With 2019 kicking off in mere days, there’s no time like the present to ponder what you’d like to be proud of this time next year. Whether it’s finally starting that side project, landing your first speaking gig, or fitting in more fun throughout the week, writing down your goals means you’ll be more likely to actually achieve them.
Need some inspiration? We asked design leaders in the InVision community to share their new year’s resolutions.
“2019 will be the year to grow my career and skills outside design—more specifically, videography. This will allow me to learn and develop new skills that’ll still challenge me creatively and will ultimately enhance my work in tandem with my day-to-day job.”
–Ryan Duffy, UX Designer, Comcast
“My new year’s resolution is to broaden my skill set. I want to add new mediums into my design work, and my plan is to practice calligraphy, development, and animation. Ultimately, I think these mediums will help me create something people love.”
–Tanya Higgins, Senior Marketing Designer at Appcues
“I want to practice less resistance towards things I cannot change. And on a different note, get better at furniture fabrication and build my third, fourth, fifth (and so on) pieces of furniture!”
–Ling Lim, Product Designer at Oath
“I want to bring more weekend moments—hiking, reading, ceramics—into my weekday.”
Jessica Strelioff
“I was reading The State of UX in 2019, put together by UX Collective, and a couple sentences really resonated with me that I would like to pursue this next year: ‘What if, instead of working on unsolicited redesigns after hours, we put our craft to work in other initiatives and sectors that are in need of designers? Many non-profits out there can benefit from our thinking. What if, instead of coming up with a better version of the “double-diamond model,” we mentored new designers and other professionals and guide them through applying it to their own careers?’
I’d like to spend my free time working on projects that benefit others, rather than just myself.”
–Stephen Calvillo, Product Designer at Lyft
“In 2018, I took ‘work hard, play hard’ to the extreme: after pulling off weeks of 12-hour work days in order to publish my book and get all the client projects out the door, I’d burn out and take several weeks of vacation to rest and recharge. In 2019 I want to focus less on launching, and more on maintaining a healthy work schedule, eating healthy food, getting lots of rest, and having fun on the weekdays as well. Finding a balance, especially when I enjoy my work so much, has always been a challenge—but this time I’ll make it my most important priority.”
–Nela Dunato, Freelance Brand and Web Designer
Related: Designing the perfect work-life balance
“I’d like to spend my free time working on projects that benefit others, rather than just myself.”
Stephen Calvillo
“I love to write, but in 2018 I completely fell off the wagon. In 2019 my resolution is to set aside dedicated time to reflect and write down the things I’m learning about design and leadership. There are so many people in this industry doing incredible things—I’d love to spend time sharing the tips they’ve shared with me.”
–Jennifer Aldrich, Senior Manager of Design Community Partnerships at InVision
“2019 is going to be an interesting year for the tech industry. I think the biggest trend of this upcoming year won’t be AI, it won’t be blockchain—hell, I don’t even think it will be IoT. I think the biggest trend of 2019 will be earning consumer trust back, and my resolution for 2019 is to accelerate this movement as much as possible by working to give ethical design practices a seat at the business table.”
–Joe Toscano, Founder of Design Good
“My resolution for 2019 is to keep purpose at the top of mind each and every day. Our personal ‘why’ is absolutely a critical part of all of the decisions that we make, and I want to make sure to commit time to pursuing purpose even more in 2019. My husband and I are actually launching an initiative called Purpose Craft to help people discern and develop their personal purpose.”
–Sarah Obenauer, Founder of Make a Mark
“Write more, read more, learn more, share more, teach more. They all change the way you think and the way you think changes what you do.”
–Andrew Verboncouer, Partner and Head of Design at Headway
“To invest more time experimenting with new techniques as well as asking challenging questions in order to be more proactive than reactive in my approach to projects.”
–Courtney Johnson, Digital Designer at High Speed Training
“Write more, read more, learn more, share more, teach more. They all change the way you think and the way you think changes what you do.”
Andrew Verboncouer
“My resolution for next year is to 1) start things before I feel ready, and 2) create art and sell it ?. I want to experiment / grow my creative skills all while doing something I’ve been wanting to do ever since I can remember; start a shop where I sell creative / fun things (whether it be prints, shirts, pins, or whatever) that make people smile. I’m calling it the Childish Shop ?.”
–Mackenzie Child, Product Designer and Illustrator
“Launch and showcase the Chewy design system.”
–Antoine Bonnin, Director of Product Design at Chewy
“This year I begin the journey of building a tiny home inside of a delivery truck to then travel and live in for at least a year! Every week I release an episode on the build. Resolutions are kind of useless if they’re only activated on January 1st each year. I believe in moving swiftly when you know something needs to be done or accomplished.”
–Vaughn Dabney, Owner of Empty Box Media
“Use pen and paper more. The tools we use shape the things we make.”
–Emily Carlin, Product Designer at Appcues
“My resolution is to bring more weekend moments into my weekday. I typically reserve the weekend for things I really love to do: hiking, urban exploring, street photography, reading, ceramics. I’d love to do more of these things throughout my week.”
–Jessica Strelioff, Creative Director at Upperquad
“Reduce the amount of time I look at my phone in my free time.”
–Marie Benoist, UX Designer at Peaks in Amsterdam
“Finding balance between work, freelancing, learning, and family. Slowing down in a city that never sleeps and is always hustling (New York). Learn, educate myself more. Connect with designers who are passionate about solving problems. Face fear and always remember to have fun—life is short. Oh, and backpack through Europe.”
–Nicholas Green, Graphic and Web Designer at Proper Cloth
“The tools we use shape the things we make.”
Emily Carlin
“Go to more meetups and lectures, and try to become good enough at something to speak somewhere.”
–Philip Lundgren, Art Director/Designer at Bigbuzz Marketing Group
“I’m finally going to get my style guides and pattern libraries in order. No more disorganized, independent assets making extra work and inconsistencies for me and the rest of the development team.”
–Josh Becker, Director of Experience Design, Howerton+White
“I want to get developers more involved in all the steps of the design process. Also, I want to give the copy and textual design as much attention as the color palette, typography, or composition.”
–Manuel Ortega, Lead Designer at Commite
“My team wants to establish better systems while working remotely. Our designers like to travel and be flexible with their hours, but we need to ensure that performance stays the same. So our resolution for 2019 is to explore a set of tools and solutions that can help us better communicate and keep track of project statuses and milestones regardless of where we are physically located.”
–Amine Rahal, Founder of Little Dragon Media
“To make new friends, create new memories, visit new places, and learn new things.”
–Jake Deakin, Product Designer at InVision
“My design team came up with a shared resolution for 2019: to be much more intentional about designing with accessibility top of mind. We’re going to optimize all of our experiences for people of all abilities.”
–Ana Medina, Product Designer(UX/UI) at Classy
“Last year, I spent a decent amount of time starting to lay the foundation to building an art, illustration, and character design brand under my own name at SamSoper.Art, as an extension of my main design and development business. In 2019, I want to take that brand to the next level by planning, designing, and building out my custom art portfolio experience. I’d also like to create buttons with my illustrations and plan on adding two more series onto my tarot deck project that I started last year. Low-key goals include local art shows and opportunities to debut my new series and sell said buttons. I feel so lucky to be starting the year with so many solid design and development contracts to keep the bills paid, so I can spend my free-time and energy focusing on following my passions and creating a name for myself doing illustrations and character/persona design, rather than hustling to get new clients.”
–Samantha Soper, Illustrator
What’s your resolution for 2019?
Share it with us on Twitter, and we might add it here.
