Quick note from me

In today’s issue, I’m excited to welcome Femke, a designer, manager, and educator you probably know from online design education.

Many of you ask about growing from mid to senior and showing that in your portfolio. Femke shares simple, practical tips on how to make that shift: both in your work and how you present it.

Story outline

• The thing mid-level designers do vs seniors

• Why it matters for your career right now

• How to develop this skill (starting today)

• Your next step

• Guest spotlight

The difference between senior and mid level designers – why it’s more than just your portfolio

You’ve nailed the craft. Your portfolio is strong. You design beautiful, functional products users love, maybe you even mentor juniors.

But when that senior role opens up, someone else gets it. Again.

I’ve been there. After mentoring 500+ designers through this transition, I’ve learned the gap between mid-level and senior isn’t about design skills. It’s about how you think, communicate, and influence, not how you push pixels.

The thing mid-level designers do vs senior

When a project lands, most mid-level designers jump straight into solutions:
“We need a new checkout flow. Let’s simplify it to three steps.”

It makes sense. That mindset got you from junior to mid-level. But in senior rooms, the conversation sounds different:

• Product Manager: “Conversion dropped 5%”

• Mid-level Designer: “I’ll explore new layouts”

• Senior Designer: “Why did it drop? Which users? What changed?”

That’s the difference. Senior designers ask “why” before they ask “how”.
They dig into the problem space, challenge assumptions, and look for root causes before opening Figma. It’s not about being difficult, it’s about being strategic.

When you understand the “why,” you design smarter, speak the language of the business, build conviction in your ideas, and get invited earlier into product decisions.

Most designers were trained to solve, not to question. The shift from mid to senior starts the moment you do.

Why it matters for your career right now

If you're a mid-level designer trying to break into senior roles, this is probably your biggest gap. Not your portfolio. Not your design process. Not your ability to present work.

It's this: Are you influencing product strategy, or just executing it?

Senior roles aren't just about doing bigger projects or managing people. They're about having strategic influence. They're about being a product partner, not a production resource.

And that starts with training yourself to pause before solving.

Step 01

Create a "why" habit

Next time you get a design request, whether it's in Slack, email, or a kickoff meeting, resist the urge to immediately start designing. Instead, ask:

• "What problem are we solving?"

• "Why now? What changed?"

• "What does success look like?"

• "Who is this for, specifically?"

• "What are we optimizing for - speed, revenue, user satisfaction, something else?"

You don't need to be confrontational. You're genuinely curious. You're gathering context so you can design better solutions.

Step 02

Learn to write problem statements

Before starting your next project, try writing a clear problem statement that includes:

• Who is experiencing the problem

• What the problem is (not the solution)

• Why it matters (business and user impact)

• Evidence that supports this is actually a problem

This forces you to think like a product strategist. And bonus: it's a great artifact to include in your case studies to show strategic thinking.

Step 03

Study how product managers think

You don't need to become a PM, but understanding their world changes everything. Learn about:

• How product decisions get prioritized

• What metrics and KPIs they're measured on

• How they build conviction for their ideas

• The frameworks they use (jobs-to-be-done, opportunity sizing, etc.)

When you speak their language, you become a partner instead of a service provider.

Step 04

Get comfortable with ambiguity

Senior designers sit in uncertainty longer. They don't rush to the comfort of wireframes and mockups. They spend time in research, in discovery, in uncomfortable conversations about strategy.

Practice staying in the problem space longer before moving to solutions. It will feel weird at first. That's how you know you're growing.

Step 05

Practice building conviction

It's not enough to ask good questions. You need to develop strong points of view about what problems are worth solving and why. This comes from:

• Deep understanding of your users

• Understanding business goals and metrics

• Studying what works (and doesn't) in your industry

• Having a clear design vision

When you can articulate WHY something matters, stakeholders listen.

Your next step

The shift happens when you start asking “why” before “how”. You stop waiting for briefs and start shaping strategy yourself. That’s when you gain influence, autonomy, and impact.

Your craft is the foundation, but to move from mid to senior, you need to think like a product leader.

If you want to learn how, check out Product Strategy for Designers by Femke.
It’s a practical guide to turning strong design skills into strategic influence, with insights from leaders at Google, Shopify, and Stripe.

⭐️ Guest spotlight

Femke is a product designer, design manager, and educator

She has mentored over 500 designers through the transition from mid-level to senior roles. She teaches the online course Product Strategy for Designers and runs Level Up Club, a community of 400+ designers building strategic influence. You can find her at femke.design and subscribe to her newsletter here.

→ Check Product Strategy for Designers course

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