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Should You Be a Specialist or a Generalist?
A question I often get from younger designers is, "Does it make more sense to be a specialist or a generalist?" When you’re a product designer, there’s a vast array of skills you can cultivate—research, user experience (UX), user interface (UI) design, user testing, web design, branding, and even dipping into marketing and graphic design. With so many areas to explore, deciding whether to focus on one skill or cultivate a broad base can be challenging. Here’s my perspective on why I lean toward what I’d call a “specialized generalist” approach.
The Benefits of a Holistic Skill Set
I don't believe specialization and generalization are mutually exclusive. Even if you focus deeply on one area, you’ll benefit from being inspired by other disciplines and building additional skills that support your main expertise. I visualize this as a continuum where skills branch out like limbs of a tree, supporting and reinforcing each other.
Understanding the Work Around Your Work
Learning about the work around your area of expertise has distinct advantages:
Enhanced Job Security: More skills mean more ways to add value, which translates to better job security.
Increased Client Appeal: Especially as a freelancer, having a varied skill set allows me to work with a broader range of clients and integrate into diverse projects.
Improved Collaboration: Even surface-level knowledge of fields like marketing, product strategy, or front-end development enhances collaboration. Knowing another field’s jargon and processes makes it easier for colleagues to work with you, which they’ll appreciate.
Empathy and Perspective: Understanding other roles helps you empathize with their perspectives and challenges, making teamwork smoother.
For instance, if you understand some basics of front-end development, you’ll have an easier time preparing designs for developers. You'll anticipate their needs, provide the right context, and avoid miscommunication that could slow down production.
Building My Own Generalist Background
I came to design through a background in art and graphic design, and went on to learn web design, branding, UX, and service design. This foundation, while broad, taught me the skill of tackling new things I wasn’t immediately good at. That willingness to dive into unfamiliar territory helped me build resilience and curiosity—two qualities that have proven invaluable as I’ve grown in my career.
The Value of Learning New Skills
No matter how specialized you become, you’ll constantly encounter new tools, processes, and methods. For example, the current rise of AI in design is a challenge that requires many of us to learn new skills. Designers who are comfortable with learning something new will have an edge, especially in quickly adapting to emerging technologies.
Flexibility to Niche Down
In my first role out of school, I was the go-to person for icons, illustrations, and motion design—not because I was the best in the world at those things, but because I was a product designer who also had those skills. That mix of skills made me uniquely valuable to the team, and it’s a pattern that’s followed me into my freelance work.
How a Specialized Generalist Fits in Startups
Startups with limited budgets and lean teams benefit enormously from hiring versatile designers. For them, every additional skill I bring is value they don’t have to find (or fund) elsewhere. My ability to contribute to product management, branding, copywriting, and front-end development offers clients flexibility without adding headcount.
Supporting and Empowering Teams
This approach also empowers the whole team. For example, I can assist with product management by running user story mapping exercises or writing technical documentation, which frees up other team members to focus on their core responsibilities. This flexibility keeps projects moving smoothly without the need for hiring additional roles for niche tasks.
Embracing Both Depth and Breadth
As a specialized generalist, I can adapt my approach depending on the project needs. If a project requires me to zoom in on UX design, I can focus deeply on that. For more comprehensive projects—especially those starting from scratch—I can guide the client from strategy through design to handoff, delivering end-to-end support.
Primary vs. Supporting Skills
I think of my skills as falling into three tiers:
Primary Skills: These are the core skills that define my main offering, like UX and usability design.
Supporting Skills: These include product management, front-end development, and branding. They’re not the primary focus, but they elevate my work and support my core skills.
Tertiary Skills: These are skills I’m aware of but not proficient in—such as running a business or understanding cap tables. Having a high-level awareness makes me a better collaborator, even if I’m not directly applying these skills.
Avoiding the “Master of None” Trap
Being a generalist doesn’t mean being average at everything. You want enough depth in each skill to support your primary focus. For instance, if you’re strong in design but can’t prepare handoffs for developers, that lack of complementary skills could hold you back. Even a small amount of knowledge in these areas can make a significant difference, allowing you to support your main expertise more effectively.
Why Generalist Skills Add Essential “Icing on the Cake”
A strong, well-rounded skill set is like the icing on a cake—it’s the finishing touch that takes something good to the next level. This extra layer of capability:
Improves communication and collaboration across teams.
Strengthens your ability to adapt to constraints from other departments.
Enhances the quality of your work and allows you to work with a wider range of clients.
A “cake” without icing just isn’t complete; these additional skills are what make the work as a designer richer and more satisfying. Ultimately, being a specialized generalist makes you more resilient, valuable, and adaptable, no matter the industry or company size.
FAQs
1. Is it better to be a specialist or a generalist in design?
It depends on your goals. Specialists have deep expertise in one area, while generalists bring a broad range of skills. A specialized generalist balances both, focusing deeply on one area while developing supplementary skills to support it.
2. What are the benefits of being a generalist in design?
Being a generalist enhances job security, collaboration, and adaptability. You gain a better understanding of related fields, which improves communication with colleagues and opens more job opportunities, especially in dynamic environments like startups.
3. How can generalist skills improve collaboration?
With knowledge of related fields, you’ll be able to communicate more effectively, empathize with colleagues, and reduce the learning curve for collaborative projects. It makes you easier to work with and often saves time by avoiding miscommunications.
4. Do generalists sacrifice quality in their work?
No, being a generalist doesn’t mean sacrificing depth. The goal is to have strong primary skills supported by a foundational understanding of related areas. This balance makes your work more impactful and adaptable.
5. How can I start building generalist skills without losing focus?
Start by learning about areas that complement your primary skill set. Read a book or take a course in a related area—like marketing, product management, or front-end development. Even a basic understanding will make you a stronger designer without detracting from your main expertise.