Holistic view

When I first started my design career, I fell into a familiar trap: focusing only on the part of the work I was responsible for—without understanding the surrounding context or the why behind the design.

I leaned heavily on what I was good at, like visual aesthetics. But many times, that strength led stakeholders to make the wrong decisions—because I showed them beauty, not outcomes.

Over time, I learned that aesthetics is only one layer of design. A good designer helps stakeholders see how a piece fits into the larger system—how users will interact with it, how it affects everything around it, and what business outcomes it enables.

Design isn’t about perfecting one corner of the canvas—it’s about making the whole picture work together.

And life works the same way.

When a problem feels too large to solve, it’s usually because we’re staring at only one fragment of the picture—the problem—while forgetting the rest of the landscape of our life.

But when we step back and see the whole picture, every challenge becomes a design iteration. Each one makes us wiser, stronger, and more capable.

Stepping back is a choice. It’s always there—up to you.