Being a Designer in 2026.

There’s a myth that to call yourself a designer in 2026 you need to juggle a dozen titles at once.

Brand designer, UX strategist, motion wizard, AI wrangler, researcher, illustrator, copywriter, therapist. It leaves people frozen before they even enter the industry, convinced they’ll never know enough to bother.

The truth is smaller and bigger at the same time.

You need three things: A brain that can think, hands that can make and the nerve to keep going, even when the first idea falls apart.

Everything else sits on top.

Tools matter, but not the way people think. You learn Figma fast when someone shows you why it’s useful. Adobe still holds the trump card. Motion sneaks in more and more every week. AI has barged through the door and is now sitting at every desk, whether you like it or not. But all of it changes so quickly that what you really need is flexibility, curiosity and the willingness to treat tech like a tool and not the rule-maker.

AI is the newest panic point. Students arrive whispering like it’s Voldemort, worried it’ll make them pointless. Then they find out it’s just another tool. Good for generating a spark, an idea, an angle you wouldn’t have thought of at 10pm on a deadline. It can be terrible with it’s taste, terrible at judgement and terrible at knowing when to stop. Which is why human brains are still running the show here. You use it, but you don’t bow to it.

Thinking is still the currency. Asking better questions. Understanding what a client actually needs rather than what they say they want. Finding the story underneath the chaos. Designers who can explain their concept in a sentence tend to win. Designers who can’t get left behind.

Soft skills aren’t soft either, collaboration is survival. You won’t last long if you can’t share files, take feedback on or give someone a straight answer when their idea needs work. Communication keeps projects going. Bad communication sinks them fast.

And yes, you need a portfolio. Not a perfect one, but a living one. Work that shows how you think, your process, how you explore and how you solve. Studios hire that long before they hire a line on a CV.

It doesn’t take years to gather all this. It takes practice, pressure, support and a space where you’re pushed to think like a designer before you feel ready. You build the muscle by using it. You surprise yourself by making things you didn’t think you could make a month earlier.

So if you’re sitting there convinced you’re missing half the puzzle pieces, relax. Nobody has the full set. The industry evolves faster than any course handbook. You just need the core kit and the confidence to learn the rest on the fly.

Prioritise thinking, making, curiosity and community. The rest is just tools, and tools change all the time.