Maturity in design is hyper distillation of objective value paired with skillful execution.
I was catching up with an old coworker the other day and somehow we stumbled into discussing the creation of mental models from highly technical products in order to inform design. Mentally toiling away with technical accuracy, capability, interaction and hierarchy and actually doing very little pixel pushing.
Honestly it wasn't always that way. I remember first coming out of school very green as a designer wondering how I'd level up technical skills and didn't really care much about the business goals. I loved getting handed well crafted creative briefs outlining the "why" and jumping at the chance to hone execution skills.
Maybe it's the years of working in tech startups, but I've noticed my focus has moved deeper into strategy. The stripped down "why". I find myself wrestling with complexity distillation more and more, like trying to pull 2 extension cords to connect but they're in a rat's nest, tangled under a pile of junk in the garage. How to captivate a persona the way I'm captivated by high art. How to lead them using their existing knowledge as breadcrumbs to their prize AHA moment. It's almost like one end of that extension cord is the entire body of incredible design work I've ever witnessed with my eyes, which informs me of design's possibility and on the other end is the most clearly distilled essence of that persona's buying interest and journey.
I keep pursuing that ephemeral moment where the two ends connect and electricity flows to the market lights glowing up the backyard.
The best designs absorb the essence of why and spit out a masterfully simple answer. They abstract away complexity. They distill toward absolute purity connecting the cords together. And then, they invite you to sit out in the backyard under those market lights enjoying the hard work while that electricity flows freely, fueling a much needed restful moment before taking on the next mental model struggle.