself, as in the last example, to pause and reframe. Rome wasn’t constructed in a single day, as the saying goes!
Try This
I challenge you to find a few moments in a recent project when you could have paused and reflected on the project, and used your creativity more. What would you do differently?
Approach 2: Tap into your background with Connection Paths
I know that I talked about unlearning our past experiences to unlock our creativity, but how about those we want to tap into in order to push us further? Each designer has a variety of passions, memories and experiences that have culminated in what makes them who they are today. We often have two selves: a professional self that is poised and professional, and a personal one that is bursting with hobbies. How can we apply the unique aspects of our personalities to our projects and make them more effective?
Making deeper connections with clients and projects is a great way to use our personal experience and knowledge. It can add inspiration to a project or topic that you may not have otherwise found.
Let me take you through the Three Connection Paths, which I call them. I’ll show you how to use these in your projects.
Direct Path
This is a connection path where you have interests that overlap with the client’s or subject matter.
You might play video games for a client in the video game industry. It seems like a natural connection! You can share your knowledge and passion for the gaming industry and their work. You could suggest easter eggs or tie-ins for their games on their site. It’s like a match made for heaven.
Cross Path
This is a connection path where you meet the client or subject at a single point.
You may have worked in the food industry and can use this as an example. You know what it’s like to work in a restaurant. So you can suggest CTAs or fun graphics for a site geared towards staff.
Network Path
This is a connection path where you are tied to the client or topic through someone you know.
One example is a client who is in the engineering field and one of your relatives is an engineer. You can ask your family for their opinions or for suggestions on how to improve the user experience of a redesigned site.

You may not be able to align yourself with a client along one of the Three Connection Paths. However, you can still add layers to your experience by using other methods, such as research and your skillset. In the last example, let’s say that you don’t know anything about engineering and you don’t have a connection with someone who does. However, you are a great copy editor outside of your job. You can suggest changing the language in their hero section so that it emphasizes their goals even more. This shows that you care about the client and want to give them a great experience.
Real-Life Examples
In a real-life project, I implemented the Direct Connection Path for the redesign of Comics Kingdom’s site. As a child, I aspired to be a creator of manga, so the idea that this client would act as an intermediary between comic creators and readers resonated with my childhood. Not only that, I also still do illustration, so I knew that I had to bring my skill set to the work, even though this was not the original scope.
I allowed myself leaning into that spark I experienced. I created a few illustrations for their website using Procreate that felt personal, and that were tied to the joy comics bring. I also found a way of incorporating my knowledge of Manga into a background design that drew inspiration from nawa ami (a traditional crosshatching style used to denote deep thinking) and mixed it up with the motif of finger prints — the idea that identity and the artist’s mark on their work is important.

I was able, through my passion, to create a great collaborative relationship with the client. This led to a successful launch, and an invitation to speak on their podcast. This experience confirmed my belief that by tapping into Connection Paths you can create not only amazing projects, but also partnerships.
Try This
You can use the Three Connection Paths to connect with your client or subject matter. If you don’t think one of the Three Connection Paths is aligned, what skills or research can you bring to the table?
Take up your own space
The last — and perhaps most important — way to elevate your projects is to take up your own space. I don’t mean physical space, like imposing yourself on others. What I mean is the space that designers use to express themselves about their design choices.
Many designers find this practice uncomfortable. This could be because you were not given the space to practice when you were a beginner designer or that higher ranking designers did not leave room for those who are less vocal.
Don’t retreat
Some designers retreat when they receive feedback. It is easier to accept the change requested by the client or member of the team than to stand behind their reasoning or ask follow-up questions. Do you feel obligated to follow through with a request even if you don’t agree with it?
You Are The Expert
You can also choose to be comfortable with the discomfort and mark yourself as a design expert.
You can establish yourself as a confident designer and a strong decision maker by stating that you disagree and explaining why. It’s important to explain why you made your decision.
It is only by expressing your opinions and reasoning during conversations that you can gain the trust of those around. Hiding your opinions or giving in to client whims will not show others that you are knowledgeable enough to make the right recommendations for a particular project.
The Middle Ground
Now, I am not saying you need to always disagree to show you have a spine. Far from it. I believe there are times and places when you should lean on your expertise and other times and places when you should find a middle-ground and/or collaborate. Working with colleagues and clients allows them to see the “why” of the design decisions.
Example
This is best illustrated by a client who questions you about a font size and says it feels too large.
You have two choices:

You could say you will make the size smaller.
Or you can dig deeper.

If you’ve been paying attention, you know that I recommend option 2. Ask for more details instead of changing the font size. You might ask if the type hierarchy is off, i.e. the relationship between the heading and the body font that it is paired up with. You can ask whether the size is too large in other places, since this font may be your H2 font. It would then need to change across the board. You can use data-informed UX, accessibility, brand or storytelling reasons to explain why you chose this font size. This will help your decision-making abilities in front of the client.
If the client wants to change the font size after the discussion, you can at least explain your reasoning. This will show that you did not make a decision without thinking. You made the design after considering multiple factors and giving it a lot more thought. Over time, you will gain trust as a design expert.
Real-Life Examples
In a recent project for Hilton Stories, I was able to demonstrate how I took up my own space. This was in collaboration with Wicked. After conceptualizing a grand-scale takeover experience with a storytelling element, one client wanted to remove the animation of the page loading in order to have more branding elsewhere.
While my team was eager to implement this, I read between lines and realized we could fix the problem by adding clear verbiage about the collaboration on loading animations as well as logos and video spots to the interior pages. By standing up for a crucial piece of my designs, i was able show that I was in alignment with my design decisions and the major goals of this project. This solution made my clients happy and allowed me to launch the project successfully with the loading animation I and the Fueled +10up team worked so hard on.
Try This
Next time you get feedback, take a moment to pause. Ask questions and listen carefully to what is said. Analyze whether it makes sense to change the design decisions that you made. Tell the client why it doesn’t work. Open up the dialogue and see what you come up with. It will be uncomfortable to begin with, but it will become easier over time.
Remember that you made your decision for a good reason. Now is the moment to support your design work, and ultimately yourself and your decision. Take up your space without apology.
Conclusion
You can now try out the three approaches on your next project. You can use your past to influence your future interactions by using Reframing and Connection Paths. Start small when you take up your own space and advocate for your designs. Always try to connect with the “whys” to instill trust in clients and members of your team.
You don’t have to apply this to the entire world. Maybe just your workplace.