With most product designers getting started through courses and YT videos, the bar of entry is pretty low.

Only a handful actually got a design degree.

Which is fine. You don’t need it.

But it for sure helps.

As a founder and agency owner, I worked with probably 100+ designers so far. Either with clients, as freelancers, or hiring them for Grauberg.

I soon recognized that it’s always the same 3 things that stood out to me at S-Tier Designers.

So today I want to look at them from the perspective of a founder, and after that give a guide on how to get to S-Tier step by step.

The 3 Ingredients of S-Tier Designers

Quick note: When I say “designer”, I talk mostly about product design.

After working with 100+ designers, the best ones always had 3 key attributes:

1. They have great taste (will explain later)
2. They are great listeners
3. They are great to work with

Taste

To me, taste means to easily produce (or recognize) something beautiful. S-Tier Designers have such a high bar when it comes to design quality that their portfolio just looks amazing, and they never produce cheap-looking designs or mockups.

Where it takes some designers 4-5 design iterations to get to a good state, S-Tier Designers immediately start high and you mainly feedback some details.

A man of great taste to me is Felix Haas, a designer and angel investor who not only produces amazing work but consistently collaborates with startups with beautiful products (Like Amie & Lovable).

Great Listeners

The best designers are great listeners.

→ They ask a lot of questions upfront

→ They try to really understand the problem

→ They listen very objectively, without giving the feeling of “this problem/solution sounds stupid”

The main objective of product designers is to build something useful that’s easy to use.

You need to listen to do this.

To me, the quality of a question is directly related to the quality of the answer. So immediately, better questions lead to better results.

Great to work with

This is a no-brainer. Everyone should be great to work with.

But with designers, a few things stand out:

→ They stick to deadlines.

→ They proactively keep you up to date and let you know about delays or blockers before.

→ They ask for feedback, not just sign-off. Which makes you feel more included in the process.

→ They don’t just show their work, they present it. Which helps you understand even the toughest design decisions easily.

→ They care about developers. And build well-defined handoffs.

Designers who are great to work with enable the whole team to do better and eventually build a beautiful and useful product.

How to Spot S-Tier Designers

I specifically arranged those 3 attributes like this, as you can’t identify all of them from the beginning.

Here’s the process I usually go through when hiring designers or working with them:

1. Recognize Taste BEFORE the work starts

Before you start working with a designer, you need to get a feeling of their capabilities, so you look at their portfolio.

→ Does it consist of projects and designs you are aiming for?

→ Are case studies result-driven?

If you can sort this out first, you are good to go.
Like with Tinder, it’s really just about looks in the beginning.

However, to identify if a designer also comes with the other attributes, you need to look further.

2. Recognize good listeners at the start of work

Again, the best designers ask a lot of high-quality questions before starting their work.

Questions like:

→ Why does this matter? And why now?

→ Do we have any data on that?

→ Can we set a measurable goal (like conversion rate up by 5%) for this?

A red flag for me is:

“You explained everything well, no questions for now”.

It’s impossible that I covered everything in my initial briefing.

A pro tip for founders: Actually set aside time (at least 60min) to brief your designer and answer questions. You want them to get the full picture before getting started.

3. Recognize if they are great to work with during the work

Finally, it’s time to see if they have all the attributes that make great designers: Are they good to work with?

You can start seeing this probably in the first 1-2 weeks in.

• Do they stick to deadlines?
• Do you know what they are working on right now, and what’s next?
• How do they share their work? Just a Figma link or are they actually explaining stuff?
• How often do they ask for feedback? “Let me know your thoughts” is not asking for feedback. “Do you think the way we structured this helps your core user?” is asking for feedback.

Another thing to look out for is how fast they can adapt.

Every designer has their own process, which will be adjusted depending on the team, the project, and the product stage.

To summarize:

1. Recognize if they have taste before work, by looking at their portfolio
2. Recognize if they are great listeners at the start of work, by seeing how many questions they ask
3. Recognize if they are great to work with during the work, by looking at deadlines and how they keep you in the loop

After a few weeks, if you were able to check all 3 boxes, there’s only one thing you need to do:

Pay them more than enough so they actually stick around!

How to go from B-Tier to S-Tier as a designer

Here are a few actionable tips on how you can improve each attribute, so you start getting better work, paid more, and eventually be recognized as a top designer.

Improve Taste

• Get inspired by greatness, with tools like Mobbin and SaaS Landing Page​
• Use UI Kits and Auto Layout in Figma (teaches you how to align stuff and build pixel-perfect interfaces)
• Search taste outside of product design. With furniture, clothing, etc. Great designers usually also have pretty apartments and good style.
• Practice, Practice, Practice. Build a lot, with tools like Fake Clients.

Become a great listener

• Always ask “why this is important”. Why do you want to redesign this, why do you want to build this feature, and so on. This will be the entry point to many follow-up questions as well as sounding smart.
• Don’t suggest solutions in the first meeting, suggest a process to get better results. Instead of saying “yeah we should do this”, say “Once I understand the pain point, I will present 2-3 design explorations that might solve this problem”.

Become easy to work with

• Stick to deadlines
• Really, stick to them.
• Ok, here’s a pro tip: Always add 1-2 days more to an estimate than what you think it will take. Best case: You deliver early and look like a pro. Worst case: You need longer than expected and deliver on time.
• When a fixed deadline is set and you don’t think you can do it on time, say it. And also mention what you can and cannot do in this time. Make it easy for your team to find a solution.
• Don’t send Figma links, use Loom instead. And present designs. Tell them why you made certain decisions, and remind them again why we are doing this. Finally, ask for very specific feedback to keep them in the loop.

Final notes:

Needless to say, it’s more than just “Start doing this and you become a great designer.”

It all comes from practice.

100’s of iterations.

And Failures.

But eventually, you will be good.

With great taste, good listening skills, and easy to work with.

If you think you are already an S-Tier Designer, come join us at Grauberg. Just send us a message with your portfolio to hello@grauberg.co​

If you are a founder looking to turn a vague idea or confusing software into a lovable, useful product, reach out to me directly at nik@grauberg.co​