Articulation: An underrated skill in a designer

Image from Pexels

I’ve been designing for a while now — long enough to have strong opinions about kerning and long enough to regret some of them. If there’s one skill I wish someone had drilled into me earlier, it’s not Figma shortcuts, not even “design thinking” (whatever that means this week), but articulation.

Not just speaking well. I mean the ability to explain what you’re thinking, why you made a decision, and sometimes more importantly, why you didn’t choose something that looks obviously better to others at first glance.

And honestly, most designers underestimate it. I did too.

The silent killer of good design: unspoken reasoning

Early in my career, I remember presenting a redesign of a checkout flow. I was proud. Clean, minimal, fewer steps. I had shaved off friction like I was Dieter Rams reincarnated (or at least I thought so at the time).

I showed it to the PM and the engineer lead.

They stared at it.

Then came the classic: “Hmm… but users are used to the old flow.”

I replied something like: “Yeah but this is more modern and intuitive.”

That was it. That was my argument. “Modern and intuitive.” Very scientific. :P

We shipped a watered-down version of my design. It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t what I believed in. And I walked away thinking they “just didn’t get it.”

But the truth was: I didn’t explain it well enough for them to get it.

Great designers don’t just design — they translate

There’s a story (probably slightly exaggerated over time) about Dieter Rams at Braun. When challenged about simplicity in his product designs, he didn’t say “it looks better” or “it feels right.” He talked about reduction of cognitive load, about longevity, about respect for the user’s attention.

Even if you strip away the mythology, the point stands: his strength wasn’t only in designing objects, but in making others understand the logic behind them.

That’s articulation.

Not decoration. Not persuasion tricks. Just clarity of thought, spoken out loud.

Image from pexel

When articulation is missing, design becomes taste battles

I’ve seen this pattern repeat in teams:

• Designer presents work
• Stakeholders respond with gut reactions
• Debate shifts into “I like / I don’t like”
• Decisions get made by hierarchy or loudest voice

No one is actually talking about intent.

And intent is everything. Without it, design critique becomes a weird aesthetic popularity contest.

Articulation is what pulls the conversation back into reality.

The awkward truth: being talented is not enough

There was a senior designer I worked with years ago. Brilliant eye. Could spot spacing issues from across the room like a hawk. But in critiques, he struggled to explain his decisions. He’d often say things like “it just feels better this way.”

People stopped challenging him — but also stopped learning from him.

And eventually, he stopped influencing decisions.

That stuck with me.

Because influence in design isn’t just about being right. It’s about being understood.

Articulation is not presentation polish

A common misunderstanding is that articulation means “good presenting skills.” Like smooth slides, confident voice, maybe a well-rehearsed narrative.

No.

Some of the best articulation I’ve seen happens in messy FigJam boards, half-written Slack messages, or during a pause in a critique where someone says:

“Wait… let me try to explain what I’m actually trying to solve here.”

That sentence alone can change the direction of a project.

Why designers avoid it (including me sometimes)

Because articulation is uncomfortable.

It exposes gaps in thinking. If you can’t explain your design, maybe you’re not done thinking. That’s a hard mirror to look into when you’ve already spent 6 hours nudging pixels.

It’s easier to defend visually than verbally.

Also, sometimes we assume: “If the design is good, it should speak for itself.”

It doesn’t. It really doesn’t.

A small framework I’ve started using (imperfectly)

When I try to articulate design decisions now, I loosely follow this:

• What problem am I solving?
• What did I consider and reject?
• What trade-offs did I make?
• What behavior do I expect from users?

I don’t always say it perfectly. Sometimes I forget halfway and circle back like “wait, I lost my point.” That’s fine. Clarity is iterative too.

The shift that changes careers

The moment I noticed real growth wasn’t when my designs got prettier. It was when people started saying:

“Oh, I see why you did that.”

Not “I agree.” Not “I like it.”

Just: I understand it.

That’s articulation doing its job.

And once that starts happening, your role quietly shifts. You’re no longer just producing screens — you’re shaping decisions.

Final thought

If I could go back and give younger-me one advice (he wouldn’t listen, but still), it would be:

Learn to explain your thinking as carefully as you design your UI. Because pixels can be copied. Taste can be debated. But clear thinking, well articulated, tends to stay with people long after the Figma file is closed.

And yes, you’ll still occasionally say something dumb like “it feels more modern.”

We all did. We all are doing. We will do