Invision Inner Critic — Chris Cenkner

Problem

Invision was having a design event in Atlanta in March 2019, and they reached out to a few folks that are a part of their global Design Leadership team to speak on a panel. The topic: How to deal with your inner critic, self-doubt, and impostor syndrome. They also asked us to prepare a short presentation using their new software, Invision Studio.

Goal

Create a short animation in a new piece of software, and be prepared to bare my soul in front of a room full of designers!!

Process

I’m not going to lie, this was tough. What would I be comfortable sharing? How true could I be to myself and not lose it in front of a crowd? How could I tell my story in a way that was relatable to others?

I started sketching and devised a rough through-line for my story.

I thought about what questions typically run through my head whenever I create something - “Am I missing anything?”, “Are things in the right order?”, etc. That’s when doubt and the Inner Critic starts to surface. How to beat the critic (and the potential negative feedback from others)? Get your ideas out, and test your concept with others. Trust the process, and know that things will change and evolve in a positive way. In the end, it will all work out.

To create the animation, I was really inspired by Chris Markland’s animations for the meditation app Headspace. The simple color palette helped create a soothing sense of calm, exactly the same feelings I wanted to impart.

It was challenging to put this together using new software in such a short amount of time, but my animation did an admirable job in setting up the panel conversation.

Results / Next Steps

🗣 Learning from criticism is important (3/5)@ccenkner: “Listen to your critics. They may know something you don’t. Have a real conversation, you aren’t expected to know everything.” pic.twitter.com/xUcci5R3DM
— InVision (@InVisionApp) March 14, 2019

It went great! The attendees were mostly young, twenty-something designers, and they felt reassured that they weren’t the only ones that feel this way. In addition to speaking with my colleagues on the panel, I answered questions from the crowd, and had some great conversations with folks after the panel portion ended. It has led me to do more mentoring. I’ve talked with a few designers that have reached out to me through LinkedIn, and I’m working with UXPA to be a mentor to a few more in the coming weeks.