{"id":20181,"date":"2021-10-14T18:01:07","date_gmt":"2021-10-14T10:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/?p=20181"},"modified":"2023-04-06T19:22:00","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T11:22:00","slug":"professionalism-overload-kill-design-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways Professionalism Overload Hurts Your Design Career"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Being a professional is something that most designers dream of accomplishing. After all, it\u2019s the happy medium between knowing your stuff, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/get-clients-to-pay-your-rate\/\" rel=\"noopener\">getting paid for it<\/a>, and basically winning at life. Or it could just be the start of a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/career-dilemma\/\" rel=\"noopener\">dwindling career<\/a>, perforated repeatedly by false expectations and self-sabotaging mechanisms. But let\u2019s not get ahead of ourselves.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re going to look at some ways an <strong>overabundance of professionalism<\/strong> can actually hurt your ability to do great design. Perhaps at the end of this post, you might think that it isn\u2019t such a bad idea to fend off being a professional just a year or two longer.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ref-block ref-block--post\" id=\"ref-post-1\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/quit-amateur-designer\/\" class=\"ref-block__link\" title=\"Read More: How to Quit Acting Like an Amateur Designer\" rel=\"bookmark\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">How to Quit Acting Like an Amateur Designer<\/span><\/a>\n<div class=\"ref-block__thumbnail img-thumb img-thumb--jumbo\" data-img='{ \"src\" : \"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/thumbs\/250x160\/quit-amateur-designer.jpg\" }'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<noscript>\n<style>.no-js #ref-block-post-18880 .ref-block__thumbnail { background-image: url(\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/thumbs\/250x160\/quit-amateur-designer.jpg\"); }<\/style>\n<\/noscript>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"ref-block__summary\">\n<h4 class=\"ref-title\">How to Quit Acting Like an Amateur Designer<\/h4>\n<p class=\"ref-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tEveryone has at least one designer friend who just gives off an air of unprofessionalism. Perhaps it's even...\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Read more<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>1. You Get Too Stuck In \"Your Ways\"<\/h2>\n<p>Once you become a \u201cprofessional\u201d designer, you stop bending to the whims of trends and fads which is good, but you also begin to <strong>dig your heels in,<\/strong> in order to <strong>have things a certain way<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>You become entrenched in an established, \u201cprofessional\u201d methodology, which can <strong>make you rigid and resistant <\/strong>to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/new-creative-ideas\/\" rel=\"noopener\">new ideas<\/a> that would otherwise improve your designs.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/stubborn-professional.jpg\" alt=\"stubborn-professional\" width=\"800\" height=\"729\"><\/figure>\n<p>Being a professional means pleasing your superiors, whether it\u2019s your boss, your clients, or your users. But that\u2019s not where truly great design lies. Yes, of course your job is always to make your clients and users happy, but <strong>not at the expense of<\/strong> what you know is <strong>the best design solution<\/strong> for them.<\/p>\n<p>Once your \u201cprofessionalism\u201d begins to dictate that you <strong>bend too often to the demands of clients and users<\/strong>, you divert your career immediately to the design by committee sector. What true professional wants to be in that box? Not any I\u2019ve ever met.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ref-block ref-block--post\" id=\"ref-post-2\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/convincing-the-clients\/\" class=\"ref-block__link\" title=\"Read More: Winning Over Your Client: Strategies for Designers in Disagreement\" rel=\"bookmark\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Winning Over Your Client: Strategies for Designers in Disagreement<\/span><\/a>\n<div class=\"ref-block__thumbnail img-thumb img-thumb--jumbo\" data-img='{ \"src\" : \"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/thumbs\/250x160\/convincing-the-clients.jpg\" }'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<noscript>\n<style>.no-js #ref-block-post-17509 .ref-block__thumbnail { background-image: url(\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/thumbs\/250x160\/convincing-the-clients.jpg\"); }<\/style>\n<\/noscript>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"ref-block__summary\">\n<h4 class=\"ref-title\">Winning Over Your Client: Strategies for Designers in Disagreement<\/h4>\n<p class=\"ref-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAs a freelance designer, your primary objective is to satisfy your clients. However, conflicts arise when your client...\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Read more<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>2. You Stop Breaking The Rules<\/h2>\n<p>In order for great designs to be made, <strong>rules have to be broken<\/strong>. It\u2019s practically a law of any creative discipline. No one ever got famous for producing the same old, expected work in a \u201cprofessional\u201d way.<\/p>\n<p>Yet that\u2019s exactly what will expected of you by the majority as you adopt more and more professionalism.<\/p>\n<p>If you find yourself obeying the rules out of habit, it\u2019s time to <strong>step outside your comfort zone<\/strong> once again. Don\u2019t be afraid to break some eggs to make the delicious design omelette you know you\u2019re capable of. Yep \u2013 I just said \u2018design omelette.\u2019 And no, I\u2019m not going to apologize for it.<\/p>\n<p>See there? <strong>Breaking rules is fun!<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"ref-block ref-block--post\" id=\"ref-post-3\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/exploring-design-projects\/\" class=\"ref-block__link\" title=\"Read More: How to Venture Beyond Your Comfort Zone in Design\" rel=\"bookmark\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">How to Venture Beyond Your Comfort Zone in Design<\/span><\/a>\n<div class=\"ref-block__thumbnail img-thumb img-thumb--jumbo\" data-img='{ \"src\" : \"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/thumbs\/250x160\/exploring-design-projects.jpg\" }'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<noscript>\n<style>.no-js #ref-block-post-18898 .ref-block__thumbnail { background-image: url(\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/thumbs\/250x160\/exploring-design-projects.jpg\"); }<\/style>\n<\/noscript>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"ref-block__summary\">\n<h4 class=\"ref-title\">How to Venture Beyond Your Comfort Zone in Design<\/h4>\n<p class=\"ref-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tStep out of your comfort zone and grow as a designer with these practical strategies.\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Read more<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>3. Your Designs Become Predictable<\/h2>\n<p>This one is closely related to the last. Once you start following the rules of design and client expectations like a good little professional, something starts to happen to your work.<\/p>\n<p>People start having an easier time<strong> predicting what you\u2019re going to do next<\/strong>. A \u201cprofessional\u201d designer may think that this is a good thing, but it\u2019s actually career poison. Why?<\/p>\n<p><strong>The same old routine produces the same old designs. <\/strong>Even if they were fresh and exciting in the beginning, eventually, being too much of a professional will stick you on a path towards mediocrity. And no client worth having wants to hire a mediocre designer.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/bad-deisgn-work.jpg\" alt=\"bad-deisgn-work\" width=\"800\" height=\"732\"><\/figure>\n<div class=\"ref-block ref-block--post\" id=\"ref-post-4\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/high-demand-designers\/\" class=\"ref-block__link\" title=\"Read More: How to Become A High-Demand Designer\" rel=\"bookmark\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">How to Become A High-Demand Designer<\/span><\/a>\n<div class=\"ref-block__thumbnail img-thumb img-thumb--jumbo\" data-img='{ \"src\" : \"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/thumbs\/250x160\/high-demand-designers.jpg\" }'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<noscript>\n<style>.no-js #ref-block-post-15021 .ref-block__thumbnail { background-image: url(\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/thumbs\/250x160\/high-demand-designers.jpg\"); }<\/style>\n<\/noscript>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"ref-block__summary\">\n<h4 class=\"ref-title\">How to Become A High-Demand Designer<\/h4>\n<p class=\"ref-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tDiscover the high demand for designers in today's job market. Learn which skills are most sought after and...\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Read more<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Despite what you may think, <strong>quality clients want to be surprised by your creativity and uniqueness<\/strong>. Clients hire you to solve problems for their users, which you won\u2019t be able to do if you\u2019re too busy trying to stick to routine and be \u201cprofessional\u201d all of the time.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the most well known designers were the ones who <strong>broke away from routine and tradition<\/strong>. Follow their lead, not the professionalism-mongers.<\/p>\n<h2>4. You Stop Failing<\/h2>\n<p>This is perhaps the most dangerous consequence of professionalism overload. <strong> When you stop failing, you stop succeeding<\/strong>, because you need the former to achieve the latter. As the old proverb says, the master has failed more times than the novice has even tried.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s true that being a professional will lower your chance of making rookie mistakes. This is great\u2026 until the day that it isn\u2019t. It\u2019s fine until you find yourself in a room full of designers who, despite their lack of your experience and mastery, are getting picked over you for all the best, most interesting creative work. Sure, they may fail more often, but that\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n<p>Even if you consider yourself an expert, <strong>don\u2019t fall into the trap of thinking that you\u2019re somehow above failure.<\/strong> It never ends well for designers.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ref-block ref-block--post\" id=\"ref-post-5\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/fail-to-succeed-billionaires\/\" class=\"ref-block__link\" title=\"Read More: 5 Billionaires\u2019 Failures: The Feedback That Led to Success\" rel=\"bookmark\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">5 Billionaires\u2019 Failures: The Feedback That Led to Success<\/span><\/a>\n<div class=\"ref-block__thumbnail img-thumb img-thumb--jumbo\" data-img='{ \"src\" : \"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/thumbs\/250x160\/fail-to-succeed-billionaires.jpg\" }'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<noscript>\n<style>.no-js #ref-block-post-17812 .ref-block__thumbnail { background-image: url(\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/thumbs\/250x160\/fail-to-succeed-billionaires.jpg\"); }<\/style>\n<\/noscript>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"ref-block__summary\">\n<h4 class=\"ref-title\">5 Billionaires\u2019 Failures: The Feedback That Led to Success<\/h4>\n<p class=\"ref-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tEvery success book, seminar, or life coach out there can tell you that failure is just a stepping...\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Read more<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>5. You Get Left Behind <\/h2>\n<p>All of the above signs of over-professionalism lead up to one, important result: <strong>the swift and brutal death of your career as a designer<\/strong>. If you fall prey to the seductive siren call of \u201cbeing a professional,\u201d you will get passed up by up and coming designers who are less professional but<strong> more innovative<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/fired-by-the-client.jpg\" alt=\"fired-by-the-client\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\"><\/figure>\n<p>Once all of the other <strong>consequences of over-professionalism<\/strong> have come true, this one is, unfortunately, inevitable. Clients will stop calling, users will stop giving glowing reviews of your designs. You will have become the consummate professional: perfect, a master of your craft, worthy of a museum show\u2026 and out of a job.<\/p>\n<h2>What Do You Think?<\/h2>\n<p>How do you think an excess of professional, picture perfect behavior affects a designer\u2019s career? Is there a way to balance an ideal amount of professionalism with a healthy infusion of rebelliousness?<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Being a professional is something that most designers dream of accomplishing. After all, it\u2019s the happy medium between knowing your stuff, getting paid for it, and basically winning at life. Or it could just be the start of a dwindling career, perforated repeatedly by false expectations and self-sabotaging mechanisms. But let\u2019s not get ahead of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3412],"tags":[510],"topic":[4523],"class_list":["entry-content","is-maxi"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.8 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>5 Ways Professionalism Overload Hurts Your Design Career - Hongkiat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Being a professional is something that most designers dream of accomplishing. After all, it&#039;s the happy medium between knowing your stuff, getting paid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Ways Professionalism Overload Hurts Your Design Career\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Being a professional is something that most designers dream of accomplishing. After all, it&#039;s the happy medium between knowing your stuff, getting paid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hongkiat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hongkiatcom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-14T10:01:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-06T11:22:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/stubborn-professional.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Addison Duvall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@hongkiat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@hongkiat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Addison Duvall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Addison Duvall\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ee39080532d48918a80a4e7c76bdbc65\"},\"headline\":\"5 Ways Professionalism Overload Hurts Your Design Career\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-14T10:01:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-06T11:22:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":890,\"commentCount\":4,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/assets.hongkiat.com\\\/uploads\\\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\\\/stubborn-professional.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Web Designers\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Office\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\\\/\",\"name\":\"5 Ways Professionalism Overload Hurts Your Design Career - Hongkiat\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/assets.hongkiat.com\\\/uploads\\\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\\\/stubborn-professional.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-14T10:01:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-06T11:22:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Being a professional is something that most designers dream of accomplishing. After all, it's the happy medium between knowing your stuff, getting paid\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/assets.hongkiat.com\\\/uploads\\\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\\\/stubborn-professional.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/assets.hongkiat.com\\\/uploads\\\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\\\/stubborn-professional.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"5 Ways Professionalism Overload Hurts Your Design Career\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Hongkiat\",\"description\":\"Tech and Design Tips\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Hongkiat.com\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/hkdc-logo-rect-yoast.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/hkdc-logo-rect-yoast.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":799,\"caption\":\"Hongkiat.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/hongkiatcom\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/hongkiat\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pinterest.com\\\/hongkiat\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ee39080532d48918a80a4e7c76bdbc65\",\"name\":\"Addison Duvall\",\"description\":\"Addison is the author of Food Identities, a blog that explores the crossroads of food, design, and culture. She's written some things, designed other things, and eaten a whole lot of food.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/addison_duvall\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 Ways Professionalism Overload Hurts Your Design Career - Hongkiat","description":"Being a professional is something that most designers dream of accomplishing. After all, it's the happy medium between knowing your stuff, getting paid","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"5 Ways Professionalism Overload Hurts Your Design Career","og_description":"Being a professional is something that most designers dream of accomplishing. After all, it's the happy medium between knowing your stuff, getting paid","og_url":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/","og_site_name":"Hongkiat","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hongkiatcom","article_published_time":"2021-10-14T10:01:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-06T11:22:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/stubborn-professional.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Addison Duvall","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@hongkiat","twitter_site":"@hongkiat","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Addison Duvall","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/"},"author":{"name":"Addison Duvall","@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ee39080532d48918a80a4e7c76bdbc65"},"headline":"5 Ways Professionalism Overload Hurts Your Design Career","datePublished":"2021-10-14T10:01:07+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-06T11:22:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/"},"wordCount":890,"commentCount":4,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/stubborn-professional.jpg","keywords":["Web Designers"],"articleSection":["Office"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/","url":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/","name":"5 Ways Professionalism Overload Hurts Your Design Career - Hongkiat","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/stubborn-professional.jpg","datePublished":"2021-10-14T10:01:07+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-06T11:22:00+00:00","description":"Being a professional is something that most designers dream of accomplishing. After all, it's the happy medium between knowing your stuff, getting paid","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/stubborn-professional.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/stubborn-professional.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/professionalism-overload-kill-design-career\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"5 Ways Professionalism Overload Hurts Your Design Career"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/","name":"Hongkiat","description":"Tech and Design Tips","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Hongkiat.com","url":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/hkdc-logo-rect-yoast.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/hkdc-logo-rect-yoast.jpg","width":1200,"height":799,"caption":"Hongkiat.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hongkiatcom","https:\/\/x.com\/hongkiat","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/hongkiat\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ee39080532d48918a80a4e7c76bdbc65","name":"Addison Duvall","description":"Addison is the author of Food Identities, a blog that explores the crossroads of food, design, and culture. She's written some things, designed other things, and eaten a whole lot of food.","url":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/author\/addison_duvall\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4uxU-5fv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20181"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66063,"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20181\/revisions\/66063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20181"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=20181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}