I started with Photoshop at 14. Banners, websites, logos — I thought that was design. I believed that for years.
Then I started studying business and marketing, and I realized: the design I'd been doing was decoration. Beautiful, but thoughtless. It didn't understand the user. It didn't understand the business.
Pretty isn't enough
I see portfolios where the design is gorgeous. Pixel-perfect layouts, trendy colors, flawless typography. And the client's site doesn't convert. Nobody clicks. Nobody knows what they're supposed to do.
Because the design wasn't made for users — it was made for Dribbble.
I rewrote Phora's landing page three times. Not because it didn't look good. Because it didn't communicate. The first version was perfect from a design standpoint. From a business standpoint, worthless.
One person, three perspectives
Some people are strategists. Some are designers. Some are developers. Usually three different people — and the communication between them is where the product loses its edge.
The strategist says what needs to happen. The designer says how it should look. The developer says what's possible. But nobody sees all three at once.
That's my biggest strength: I understand all three, and I don't need to translate between them. When I design, I'm automatically thinking about implementation. When I develop, I'm automatically thinking about the business goal. No loss.
Design = decision
Design isn't what the button looks like. Design is whether there should be a button. Where it leads. What it says. Why there, why then.
That's not a visual question — it's a business decision, user research, and technical feasibility all at once. If you only understand one of those, you're not designing. You're decorating.
There's always a next level.
If you like what you see — whether you're building a product or a team — I'd love to hear about it.