GM, or good morning. I’ve been working as a designer in crypto for 3 years. My takeaways/reflections:
The space moves hyper fast. What’s trending today might be ancient tomorrow. There’s little to no handholding, I gotta show up and git gud every day. Zero room for complacency. Adapt or die mindset is the way to go.
ChatGPT was/is still my best option when it comes to explaining new DeFI/web3 coding jargons. Friends at work who are crypto-native helped alot too.
I familiarized myself to use products that are information-dense, such as Etherscan and complex trading DEX like Hyperliquid (favored by gigachad traders).
What I did was to study and learn from the bests in the field. Uniswap and Aave are my top 2 picks.
Apart from that, I’ve frequently stayed outside of my comfort zone. For instance, I dont code but I would explore Github and its UIUX just for the fun of it. To see how they use components and discovering delightful moments/states, imagining the team’s thought processes before it all goes to prod, for millions to use in their daily workflow.
Back then, I would automatically rush to Dribbble or Mobbin for design inspiration. Now, I practice to rely on them less, and look outwards more. By outwards, look towards IRL.
Inspiration came mostly when I was working out, running outdoors or simply when I’m chilling/lepak with my friends. For abstract stuffs, I look at cool buildings, handcrafts and rave posters lol.
And when I say inspiration, its not just about design techniques (like grainy gradients or fancy UI illustrations). Its more to tackling problems on the First-Principle level. The best designers/builders that i know have this in them by default.
In order for me to get to my First-Principle state, I’d do stuffs that wouldn’t involve my laptop, so that I could be with my thoughts in silence, and deep-think.
Life is more than just tech, crypto and money.
At first, I was really into this space as part of my learning journey (as a Web3 designer). As I adapted and have learned enough, I decided to mentally retreat from all the chaotic pace, and keep enough fire in me to push forward at a sustainable pace.
I made new friends, tried out new stuffs, got back into basketball, polished my cooking skills, refreshed my wardrobe (ongoing still).
I believe that we’ll all live longer, better and more wholesome if we don’t make our work our whole freaking personality.
Till next time, anon.