An Overthinker's Guide to Design (and Life)

Design is often seen as a craft of aesthetics, but at its core, it’s more like a language; shaped by history, context, and whatever designers can get away with calling "a bold creative decision". Like linguistics, design has its own rules, structures, and patterns, except ours come with mood boards and the occasional overuse of the word synergy.

I spend an unhealthy amount of time crafting visual languages and exploring how narratives, strategies, and context shape the way things come together, or, at times, completely fall apart.. If you’ve ever sat through a design meeting, you’ve probably heard a lot of fancy words that sound profound but may or may not mean anything. Truth be told, designers are pretty good at using big concepts and jargon to sell what often boils down to a recycled template, convincing ourselves (and clients) that it’s all part of a grand strategy.

Yet beyond the buzzwords and all the fancy shmancy design talk, no one can deny the power of a well-crafted strategy and a beautifully executed visual language. After all, design isn’t just about making things look good; it’s about meaning, context, and the intricate web of decisions that shape how people experience and interact with what we create. Every design choice, whether intentional or (let’s be real, mostly accidental), influences perception, interaction, and understanding.

And if everything I’ve just said seems to contradict itself, well….welcome to the creative process.

So if you ask me (not that anyone did, but hey, perks of having a blog) the best part of the creative process? Research!!! What starts as a simple search quickly turns into a hundred open tabs, and before I know it, I’m lost in the details; connecting dots, overanalyzing patterns, and questioning everything. And the deeper I go, the more the narrative twists, the more strategies shift, the more unexpected connections emerge, aaaaand just when I think I’ve cracked the code… I’m back to square one, with more questions than answers. Funny enough, this wasn’t supposed to be a post about design, but my brain insists on thinking in systems, structures, and patterns! Because why limit overanalyzing to work when you can apply it to literally everything? It’s hard not to see how those same principles shape life in general. The way things come together… and then fall apart. The way we construct meaning out of chaos (or at least pretend to). The way we try - and often fail - to make sense of it all. So, if life were anything like the creative process, we’d probably try to map it out step by step; which may or may not look something like this:

Step 1: Gather all the information (a.k.a. open a ridiculous number of tabs).

Everything starts with research. We collect experiences, seek patterns, absorb details, and convince ourselves that we're going to make sense of it all.

Step 2: Organize, categorize, and trick yourself into thinking you have a plan.

You sort through everything you’ve gathered, connect the dots, and create a mental framework that almost makes sense. You feel like a genius… for about five minutes.

Step 3: Watch the entire thing unravel in real time. Turns out, things don’t always fit into neat little categories (much to my OCD’s dismay). Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, something shifts, or maybe it’s just your perspective, and suddenly, you’re starting over again.

Step 4: Question everything and mildly panic.

Is there even a right answer? Have you been overthinking this entire time? Was this all a waste? (Spoiler: Probably not, but that won’t stop you from spiraling.)

Step 5: Accept the mess and roll with it.

Eventually, you realize that perfect clarity is a myth. Meaning is fluid, patterns are ever-changing, and sometimes the best thing you can do is figure out how to move forward anyway. Whether in design, life, or both; it’s all an iterative process.

We like to think that with enough research, planning, and late-night overthinking, we’ll eventually land on the answer. The perfect strategy. The cleanest solution. The one idea that’s going to win us a Cannes Lion (or a Lynx for the less ambitious). But more often than not, the deeper we go, the more we realize how much we don’t know.

And maybe that’s a good thing.

Doubt isn’t just a roadblock; it’s part of the process. It forces us to question, refine, and explore perspectives we might have overlooked. It reminds us that just because something makes sense today doesn’t mean it won’t change tomorrow.

So, I’m here to normalize not knowing. To embrace the "wait, what if I’m wrong?" moments. Because if the creative process has taught me anything, it’s that sometimes the best ideas, the biggest breakthroughs, and the most interesting narratives come from staying curious enough to keep going, even when nothing makes sense.

And that's all I've got for now.. Over and out!