After 10+ years building websites, I’ve realised half of becoming a better designer is simply stopping things that looked clever at the time.

A few things I quietly retired:

## 1. Designing websites only for other designers

Turns out normal people don’t care about your ultra-minimal navigation concept inspired by a Scandinavian furniture catalogue.

They just want to find the contact button.

## 2. Adding animations to everything

Not every section needs to fly in from the left like it’s auditioning for Britain’s Got Talent.

Sometimes static is fine. Peaceful, even.

## 3. Chasing every new trend

Every year the internet reinvents the same 4 design styles and gives them a new name.

Meanwhile, good spacing and readable text continue to do most of the heavy lifting.

## 4. Ignoring performance

A beautiful website that loads like it’s being delivered by carrier pigeon is still a bad website.

## 5. Trying to impress everyone

The best projects usually happen when you stop designing for imaginary LinkedIn influencers and start designing for actual users.

Still learning every day, but these changes genuinely made my work better.

What’s something you’ve stopped doing in your own workflow?