I believe there are three parts a designer needs to make a name for his or herself. These are realism, functionalism, and non-conformism.
A realist?
So you probably wonder what a realist even is. I’d define it as someone who realizes things can go wrong, and probably will. In other words, they live their lives by Murphy’s Law. This is a good thing because when problems occur, it is easier to deal with them if you already know they are going to happen. This applies to everyday parts of life, and especially to the design world.
How it applies to design.
Realism applies to design, in the form of deadlines. Everyone hates them; well, at least I do. I used to often find myself scrambling at the last minute to finish things because I thought they would take an hour, and they ended up taking five. (Usually the problem doesn’t take that much extra time, but I was very out of practice with my javascript.) So anyways, as far as time management on projects, it is good to look at everything that can go wrong (because it will) before establishing a deadline with your client, audience, etc.
A functionalist
A functionalist is a person who puts the usability of a website, interface, etc. in a higher place of importance than the design itself. Think about it this way; what is the point of design if it isn’t conveying a message or main point?
How it applies to design
I just clarified how it applies to design, but not how to go about successfully achieving functionalism in your design. Honestly, there are no set guidelines. Often a good approach is through minimalism. If the design isn’t cluttered, it tends to emphasized the content (aka the message). But if the world was full of minimalist design, I won’t lie, it’d get boring. So if you want to go for a different approach, you have to focus on eye movement and eye attraction. For example, to emphasized something maybe make it a lighter color, and everything around it a darker shade. It’s up to you.
A non-conformist
A non-conformist is a person who doesn’t give into trends. They tend to think more for themselves, and to have more creative personalities.
How it applies to design
It may seem as though everyone follows the same trends in design (right now this “trend” is labeled as web 2.0). In all actuality, the big name designers are not falling for this trend. They manage to keep an open mind about their design. If you want some examples of these types of designs, check out these two sites: designer whore and newWebPick. As you can see, you don’t need to give into trends to be a good designer.