We are living in a time of great uncertainty. Lately, I’ve been feeling the weight of this heavily — both professionally and personally.
When I get overwhelmed, I find myself stuck in a loop of asking more and more questions and clinging to the answers. I start obsessing over data, wanting every decision in my design process or my career to make perfect sense and to add up.
Sometimes, it just feels so hard to find your mark when the mark keeps moving — when jobs feel fragile, industries are constantly shifting, economies are in flux and users are fickle. What was true last year feels shaky at best today. As designers, I think we feel this especially deeply. We want to know where we stand, who we are in this space, and whether we’re building something that matters.
We spend much of our days trying to get to solid ground. We make plans, set goals, chase clarity — as if certainty will save us. But life, in its most honest form, doesn’t promise stability. It promises movement, change, flux instead.
As UX designers, we’re trained to seek clarity. We want to know our users. We run surveys, interviews, usability tests — all to reduce the fog of uncertainty. We want answers. We want confidence. We want to be sure we’re building the right thing.
But here’s the truth: we will never fully know.
User experience design is, by nature, a practice of listening in the dark. Our users are constantly changing. Their needs shift with context, environment, and emotion. What worked yesterday might not land tomorrow. And that’s not a failure — that’s the nature of creating for humans. Uncertainty doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. It means you’re in it. You’re paying attention. You’re making space for real insight, not just surface solutions.
This is why I always come back to mindfulness. Mindfulness teaches us to meet what is, how it is, without trying to force it into what we want it to be. That applies to design, too.
I believe in designing opinionated software and solutions. This may be a privilege granted to me after nearly 2 decades of being wrong and solving a lot of problems through design, but I think it’s important to start with action and a point of view. Each step I take thereafter is in the service of proving myself wrong. But it’s hard, it’s tough on the ego and sometimes on my spirit. 😔
There have been many times that what I felt so sure would help our users ended up doing the exact opposite — creating more friction for them and more problems for us (Have mercy on my developers’ souls). But mindfulness always reminds me that doing with intention and watching with discernment is always better than freezing with overthinking and reacting with judgment.
When we cling to certainty — when we insist on having all the answers before we begin — we close ourselves off to what might emerge from the beauty of uncertainty.
Real insight, real creativity, comes from learning to stay open. To ask instead of assume. To test without attachment. To sit with not knowing and trust that the next step will reveal itself in time.
When we design from that place — of curiosity instead of control — we’re not just building better products. We’re becoming more grounded, more flexible, and more human in our process.
Uncertainty is not a flaw in the system. It’s the natural state of the system.
We’re taught to think of uncertainty as a problem to solve, something to eliminate before we can move forward. But what if it’s not a problem? What if it’s the default state of the design process — and of life itself?
Design exists because the world is uncertain. If users were predictable, if problems stayed the same, if solutions worked forever — we wouldn’t need designers at all.
Uncertainty gives us something to respond to. It’s the reason we test, iterate, and evolve. It’s what keeps our work honest and human.
When you start to see uncertainty not as an obstacle, but as part of the creative structure you’re working in, you stop fighting it — and start working with it.
You start asking better questions. You stop judging yourself for not knowing. You become more adaptable. More resilient. More present.
What if uncertainty isn’t an obstacle but the reason we design?
Harnessing Uncertainty in our Design Process
The system (whether we’re talking about human behavior, product ecosystems, career paths, or creative processes) is dynamic, not static. That means it’s constantly shifting in response to internal and external factors.
1. Human behavior can be unpredictable
People change. Their needs, motivations, environments, and emotional states evolve. What users say they want and what they actually do are often different. That’s not a flaw in research or design — it’s a reflection of how complex human beings are.
→ How we can use this:
Use unpredictability as a reason to observe more, ask more, test more. Instead of aiming to “know everything” up front, approach your work like a conversation — open-ended, ongoing, and flexible. Lean into methods like usability testing, interviews, and A/B testing not just to confirm, but to discover. Surprises are where insight lives.
2. The design process is iterative by nature
Design thinking is built on testing, learning, and adjusting. If we had certainty from the start, we wouldn’t need prototyping or feedback loops. We’d just build once and be done. But real-world design requires living with ambiguity, because clarity emerges through the process, not before it.
→ How we can use this:
Let go of the pressure to get it perfect the first time. Use low-fidelity prototypes and sketches to explore ideas without overcommitting. Treat each round of feedback not as a critique of your ability, but as fuel for refinement. The messiness is momentum.
3. Technology and context are always shifting
New tools, trends, and disruptions constantly reshape what’s possible or expected. The “right” design today might be irrelevant six months from now. You can’t fully predict that, and you’re not supposed to. Uncertainty forces us to stay adaptive.
→ How we can use this:
Stay curious, not reactive. You don’t have to chase every new tool or trend, but you can build a habit of continuous learning. Pay attention to why something is catching on, not just what it is. Flexibility becomes a superpower when you can quickly absorb change without being thrown off course.
4. Careers and identity aren’t fixed
Especially for students or new designers, the path isn’t linear. You don’t go from A to B in a straight line. You learn, you pivot, you question. That messiness is the system working — not failing. The exploration is the work.
→ How we can use this:
Use uncertainty as permission to explore. Try different types of projects, clients, and roles. You don’t need to pick your “forever path” right now. Instead, notice what excites you, what drains you, and what patterns keep showing up. Your evolving identity as a designer is data, not a flaw.
5. Biology and nature work the same way
Even in systems biology or physics, equilibrium is rare. Growth, change, and emergence come from instability, not order. Creative ecosystems thrive when they’re open, not closed.
→ How we can use this:
Just as muscles grow by being stressed and repaired, creative growth comes from working through tension — not avoiding it. The ambiguity you feel when things are unclear isn’t a sign you’re failing; it’s a sign you’re being stretched. That pressure builds your ability to think flexibly, adapt quickly, and stay grounded when things don’t go to plan. Growth doesn’t happen in perfect conditions — it happens when you keep showing up anyway.
Working with Your Own Uncertainty as a Designer
- You don’t need to know it all to get started. The sooner you begin, the sooner you’ll gain clarity. Action creates clarity — not the other way around.
- Document what you’re unsure about. Write it down. Make a list. Let uncertainty be visible. This is how real problem-solving begins — not with answers, but with honest questions.
- Treat every project as an experiment. Not a test of your worth or skill. Experiments are allowed to fail. Their purpose is to teach you something.
- Reframe rejection and confusion as data. Didn’t get the internship? Got confused during a case study? That’s information. Not failure. Collect it. Reflect on it. Use it to adjust your next step.
- Highlight the uncertainty — Don’t keep it in the dark, share it, bring it to light, point it out. In your case studies, in your interviews. Make your ability to work with it and use it as fuel be your superpower.
- Focus on your ability to learn, not just to know. You won’t always have the right answers — but your ability to learn in real time is what makes you valuable.
- Build emotional tolerance for not knowing. It’s a skill. And the more you practice it, the less power uncertainty has over you. Mindfulness can really help with that.
Thoughts to Reflect On:
What if not knowing is where the real design begins?
What becomes possible when I loosen my grip on control?
Can I design from a place of presence, instead of pressure?
Reframing uncertainty:
Instead of asking “How do I eliminate uncertainty?”, the more useful question is:
“How can I learn to work skillfully with it?”
When you stop treating uncertainty as a signal that something’s wrong, and start seeing it as a sign that you’re engaged in something real, alive, and unfolding, the pressure shifts.
You’re in the process. You are a designer.
I teach a course on end-to-end product design with a mindful approach. I also have a YouTube channel about product (UX/UI) design and write about designing products more mindfully on Medium.