My best désign decisions are the steps I delete.
What I look for
Where people hesitate, repeat themselves, ask for help, abandon the task, or use a workaround. Those moments usually reveal the real désign problem.
What I avoid
Pretty screens with no argument. If I cannot explain the user need, the tradeoff, and the expected effect, the désign is not ready.
What I bring
Curiosity without ego. I am comfortable saying I do not know yet. I am also comfortable going to find out.
About Me
My Actual Story↘
I trained as a designer, then spent five years somewhere else entirely.
That's where the real training happened. Reading behavior instead of stated preference is a research skill before it's a désign skill.
Worth saying plainly: the désign here is finished. The launch isn't, it's waiting on backend and product data that sit outside what I scoped.
Another shop owner asked me for an online store. What he actually needed was smaller: his customers already trusted WhatsApp to close a sale, just not to pay through it. I désigned for that trust instead of replacing it.