Friction

Sometimes, the hardest part of moving forward is the resistance you didn’t see coming. This week has been a masterclass in the “three steps forward, two steps back” reality of professional design. Between the weight of my academic load and the mounting requirements of the internships, the pressure reached a boiling point. I had to do something that felt counterintuitive, given my deadlines: I had to step away.

I took a few days off from everything – school, work, and the screen. While the “time pressure” feels even more intense now that I’m back, I know the mental rest was a necessity, not a luxury. You can’t design with a burnt-out brain, especially when the projects require as much patience as they do right now.

The biggest source of friction this week has been the feedback from Big Brothers Big Sisters. After sending over the redesign link – a milestone I was proud of – I received five more pages of revisions. The frustration isn’t just the volume; it’s the direction. Several of these requests are doubling back on previous changes. I’m being asked to undo specific designs that were requested weeks ago, only to find that “that’s not what they want either” now that they see it live. Some revisions are not possible due to Squarespace’s constraints. The project is back to very slow progress as I go through each request line by line, and there are still other pages that have not been started.

In the world of client work, this is the “nth degree” of frustration. It’s a reminder that design is often a moving target, and managing stakeholder expectations is just as much of a job as the design itself. I’m back in Squarespace, grinding through the list, trying to find the middle ground between their shifting vision and a functional UI.

While BBBS is high-intensity friction, my other projects are in a state of “static friction.”

• West Bend Schools: I’ve cleared the hurdles – pre-employment testing and background checks are complete. I’m waiting for HR to move forward so I can start the navigation overhaul and the move to the new CMS.
• Farmer Dan: We are in a holding pattern. The structure is there, the product list is started, but I’m waiting for the final pieces to snap into place. Honestly, with BBBS requiring so much time, I am thankful for the holding pattern here!

The friction is real – whether it’s from shifting client demands or the silence of an HR inbox. But the break I took gave me the clarity to realize that this is just part of the process. Take a breath and take the first step.

I’m leaning into the “grind” once more, moving through the five pages of BBBS changes one line at a time, and preparing for the surge of work that will come the moment West Bend Schools give me the green light.

The momentum might have slowed, but the goal hasn’t changed.