Building a successful portfolio requires storytelling, quality over quantity, and a focus on your target audience. Experts emphasize the importance of presenting work in context, showcasing your personality, and ensuring technical details are correct to make a lasting impression.

The content of the article is corrupted and unreadable, making it impossible to extract any meaningful information or insights about the author's experiences while working at Figma. As a result, no summary can be provided.

The article explores how past experiences and personal journeys shape a designer's career in layout and visual communication. It emphasizes the importance of learning from various challenges and influences that contribute to one's design philosophy and skill set. Additionally, it highlights the interconnectedness of design disciplines and the evolution of a designer's style over time.

Modern design workflows have increasingly stripped the profession of its meaning, reducing it to mere production rather than creative exploration. Designers now find themselves prioritizing compensation over fulfillment, as the industry becomes more automated and controlled, leading to disillusionment with the role. To reclaim the essence of design as a meaningful career, practitioners must engage in small acts of resistance against the systems that limit creativity.

The author reflects on their experiences and thoughts as a designer approaching 40, contemplating both personal growth and the evolution of their profession. As they near their 20th anniversary in the design field, they grapple with feelings of uncertainty about the future and the potential for change in their career.