I used to think being a designer meant getting every little thing right. The perfect kerning, the perfect grid, the perfect shade of off-white. But what even is perfect? I would spend hours fixing things most people would never notice, just because it didn’t feel finished yet.
At some point, I realized the constant chase for perfection was actually slowing me down. Not just in work, but in how I approached creativity. There’s a very fine line between caring deeply about your craft and being seriously paralyzed by it. I crossed that line more often than I’d like to admit.
Some of my favorite projects happened when I stopped overthinking. When I let the idea breathe and take its own course, when it became even bigger than me. When I shared a draft even though it wasn’t ready. That’s when collaboration came alive, because people could respond, build on it, and make it stronger.
Design isn’t meant to be done alone. It’s meant to evolve. Sometimes “done” is better than “perfect” because it gives you the chance to learn and move forward.
Now, whenever I catch myself obsessing over tiny details or rewriting a headline for the fifth time, I remind myself that perfection isn’t the goal. Progress is.