Ira Glass, an American radio personality, makes an excellent point in this video: (aspiring) designers have great taste, but it will take a long time to get to a quality of work that matches it.
This resonates with me personally, as I find it hard to believe that it was me who designed some of these presentations sitting on my hard drive a few years ago. And I know that I will have the same reaction when I look back at today’s work in a few years from now.
Ira says that most people do not make it past the dip, they quit. His message: hang in there and you will get there and good things will happen.
It is worth it to watch the entire 5 minute movie. Ira gives a case example where he shows how a rambling radio report he created 8 years ago (he was not even a beginner then) and how it can be replaced by one sentence that is natural, specific, and to the point. I am not a frequent radio listener, but I find that newspapers often apply this technique of an elaborate, dramatic article opening, taking forever to explain an issue in normal, human language.
Via Jason Kottke.
1 comment
Even the seasoned designers constantly learn. I try to read at least 1-2 books on design a month and constantly look at other work to see how other people are solving visual problems.