What TikTok creators can teach designers about showcasing their work

TikTok creators spend their time competing for attention in tight formats, constantly testing what resonates and learning how to tell stories quickly and clearly. What could designers learn from that approach to self-presentation? A few TikTok creators who are also professional designers share insights into how creating for the platform has influenced their professional thinking.

Contributors:

Danika Baker-Sohn, art director, designer, and illustrator based in Berlin. Creates videos for brands, including Readymag.

Michele Merlo, senior media designer & director from Italy. 

Aquila Cheikh, graphic designer based in Paris.

TikTok as a self-presentation tool

Danika Baker-Sohn: Everything we put online is self-presentation in a way whether we like it or not, so taking control of your own narrative and shaping it intentionally, with a goal in mind, is an empowering—and humbling—process that can help you grow a lot as a creative. Whether you’re looking for clients, want to attract new opportunities, or simply understand your own voice and work better, I think posting on social media helps with all of that—and can ultimately help you build a deeply aligned creative career.

Michele Merlo: I’ve always used social networks as a place to share my creations rather than my private life. From the very beginning, I treated TikTok as a space to showcase what I make, trying to present it in the best form possible. It’s always been a place where I could build an identity and show my approach, my taste, and the way I think through visuals.

Aquila Cheikh: In January 2025, I was coming out of a burnout from design school. As I made recaps of the year I’d left behind, other graphic designers started reaching out—relating to my story or simply wanting to connect. During this mental health break, I felt the need to create for myself, so I created a monthly magazine about my twenties in which I collected the most precious and fleeting memories of my life in a very editorial, yet deeply personal way. Ironically, it was the first time my work went viral on TikTok.

What started as a way of healing for me became a project that clients bring up first when enquiring about my services.

It was in that moment that I realized not only that my work was worth sharing and investing in on a bigger scale, but also that TikTok would become my most efficient tool for business promotion.

What’s strategic and what’s intuitive

Danika Baker-Sohn: I create intuitively, but in a very “informed” way—staying aware of what typically does and doesn’t perform well. That means doing research and learning the platform you’re on. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about posting on social, it’s that you have to relearn storytelling in a social way. I think of a hook as a quick summary or idea of what you’re about to talk about so people can decide in a split second whether they want to keep watching. After the hook, you can tell your story normally, but you need to start with a clear “Why you should care” before diving into traditional storytelling.

Michele Merlo: When I started publishing my work more seriously, I experimented with everything: strong hooks, different lengths, trending music. That phase helped me understand how platforms work and what tends to perform better. But after years of trying, the only habit I’ve kept—and still want to improve—is focusing on the emotion a video can provoke. Whether it’s wonder, sadness, or happiness, I always try to maximize that emotional impact.

Aquila Cheikh: Having spent most of my youth on social media comes with a real perk: the abstract viral factor of any post I see or make is no mystery to me—even if it’s hard to pinpoint. What I’ve noticed is that the most effective videos are usually the ones where I post with a clear intent to connect with people first—as a person with tastes—and as a designer second. It’s also when I want to share fresh ideas that are simple and digestible enough to stay in people’s minds.

I know for a fact that recommendations are what work best on TikTok in terms of engagement, but they’re also the one thing you can’t really control because of the algorithm. In that sense, intuition tends to dominate my workflow.

Making depth accessible

Danika Baker-Sohn: Complex ideas presented simply are often the best way to go. If something I’ve created feels a little heavy or carries more emotional depth, I like pairing it with lighter text to lift the whole thing and make it more relatable or digestible, without compromising the depth of the work itself.

Someone I think does this deep/unserious dynamic really well is micca on Instagram. She’s a brilliant artist who creates work with a lot of emotional depth, but presents it in a funny, nonchalant way. I personally love this dichotomy and think it creates a really rich personal brand—one that speaks to a creator’s or artist’s intelligence and depth, rather than against it.

Michele Merlo: I like my multimedia projects to be immediate and accessible to everyone, but at the same time, if someone wants to go deeper, they should be able to explore the technical side. That’s why I include a small making-of section in almost every video, and for some projects, I also create dedicated behind-the-scenes content.

Aquila Cheikh: I think there’s a much higher reward in staying approachable, relatable, and even funny, rather than showcasing design work as if TikTok were solely an exhibition space. There are so many talented designers out there, and I believe most clients tend to work with people they feel they could be friends with, especially in the freelance space.

Ultimately, my way of balancing simplicity and professional depth is by adapting to each platform. My Instagram stays relatively serious compared to my TikTok content, while my Readymag website, for example, is purely professional.

Finding your audience

Danika Baker-Sohn: I create a lot of art content, but I’m not trying to make content only for other artists. I’m trying to attract people who think and feel the way I do—because that’s who I’m creating art for.

I think about vibe matching with my audience: attracting people with a similar sense of humor, a shared understanding of humanity and the world, and similar questions, concerns, and inner worlds.

I’ve created guiding words for myself that act as content pillars, and I build my content around those energies. Of course, some content is more specific—like when I make small business content for other artists—and in those cases, I try to get hyper-specific about who I’m speaking to so the information reaches the right people.

Michele Merlo: I definitely don’t speak to everyone. I learned the hard way that trying to talk to everyone often means talking to no one. Most people who follow my work are designers or creators like me. The rest usually share a strong interest in the aesthetics I bring to my channels: nostalgic ’90s and 2000s vibes, retro tech, interactivity, hands-on processes, and the connection between past and present media.

Aquila Cheikh: I create for anyone who’s curious, really. Curiosity often leads to great connections, no matter a person’s background, and that’s ultimately what I was looking for most when I started posting on TikTok. As a result, some videos that seem targeted at fellow designers often end up filled with comments from people who are simply drawn to my taste—or from potential clients. That’s what makes the platform feel magical to me.

What designers bring to TikTok

Danika Baker-Sohn: Resilience! You’ve got to keep going and experimenting to get anywhere. Creating and posting is a kind of exposure therapy for unlearning perfectionism. It also requires thick skin and enough self-belief to keep showing up when things feel awkward, quiet, or like people are judging you. The faster you adopt an experimental, iterative mindset, the better—and even better is adopting a playful one, a “Let’s see where this goes” attitude. I’ve found that genuine play and passion help break you out of the comparison-and-fear matrix we so often get stuck in.

I’ve had to work through my fear of rejection and of being perceived in order to post on social. I’m still scared of both, but nowhere near as much as I used to be. It also helped me to remember that there’s something for everyone: not everyone will love your work, but some people—and potential clients—will. Create for them, so they can find you.

Michele Merlo: In my professional life, I work as a freelance media designer for brands and agencies, creating videos, animations, and multimedia experiences. These skills have helped me speed up the technical side of content creation, giving me more time to focus on form and the idea behind each piece of content.

Aquila Cheikh: When working on branding design, my ultimate task is to create a language that’s easily duplicable and marketable. This templating skill has, in my opinion, been my most valuable asset when creating TikTok content. It allows me to respect certain formats, save time, and still leave room for freedom in what I want to talk about.

Discipline—especially when it comes to respecting self-imposed deadlines and schedules—is another of the most gratifying aspects of my professional mindset, particularly because content creation is often perceived as a recreational activity.

From TikTok to design

Danika Baker-Sohn: Tactics like the infamous “slow canvas reveal” still work surprisingly well, so as silly as it can feel, you sometimes just have to play the game and accept that certain things come with posting on social. Do your thing and be as creative and unique as you want, but some formats simply perform well, and you shouldn’t avoid them just because other people are using them too.

That said, don’t jump on everything either. I think it’s important to have a strong personal compass and a clear sense of who you are as a creative, so you can decide what is and isn’t a “you” format. A good rule of thumb is to apply your own take, style, and energy to trends while staying aware of universal TikTok language and etiquette. It’s about being true to yourself while understanding the world you’re operating in.

Michele Merlo: TikTok has changed the way I communicate on social media, but social media hasn’t changed the way I communicate outside of it. I’ve always tried to build a narrative around my work and continuously improve how I present it, both online and offline. If anything, it’s the outside world that shapes how I communicate on social platforms—not the other way around.

Aquila Cheikh: Even though authenticity is how I find clients most often, it would be dishonest to say I’m not influenced by the need to meet certain standards when posting on TikTok, especially when it comes to personal branding. If my own feed doesn’t look good, who would hire me to run theirs? The same goes for how I present myself offline. If, when entering a room, people don’t immediately get a sense of my taste, how could I confidently introduce myself as a visual designer? In that sense, the platform has pushed me to hold a higher standard in how I present myself in order to be taken more seriously.

One principle that outlives the platform

Danika Baker-Sohn: Get straight to the point and don’t overcomplicate things for the sake of it. TikTok has a way of forcing you to condense bigger thoughts into bite-sized pieces, and I actually think that’s an important skill. Creating this way pushes you to distill complex ideas into single concepts that are easier to share and discuss with others. It doesn’t mean nuance can’t exist—it just means you need to understand your own point well enough to communicate it clearly, without losing people’s attention. And that actually takes a lot of brain power!

Michele Merlo: One key lesson I’ve learned is that there’s a balance between two factors that make something work. The first is consistency—without it, even a viral video has nothing to support long-term interest. The second is quality. I’ve always believed in quality over quantity.

Aquila Cheikh: What I think is great about TikTok is the ability to make first impressions over and over again. In that sense, it’s helped me feel more confident introducing myself as a designer—straight to the point, with enthusiasm—which can lead to both genuine connections with fellow designers and long-lasting relationships with potential clients.