What’s One Design Skill You Think Is Underappreciated But Crucial? Here Are The Best Answers
In graphic design, it’s often the overlooked skills that separate good designers from great ones. While tools and techniques often receive the most attention, there are other, equally important abilities that don’t get the recognition they deserve.
Curious to find out more, we asked our Instagram followers to share the most underrated skills that are also the most crucial. The responses were insightful, revealing the subtle processes that drive truly exceptional creative work.
From the art of saying “no” to knowing how to be inspired from other people’s work, let’s dive into these essential yet unsung skills that every designer should master.
1.
Using your eyes for judgment instead of guides for everything.
– @garyfrench
❤️ 259
2.
Communicating design decisions to non-designers.
– @zachjohnsondesign
❤️ 172
3.
Saying “No”.
– @ferniehernandez
❤️ 81
4.
File organization skills.
– @lecroix_boix
❤️ 68
5.
Knowing how to be inspired from other people’s work but not straight up copying it.
– @morgan.vena
❤️ 62
6.
Just my experience – but knowing how to use InDesign. Illustrator is awesome but there’s something to be said for designing a brochure with the panels as pages instead of one giant art board. I see people doing things in illustrator that InDesign is much better suited for. But I think it’s perceived as being just for magazines and books.
– @louise.in.leopard
❤️ 60
7.
How to ROAST other Designers portfolios.
– @design_by_brady
❤️ 56
8.
Knowing good composition overall.
– @peechee
❤️ 39
9.
Telepathy.
– @sabrinas_matters
❤️ 37
10.
Communication.
– @meester.design
❤️ 30
11.
Visually being able to weigh center.
– @benjieescobar
❤️ 29
12.
Leading and kerning.
– @cmeany718
❤️ 23
13.
Responding to feedback with grace.
– @michele_j
❤️ 22
14.
Typography.
– @trixiedesignstudio
❤️ 20
15.
Alignment. It’s the first thing I will notice if it’s off by the slightest amount.
– @valeriejmay
❤️ 18
16.
Knowing the difference between branding and logo design.
– @m.l.darling
❤️ 14
17.
Great type skills, and ability to use color in simple but effective way.
– @redefjeff
❤️ 12
18.
Naming layers.
– @ryanondriezek
❤️ 9
19.
Taking breaks.
– @kennydoss
❤️ 9
20.
Knowing when you’re a designer, and when you’re an artist.
– @bigbillfish
❤️ 8
21.
Converting from pixels to picas to inches and so on. Took me forever to remember the conversions I learned in college. Also visual hierarchy!
– @greyycie
❤️ 8
22.
Pathfinder merge tool.
– @judy_juggernaut
❤️ 8
23.
Taking the time to understand your clients goals and needs, so you can create design solutions tailored for them.
– @dzignjulz
❤️ 7
24.
Hierarchy.
– @maggie_flex
❤️ 6
25.
The ability to effectively use negative space.
– @gdariyal
❤️ 6
26.
Knowing the difference between American & Irish whiskey.
– @youragain.og
❤️ 5
27.
To be able to distinguish between bad design and good design, and to have the courage to not pretend that something is good when it’s not, even if your job depends on it, you need to be able to recognize and pursue genuine quality.
– @blauer.vogel.hi
❤️ 5
28.
Sketching!
– @matthew_lebaron
❤️ 5
29.
Empathy.
– @gabgerling
❤️ 4
30.
Actually knowing how to design — not using Canva, AI etc.
– @stratentast
❤️
Now it’s your turn to answer. Use the comments below to voice your views and share this post with a designer friend.
