The 3 stages of design The 3 stages of design maturity

I remember being 13 years old and just learning the joys of Photoshop 5 and 6. Looking back, I was so terrible, but in that moment you couldn’t you tell me a thing. That was when message boards and online forums were extremely popular, and you were not cool at all unless your signature (affectionately referred to as ‘sig’) was in top trendy style. I remember downloading brushes and patterns daily and fooling with every filter.
I decided to call myself a designer then, and fortunately, I stuck with it—I had my hands in a bunch of other things I sucked at at the time, one of which was softball. I’m glad I eventually cultivated my design hobby and got serious about it.
It seems like when kids (and some adults) get their hands on some version of Photoshop or Illustrator or what have you, they automatically deem themselves designers. Now, I’m not one of those people who get mad at the newbies coming in and ruining stuff because I’m all about community and I want to see everyone succeed—but I will say, you can’t just jump right in and think you know everything. There is A LOT to learn when it comes to graphic design and not just about what programs you use, but how you use your skill.
Whether you’ve been designing for 10 minutes or 10 years, there’s much to be learned and figured out. Depending on your path with design, some things will vary, but for the most part, there are three main stages of realizations/characteristics most designers go through.