Are you a creative person?

I'm not.

Or at least, that's what I thought.

5 years in front-end development and I always struggled designing something myself.

Then, suddenly, I didn't.

Here's what I changed to become a good designer almost overnight

First. Stop thinking that you can't design.

Maybe you're not super creative, or maybe you've had no design training.

Me either.

That doesn't mean you can't create a damn good website.

Changing your mindset will allow you to learn.

Don't take 5 years like me.

I absorbed a lot of design tips while practising development.

You can do this too, but the fastest way to learn is to do.

We preach this all the time in development.

"Stop watching tutorials and go build that site"

Well stop thinking about designs, and actually create one

Developers seem to think design is this awe-inspiring talent that only a select few can do.

Well guess what? That's what most people thing about development.

Did you let that stop you?

Here's how you get started creating your own design.

Go find a few sites you love.

Find inspiration from @dribbble, or @uidesigndaily, or any other design platform.

Make a note of the things you love the most.

Then you copy them.

Don't copy the whole design. Just copy the bits you really like.

Maybe it's a card.
Maybe it's the header.

Take little bits of inspiration from different places and pull them together.

Now what you see, you probably won't like.

You'll have a site with lots of bits which don't quite match eachother.

So smooth them out, make them more consistent.

Match up the colours, fonts, line weights, etc.

Eventually, it will come together and start to look right.

And by this point, you'll probably be in the flow.

You might be scrapping whole sections you thought worked and starting over. (that's good!).

If not, just keep going.

It takes time to get comfortable with a new skill.

Your first design doesn't have to be a masterpiece.

When you're finished, show it off.

Get feedback. Learn from your mistakes.

This is what experienced designers (and developers) do all the time.

It's very rare that your first draft will be perfect.

Becoming a good designer is all down to practice, the same as any skill.

The more you do it, the better you'll get.

So the sooner you start creating your own designs, the better you'll get.

Don't be like me; afraid of making designs for the first 5 years of your career.

I want to point out that I'm still not a 'good' designer.

I don't know how to use design tools like figma or sketch except for the basics (yet).

Design takes me way longer than most professional designers.

But I can make good looking sites that I love

That's what counts.