Design for Reality

More documents

Recommendations

Info

The only reason that we might strive to design for the best brands is to fulfill our own career narratives. As designers, we need to get out of our head and look instead to immediate local problems that call for unique design solutions. Not only will this direct our abilities toward solving real problems, but it will also make us better designers while we’re at it. There are often many lessons and opportunities surrounding us. However, if we’re caught up in the grandiose vision of our careers, these lessons will appear small or inconsequential, and we may miss them. If you think that taking on a small project is demeaning to the potential scale of your work, get out of your head. Keep in mind that there is no one to perform for. And quite frankly, much less people are keeping tabs on your career than you may think. In fact, it’s likely that no one is. This can be hard to digest when you’re stuck inside your own head. Don’t Linger on Past Successes When we reminisce about our past successes, we forget about the hours of work and execution that got us to where we are today. So instead of dreaming about your story, get back to work and out of your head. Start a new page daily, and eliminate any ideas of grandeur. “I was trapped so terribly inside my own head that I was a prisoner to my own thoughts.” – Ryan Holliday Be a Student In order for your design work to grow, you must be able to learn from criticism. Participating in the dialogue of design communities, such as Dribbble, is valuable, but they can also shelter your work from the lessons of reality. The online design community is extremely supportive to one another. It’s great that everyone can so easily join such a conversation. However, constantly looking for positive feedback will not drive us to learn, so we must be careful in how eagerly we participate.
When you design for reality, clients and the public will be very hard on your work. Although it can be difficult to hear negative feedback, we must see this as an opportunity to learn. The designer who works for their ego will be defensive during these times and will likely reject the opinion of the offender. We must learn to accept such criticisms if we want our work to grow. The feedback loop between the designer and the client can make products that neither party could have ever made on their own. As designers, we must realize that we can learn from the needs and conditions of a real project in order to make something new. Whereas, the feedback loop online often recycles the same content over and over again. Like what you’re reading? Get the latest updates first. No spam. Just great design posts. Thinking Small and Local In reading this, you might be wondering where to start. Designing for reality sounds great, but how do I get that first project? Or, if work is slow, what can I do to continue to grow? This is very much my point – that often the answer to this is to whip up some great redesigns, and post them online in the hope that they’ll lead to the next big thing. But, how can you direct your energy to designing for real life instead? Consider the challenge below. Design for The Very Small
Page 1 and 2: Design for Reality, Not Glory I thi
Page 3: His book addresses the type of thin
Page 7: Whatever is next for us - failure o

Design for Reality

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?