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Hey and welcome back to a new week!

In this issue:

• Starting A Design Career in 2026: It’s brutal out there. It was already showing those signs when I started. Here is what I learned.

• The Course I’d Take in 2026 As a Junior: DesignerUp is arguably one of the best resources out there to get the fundamentals right, learn proper UI design and get ready for the market. Make sure to grab those 10% off I was able to secure for you!

• Xiaoyang’s Portfolio: Some of the best interaction work I’ve seen in a portfolio.

Thank you for reading!

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If I Had To Start My Career in Again 2026, This Is What I’d Do Differently 🤔

I started my career in product in 2019 and moved into design in 2020. That was not that long ago — but the market I entered barely resembles the one people are entering now.

Back then, things were already competitive. But they were still, broadly speaking, manageable. The COVID boom created momentum, teams hired aggressively, and many companies were willing to take chances on early-career designers who showed promise.

That world is gone.

The market today is slower, more deliberate, and far more selective. Not because design is dying, but because companies learned some hard lessons. Teams are smaller. Expectations are higher. And the margin for “almost ready” has shrunk.

If I had to start again in 2026, with everything I know now, I wouldn’t panic — but I would do things very differently.

Here’s what I would not optimize for anymore, what I would focus on instead, and what still matters just as much as it ever did.

What I Would Stop Optimizing For

I wouldn’t chase job titles early

I would not restrict myself to roles that explicitly say junior, associate, or level 1.

A huge number of early-career designers limit their search to these labels and accidentally shrink their opportunities to a fraction of what’s actually available. Many companies simply hire “Product Designer” and assess people based on skill and fit, not title.

At the same time, I wouldn’t waste time applying to senior roles that clearly require deep experience I don’t have. That’s usually just noise.

What I would ignore completely are arbitrary year requirements when everything else lines up. If a role asks for three years of experience, but the responsibilities match my skills and the work looks realistic for my level, I would apply without hesitation.

I’ve seen people get hired into roles asking for three to four years of experience with far less than that — recently, not in 2020 — because they showed strong fundamentals, domain understanding, and clarity in their portfolio.

Titles are signals, not laws.

I wouldn’t wait for the market to “pick me up”

The market is employer-led. Companies can cherry-pick, and they do.

The idea that “if your work is good enough, someone will find you” is not something I would rely on anymore. It happens for a small number of people with exceptional portfolios — some of the designers I showcase every week experience this — but even then, it only gets them conversations, not jobs.

You still have to perform throughout the entire process.

Assume the market is indifferent. Build accordingly.

I wouldn’t obsess over small tweaks

Changing an illustration on your portfolio will not get you hired. Adding a tenth case study will not get you hired either — it often does the opposite.

I would be far more ruthless with my time.

Landing a job takes time even when you’re doing many things right. That means every hour you spend should be intentional. Random tweaks, filler projects, and cosmetic changes without strategy just drain energy.

I Would Design My Career Before I Designed My Portfolio

For a long time, the default path looked like this:

Study or bootcamp → do a mix of unrelated projects → build a portfolio that says everything and nothing → hope the market figures it out.

People still do this.

What I would do differently now is decide much earlier where I’m trying to go, even if that decision is provisional.

Enterprise or startup?

B2B or consumer?

Web-based tools or mobile products?

Visual craft-heavy or business-heavy work?

You don’t need perfect answers. But you need direction.

I would look at my existing work and ask:

• What am I actually good at?

• What did I enjoy doing?

• Where did I struggle?

• What kind of work felt energizing rather than draining?

If I had internship experience, I’d take that seriously as data. I’ve seen people realise through internships that enterprise environments were a terrible fit for them — and that insight alone saved them years of frustration.

Different paths reward different strengths. If you are visually strong and fast with styles and interactions, consumer-facing work may suit you. If you think clearly about systems, constraints, and trade-offs, B2B or enterprise might be a better fit.

If you aim for highly polished consumer products without impeccable craft, you will have a hard time. That’s not gatekeeping — it’s reality.

A mentor helps here immensely. Not to copy their path, but to understand what a role actually looks like day to day and whether it aligns with who you are.

I’d Build Signal, Not Volume

More is not better.

I did too much early on. Side projects, courses, volunteering, internships — often overlapping. It was exhausting, and most of it led nowhere.

What actually mattered was one thing I committed to deeply: my internship. I showed up, delivered well, learned fast — and that led to a referral, which led to my first role.

Today, with AI making it easier to produce more, this trap is even more dangerous.

I would focus on one case study that cuts through noise. Then maybe two. But only if they’re strong.

Five average case studies are worse than one excellent one.

I would revisit existing work, compare it against strong portfolios, and spend time refining. Rewrite the story. Improve the designs. Fix weak spots. AI makes this easier, not optional.

The same applies to tools. I would keep a lean stack:

• Figma

• One portfolio tool (Framer, for example)

• A small number of AI tools I actually understand

Listing every tool under the sun is meaningless. If you can use one, you can usually learn another quickly. Tool lists are not credentials.

I’d Treat AI as Infrastructure, Not a Personality

Putting “AI-native designer” in a profile is usually a red flag.

Not because AI doesn’t matter — it does — but because tools are not identities.

AI is a multiplier. Like Figma. Like Framer. Like Webflow once was.

I experimented with Webflow early, dropped it when it wasn’t useful, and later picked it up again when it suddenly mattered. That readiness paid off.

That’s how I’d approach AI now.

I would make sure I understand how it fits into my workflow. I would use it to accelerate thinking, prototyping, analysis, and iteration. But I wouldn’t make it my brand.

Show competence quietly. Let the work speak.

What Still Matters — and Hasn’t Changed

Fundamentals matter more than ever

AI can generate wireframes, layouts, and decent starting points in seconds.

What it cannot do is apply judgment.

Hierarchy, typography, spacing, color, composition — this is where designers still win. If you publish AI-generated work without refinement, people can tell. Immediately.

The designers who double down on craft — the ones I regularly showcase — rarely struggle to find good roles. They are hired by good companies, not by accident.

AI is producing a lot of slop which raised the bar for us to produce something better.

Ego still has no place in design

Your work will be criticized. Constantly. At every level.

If feedback feels like a personal attack, design will be a painful career.

Frustration is normal. Defensiveness is dangerous.

The moment you start fighting feedback instead of understanding where it comes from, growth stops. I’ve seen very few designers with strong egos succeed long-term.

Thinking, communication, and judgment still win

Being able to connect dots, make decisions, and explain trade-offs matters more than ever.

AI can assist thinking, but it cannot replace it.

This is where many designers differentiate themselves without realizing it. It’s also where I personally gained the most leverage in my career.

Craft opens doors. Judgment keeps them open.

Final Thought

If I started in 2026, I wouldn’t try to do everything.

I’d focus on fundamentals. I’d choose direction early. I’d build signal instead of noise. I’d use AI deliberately, not performatively.

And I’d remember that while the tools have changed, the core of good design hasn’t.

That’s still the part that gets you hired.

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👀 Portfolio Showcase

Today: Xiaoyang Hu

Xiaoyang Hu is a graduate student at the University of Washington, graduating this year, with experience spanning both early-stage and enterprise environments. She’s interned at AKOOL, an AI video generation platform, at Siemens, and worked with the Museum of Flight, which already signals an unusually broad exposure to different problem spaces.

What stands out immediately is how much confidence and care went into crafting this portfolio. Before you even open a case study, the site itself communicates taste, intention, and a strong sense of design authorship. This is one of those portfolios where the surface work alone sets a high bar — and importantly, the substance underneath actually holds up.

As always, I’ll go through two things that work exceptionally well, followed by two potential improvements that could make an already strong portfolio even sharper.

That’s it for this week—thanks so much for the support! ♥️

Do you want your own portfolio reviewed in-depth with a 30-minute advice-packed video review? Or do you require mentoring to figure out a proper strategy for your job search?

I got you!

• Book an in-depth portfolio or resume review with me

• Book a mentoring session with me

• Book a quick 15 min chat to ask a question and see if we vibe

Keep kicking doors open and see you next week!
- Florian