Have you ever doubted the quality of your design portfolio, feared that you’d lose out on a great client, or worried about never achieving your dream career? If so, you’re not alone. Many designers deal with impostor syndrome—a persistent self-belief that you’re not good enough and that your success is undeserved. You can overcome it with skill and verve when you know what it is, why it happens, and how to reaffirm your self-worth and pride as a design powerhouse and professional prospect.
Impostor syndrome can manifest in several ways—gnawing feelings or pangs of self-doubt, fear of judgment, and the persistent feeling of being a fraud. It may sound extreme—especially with a word like “fraud”—but it affects designers across the board, regardless of their experience level, role, or design specialization. From junior designers starting their careers to seasoned professionals leading design teams, it can be a problem.
This internal belief can significantly impact your confidence and creativity, and ultimately prevent you from achieving your dream career. That sounds like a terrible waste and a tragedy well worth preventing, doesn’t it? So, let’s get right into it now and explore the roots of impostor syndrome in the design field and how to overcome it.
What Is Impostor Syndrome?
Impostor syndrome is a psychological phenomenon where individuals doubt their accomplishments and abilities despite evidence to the contrary. It is the persistent feeling of being a fraud, even when one is clearly successful—and although it may sound almost ridiculous, it happens. Usually, there is a discrepancy between that person’s self-perceived competence and the external evidence. This syndrome is particularly prevalent among high-achieving individuals.
Impostor syndrome might sound dramatic, but it can have dramatic consequences for designers who “fall prey” to it. What causes impostor syndrome is a combination of personality and cognitive and environmental factors. Perfectionism, low self-esteem, negative self-talk, and the paradoxical nature of high achievement can contribute to impostor feelings. What’s more—or maybe that should be, what’s worse—competitive work environments, social comparisons, and societal biases can exacerbate these challenges. That’s why the pressure to constantly innovate, the iterative nature of the design process, the fear of making mistakes, and the perception of high standards can cause impostor syndrome in designers and bring on some unpleasant “symptoms.”
Why Designers Are Prone to Impostor Syndrome
Designers are particularly susceptible to impostor syndrome due in part to the subjective nature of their work. Unlike fields with tangible metrics, the success of a design is often based on qualitative feedback and subjective judgment. The ambiguity of creative work can lead to self-doubt. Design and art are different, but beauty—and other things—can be in the eye of the beholder in design, too. And if a designer believes that critics will know and agree on what the “right” solution looks like instead of their one, it can bring on a feeling of “not good enough” for the designer that feels like it’s eating into the spirits.
What’s more, a constant evolution of trends and tools characterize the design industry. The pressure to stay updated and create innovative work can create a sense of inadequacy, as designers might feel they’re always playing catch-up. Another factor is how the design process often involves a high degree of vulnerability. Sharing work for critique can be nerve-wracking, and negative feedback can reinforce feelings of incompetence and bring on—for individuals who keep telling themselves it—a “Will I ever get this right?!” mindset.
Impostor Syndrome and the Portfolio Paradox
While impostor syndrome can infiltrate various aspects of a designer’s career, it often finds its most potent expression when a designer confronts the portfolio. This digital representation of one’s work becomes a focal point of self-doubt and can magnify perceived shortcomings. This is due to a few reasons:
Comprehensive evaluation: Hiring managers evaluate design portfolios to decide whether or not a candidate is a fit for their team. A rejection from a hiring manager can make you feel like you’re not good enough, but you might just not be the right fit for that team. In other words, that job might not be the right fit for you—but, hang on, there might be even better news: you might have been spared a bad working experience, too.
Comparison to others: Portfolios often involve comparing one’s work to peers or industry standards—and that can trigger feelings of inadequacy.
Fear of judgment: A designer can look on presenting a portfolio to potential clients or employers as a public declaration of one’s abilities, which increases the pressure to be perfect and the chances of performance anxiety kicking in and pressing down on the spirits.
In this video, Societe Generale CIB Design Director Morgane Peng explains what a portfolio is. Importantly, she says that you should think of your portfolio as a friend who speaks highly of you when you’re not around. You can better overcome impostor syndrome if you adopt this mindset when crafting your portfolio.
How to Overcome Impostor Syndrome: Build Confidence in Your Portfolio
Impostor syndrome can cast a long shadow over your design career and even make you lose great opportunities. Don’t let it dare do that to you—you’re better than that. The first step to overcome it is to recognize the common manifestations:
Fear of failure: A constant worry about making mistakes or producing subpar work.
Perfectionism: An unrealistic expectation of flawless output.
Self-doubt: Questioning one’s abilities and skills.
Comparison to others: Believing that others are inherently more talented.
Overvaluing criticism: Giving disproportionate weight to negative feedback.
If you recognize these patterns, you can start challenging these thoughts and build resilience. However, to effectively overcome impostor syndrome, it’s essential to take a multi-faceted approach. In this video, Morgane Peng shares a few tips to overcome impostor syndrome.
Acknowledge Impostor Syndrome
Recognize the signs: Identify common symptoms like self-doubt and fear of judgment, as well as their triggers. For instance, if you’re presenting work to a large audience or receiving negative feedback, it might trigger impostor syndrome—and you may start questioning your abilities and skills and telling yourself negative stories such as “I don't deserve this job!” or “I'm going to be fired!”.
Challenge negative thoughts: Replace self-critical thoughts with positive affirmations and evidence of your skills. Remember, you’re better than the negative narratives—or lies—that are trying to drag you down. Don’t let them dare hold space in your mind! For instance, if you think “I’m not good enough,” rise up and challenge it with evidence of your past successes.
Build self-awareness: Pinpoint the root causes of your impostor syndrome. For example, if you often compare yourself to highly successful peers, try to focus on your unique journey and accomplishments.
Curate a Confident Portfolio
Focus on quality over quantity: Showcase your best work instead of filling your portfolio with mediocre projects. For example, select projects that demonstrate your strongest skills or align with your career goals—sell yourself and never sell yourself short.
Tell a compelling story: Create a narrative that highlights your design process and the impact of your work. For instance, showcase how you identified a user problem, developed a solution, and measured the results. It’ll bring your achievements to life and lift you up from the screen as the person viewing your portfolio realizes what an asset you are.
Quantify your impact: Use metrics and data to showcase the results of your designs. For instance, showcase how your redesign increased website traffic by 20%. Facts and figures, like KPIs (key performance indicators), carry serious weight with potential employers and clients.
Seek constructive feedback: Constructive criticism can help identify areas for improvement and boost confidence. For example, ask a senior designer or a mentor to review your portfolio and provide insights. Remember, feedback is a tool for growth, not a judgment of your overall worth. Focus on specific, actionable points and don’t take criticism personally.
Build a Supportive Network
Connect with other designers: Sharing experiences can help you realize that impostor syndrome is a common phenomenon and that you’re not alone.
Find a mentor: A mentor can offer guidance, support, and encouragement.
Join professional organizations: Participate in industry events and workshops to build connections.
Practice Self-Care and Mindset Shifts
Celebrate small wins: Acknowledge your accomplishments, no matter how small they are.
Set realistic goals: Break down large projects into smaller, achievable steps.
Learn from setbacks: View challenges as opportunities for growth, not threats to deny you what you know you deserve as a good professional with a bright future.
Practice self-compassion: Treat yourself with kindness and understanding and remember something important. Your creative flair, solid grasp of design principles, and all the other attributes that make you unique amount to far more than just a “commodity” in the marketplace.
Develop a growth mindset: Focus on learning and improvement rather than perfection—nobody is perfect, and your professional life, like your personal one, is a journey.
How to Receive Feedback: Build Confidence, Lessen Self-Doubt
Feedback can be a double-edged sword for designers. Feedback goes with the “territory” of design—but it’s not as if other professionals don’t have to receive feedback; most working people must hear about how they’re doing at the job at some points in their career. With that said, while feedback is essential for the design process, it can also fuel self-doubt. That’s why you need to learn to discern valuable feedback from subjective opinions.
In this video, Morgane Peng shares her experience with design feedback.
Keep the Feedback that Is Useful for You
Keep in mind that not all feedback will be of the same standard. While constructive criticism is invaluable, some feedback might not align with your design vision or project goals. You need to learn how to discern between feedback that genuinely contributes to improving your work and feedback that might be based on personal preferences or misunderstandings. The ones who review your work are humans, themselves—or they should be!—and their many viewpoints, idiosyncrasies, and tastes are their own. They’re not some unified “court of perfection” that has the monopoly on wisdom.
Don’t Fixate on Negative Feedback
Another common pitfall is the tendency to fixate on negative feedback and overlook the positive aspects of your work. This can lead to a distorted perception of your abilities and hinder your progress. Keep in mind that no one is perfect—again—and it is as useful to know your shortcomings as your strengths. It’s usually through your strengths that you will be able to build your dream career, and so it’s essential to take into account the positive feedback that you receive and keep cultivating those abilities.
And remember—it’s not you against the world. Speaking of the world, remember your clients are people in the world and have things like culture that might be shaping their views of things—including design. For instance, maybe they didn’t get some of your design based on how their culture views factors like color choices or negative space use or text alignment—things you can revisit so your design resonates with them the second time around.
Empathize with Those Who Don't Speak Design
As a designer, you’ll often receive feedback from clients and stakeholders with limited knowledge about the design process. On the surface, this can seem a stressor that’s unjustified, because who are they to tell you your business, right? However, this is why you need to learn how to explain the underlying reasons for your design choices and their impact and benefits. This will help you prevent feeling like a fraud when faced with unforeseen comments or requests.
They’ll look to you as a design professional who knows their stuff and can bring it to their level in layman’s terms, not jargon-laced “designese.” And—guess what—you are a design professional, and you speak their language and can get (and keep) them on the same page.
In this video, author, speaker, and leadership coach Todd Zaki Warfel gives practical tips on how to present design work.
Remember, design is a collaborative process. Effective communication and negotiation are key to finding common ground with clients. Also, remember that design is subjective to a certain extent, and personal preferences and cultural factors influence it and how those who view, assess, and judge designs do too. Take that into account when receiving feedback from non-designers—and focus on the project needs.
The Take Away
Many designers experience impostor syndrome—the feeling of being a fraud—at some point in their careers. It’s a common phenomenon, almost an occupational hazard since designers need to put their work “out there” so much and so often to get feedback on it. Still, it’s something to combat so design professionals can feel proud of who they are and what they do for the brands—and the real-world users and customers—they create design solutions for. And the first step in overcoming the syndrome is to recognize its signs, such as perfectionism, self-doubt, and fear of failure.
As a designer, you can conquer impostor syndrome when you build up your resilience, challenge negative self-talk, grow a strong support network, set realistic goals, practice self-compassion, and strengthen your confidence in your portfolio. And because that portfolio will be your brand ambassador and first point of contact with the next client or employer, it will mirror that you’re a professional who believes in yourself, believes in design, and believes any brand who hires you is going to enjoy success—or even more of it—soon.
References and Where to Learn More
Want to create a portfolio that gets you hired? Take our course, Build a Standout UX/UI Portfolio: Land Your Dream Job, and learn how to showcase your skills, tell compelling project stories, and impress employers.
Join the design community—check out the IxDF local group in your area.
Watch the How To Deal With People Who Don't Get Design Master Class by Morgane Peng.
Read the article What People Get Wrong About Impostor Syndrome.
Read the article CV & portfolio’s effect on mental health and creative confidence.
Read the article Building Self-Confidence As a Designer: Foundation.
Read the article Feel like a fraud?.
Read the article Overcoming Impostor Syndrome.
