Seek to master not just your tools but also your techniques. Understanding and refining your design process is critical, and the way you work will determine the work you produce. I call this your “playbook,” the guide to your design process. Each technique is a “play,” a set of instructions to follow.
The playbook can exist purely in your head, or be as formal as you like. My playbook is a series of notes and sketches on an iPad, using Evernote and Paper. Some are simple aphorisms — “Work from light to dark,” “Remove one element” — to make me think about the way I work, a kind of personal set of Oblique Strategies, but used less to break a creative block than to reinforce a working method I trust.
Other “plays” are more practical guides, such as step-by-step instructions on how to set up event listeners, or how to optimize images, or how to change copy on a live website. Developing conscious design patterns is the key to understanding the way you work, whether in visual design, interaction design or programming.
Formalizing your creative processes, tools and techniques is a critical step in becoming a better designer or developer. Just as football teams practice their plays, practice your techniques on self-set work, ready to be deployed in client work once you have mastered them.
The playbook is also the place to refine your workflows. How do you get from a paper sketch to a working website? How do you wireframe your code? Analyzing your process is all part of the playbook.
In addition to refining your playbook, you will also need to update it and evolve it gradually over time, adding some elements while removing others. Obviously, the world of Web design is changing rapidly, both aesthetically and technically, so make sure to update your playbook, too. And by using elements you know and trust, you are still bringing your own style, rather than slavishly following fashion.
source: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2013/07/building-portable-design-toolkit/