👑 I made my best design ever in 124 minutes · The Bunker #40

Hi friend!

Today, while I was taking a shower, I thought, this weekend I made €1,000 in 124 minutes.

That's almost what I earn in my 9-5 job.

It's crazy.

When I was finishing the design, I sent a message to my client and said, "I think I just made my best design."

It's a bit dangerous because you're setting expectations too high, and then when they see the design, it might not be as impressive to them.

It's better to underpromise and overdeliver.

Knowing that you've created your best design, still say, "Well, I'm happy with my work, here it is."

If you say, "It's the best design I've ever made, it's incredible, I'm so happy," maybe it won't be as impressive to them. You're setting very high expectations for something that may not be that extraordinary.

But yes, let's get back on topic.

This weekend has been completely insane.

• €1,000 in just 124 minutes.
• I designed my best project (and it wasn't even for myself).

(Some of the WIP images)

https://twitter.com/espinosa_ux/status/1665432739628171264

So, keeping this in mind, my mission here is to help you grow your professional careers while finding fulfillment and happiness.

There's nothing more satisfying than creating a design quickly, doing a good job, and getting paid almost as much as you earn in your salary.

Well, all of this is great, but how do you do it? It's actually not very complicated, but I'll try to help you:

The first thing you need to understand is that things don't always turn out as you expect.

This design took me 120 minutes (more or less), but honestly, I thought it would take me the whole afternoon. But you start working on it, and things start coming together.

What I want you to understand is that you won't always have control over how long things take.

I don't want you to get frustrated if it takes you three days to create something that might have taken you 30 minutes another time. These things happen. They happen to all of us. That's just how it works.

I've had times when I took a week to create something, and now I've had situations where, for some reason, I've been forced to create a design in two hours. And that design in two hours is a thousand times better than the design I worked on for a week.

The point here is: Are you happy with the result? Yes? Then it doesn't matter if it took you a week or three days.

The reason I was able to create my best design in such a short time is due to several factors:

• 🛏 Proper rest: I'm one of those people who sleep only 4-6 hours. It's terrible, I know, and I'm working on it. But it's true that on that particular day, I slept almost 8 hours, woke up at 9:00 a.m., and started being productive right away.
• 🍔 Not eating too much: Personally, eating too much makes my body feel heavy, and if my body feels heavy, my mind gets tired, and I can't think clearly.
• ⏰ It wasn't really 120 minutes: it was weeks. The fact that I was able to create a design in 120 minutes is the result of spending every day saving 200-300 pins on Pinterest. This increases the resources I have available and gives me more materials to work with.

Designing this project didn't rely on my creativity alone. It depended on the number of resources I had and the hours I spent saving, analyzing, and storing them in my repository so that when I needed them, they were readily available.

I can't create something new just by staring at a blank Figma canvas. I need inputs, feedback, inspiration, something to work with.

So, I turn to Pinterest and start reviewing all the resources I've saved. I create two mood boards, one for the layout I'll use and another for the UI definition I want to achieve.

Starting: In both my personal projects and at Goin, I always try to have something to start with, a starting point. In other words, the design I start with and the design I end up with often have nothing in common.

Let me try to explain this so it's clear.

It's important to have something on your canvas.

It's easier to have something and iterate on it.

Rather than having nothing and constantly deleting things, saying, "It's not enough."

Create a first version, even if it's messy. Even if it's not great, try to have something tangible. By having something tangible, you have a foundation to work on and improve. It's those refinements that make a good design.

This design doesn't come out of nowhere; it comes from creating something utterly rubbish and then fixing it.

So, don't worry about not having something amazing right from the start. Instead, focus on having something, and then make it great when you start iterating. Do you understand?

Many people will tell you, "Well, to create designs like these, you need experience." Thank you very much, but you're mistaken.

You're telling me that if I don't spend five years doing something, I won't be able to do it.

Thank you very much, but you're not being helpful at all.

Don't pay attention to those people, honestly. While experience is important, there are other more important things, and above all, tangible things that you can put into practice RIGHT NOW. For example:

Your designs will be as good as the quality of your references. Remember this.

Try not to save everything you come across; try to save only what you love.

Also, keep in mind that the better your references are, the better recommendations the algorithm will give you. So...

Over time, you'll see that the algorithm only shows you incredible things.

And this is a great way to dramatically improve your designs. Train your algorithm, and train yourself.

In conclusion, to wrap this up:

1. Just because I created a design in 120 minutes doesn't mean it took me only 120 minutes. Those 120 minutes were pure execution, but there's a lot of research and saving references throughout the day that is not being taken into account.
2. The time it takes doesn't determine the quality of the result. Take your time.
3. What works for some doesn't work for others. It took me nine years to find the approach that suits me best.
4. I know when to work.
5. I know how to work.
6. I know how to create mood boards that work for me.
7. I know what type of music works and doesn't distract me, etc.
8. Find your system. Develop your own plan.
9. Not every day is the same.
10. Some days, I can create something cool in 30 minutes while watching a TV series.
11. And there will be days when I can't create something cool even in two weeks. Relax, this will always happen. The sooner you understand this, the more you'll take those moments with philosophy instead of anxiety.

Take it easy and enjoy; that's what it's all about.

Until next time,

Cheers, Jordi Espinosa.