Have you ever noticed how much similar things seems to come up together from time to time? Like a newly learned word that seems to now be everywhere, or a great idea which is developed all around? I just love when that happen.

Lately, I’ve stumbled on a quite interesting serie of those intellectual coincidences. My great friend Samir wrote an article entitled «assuming for everyone». I read this awesome article on echo enduring called «Am I really good at this design thing?». And then, I received a mind blowing mail from Jordan Chenard, discussing the demotivating part of being a designer. Behind all this is one and only one idea, treated in different ways and perspectives by equally intelligent and aware people:

Designers are creatures of comparison. The most intrinsic part of designing is showing part of ourselves and being judged.

We compare to our peers because we feel our clients, and sometimes our coworkers, don’t have the ability to reviex properly our work.

When you’re told for the 3rd time to add blue, contrast, or a picture of a smiling woman by a guy whose mail signature is in purple Comic Sans on a sky blue background, you tend to  get a bit on your nerves. Graphic design is one of the only job where clients have the power to deconstruct a work they don’t have the ability to make themselves.

In the end, what the clients think slowly transforms into something not so important, as the designer can be highly dissatisfied with the end result, no matter what.

We like to be judged by our peers because they “matter more”, or so it seems.

Compare what can be compared.

Being exposed to other people works all day long through the deforming lens of the internet can to some confusing feeling. “Am I really good? Why does this guy got so many good projects? This trendy style must be applied to everything in order to produce great work” In the end, you end up struggling with a mix of frustration, jealousy and even sometimes a slight feeling of superiority.

As a matter of fact, there’s quite a gap between a senior designer working for Nike and a junior designer in small agency working for local clients. Don’t get me wrong, I still believe we’re not born equal in talent (don’t beat me, let’s be honest) but unfortunately, even the greatest talent can’t save the day on a crappy project. When reviewing other designers work don’t forget to take a look at their about page: their position, age, and status (senior, junior, CD, AD, freelance…) might give you a hint of what kind of experience they have. And compare only what can be compared. Don’t scourge yourself with being «not as good» as someone else. Just ask yourself: would I be better than him/her if I had this project that I love so much? And if you’re not sure of the answer, just give a try at thhis layout on your free time.

Compare what needs to be compared.

With the Dribbble fad roaring in the background, people tend to compare their technical execution of a design more than the essence of if: answer to a problem. I like Dribbble. I like seeing other people work. But I also want to hear about the context and the real work behind the technic. If it’s all a matter of great execution, anyone with a lot of time and a lot of tutorials would do. Designers are more than people making pixel perfect stuff. Do not stick to comparing style or photoshop skills. You’re more than the hand using the pen tablet.

Having people you admire and compare to is not the same as comparing yourself to everyone in the world.

I believe in mentor and inspiring people. Actually, I think having one or more inspiring people in sight, to whom you can talk about your ideas and hesitations is surely the greatest way to evolve. He/She might posses a set of skills you know you have or want to have. You must respect him/her enough to trust his advice, even when it hurts. This very reference might be your goal, your achivement point, and a great help to grow as a designer.

((Working alone, I have yet to find this person, but am actively seeking it. Wherever you are, old CD, I’ll find you)

In the end, never forget: context matter. You are one unique designer in a sea of others, may that be a strenght or a flaw. Cultivate your uniqueness, even tho it doesn’t fit the standards or appreciation of the peers – if your guts tell you it’s right. And eventually, compare, but compare well.

As I’ve been fumbling through books and blogposts about creativity lately, I’ve be toying about the idea of the “perfect workplace” for creative minded people. The more I thougth about it, the more it was clear that most workplaces are not made for people using their left brain a bit too much on a daily basis. What would be the perfect place? The perfect work hours? The perfect direct environment to strike that little sparkle of creativity on a daily basis?

SPACE  AND TIME CONTINUUM

We can possibly get inspired everywhere and everytime. Working in the creative industry (or in any kind of job that involves deep thinking) doesn’t stick to the traditional workplace. Most of us will find our best ideas brushing our teeths, doing the dishes, or simply during their sleep.

In an utopian world, the perfect workplace wouldn’t force you to stay at the same place, for a definite number of hours.
Look how succesful design or development companies have destroyed the current work hour scheme. Carsonified works 4 days a week. 37signals tries to end up a day at 5PM everyday. When Sagmeister feels like his inspiration is running down, he takes a whole year to rediscover himself in Bali. Free time doesn’t mean that you’re not working. It means that you’re feeding your brain with lots and lots of new experiences, that will soon feed your work. Look at how much inspiration you had when you were just a design student with far too much time on your hands.

As for space, the biggest challenge we face is that it doesn’t change. It doesn’t fluctuate. It stays the same while your work is constantly changing. Having a nice work station is a must for every person that stays more than 8 hours a day in front of a computer. But triggering a burst of cretaivity while watching the same walls or the same office is not always as easy as one can think. Sometimes, you could just have the best idea around the street corner. Unless you’re a freelancer, there are few chances that your workplace allows for that kind of time and space breakage.
Changing some of your habits might do the trick for a while. The global picture is to be able to break your daily routine to refresh your brain. Eat somewhere different every day. Meet new people. Take new ways to go to work. Change what you can on your workstation. Change your musical influences for the day. Break the space and time continuum so that things appear different. If you can’t really have the perfect workplace, make it happen.

RESPECT, TRUST, LISTEN

The thing I’ve heard most while chatting with other designers over on twitter, is that most of them don’t feel trusted enough in their actual job. Be it by clients, or anybody you’re working with, lack of trust or listening can lead to an enormous amount of frustration. No need to talk about the infmous number of posts about managing clients here. Sometimes it’s not clients only. Having people constantly over your shoulder, or sworse, changing things without asking for it is a constant reminder that being a designer is not yet considered a job valuable enough for its opinion to be taken into account.

In an utopian world, the perfect workplace would trust you enough not to watch everything you make and ask for changes. The perfect workplace would take your expertise as a gift and ask you to deliver it.
We all know this doesn’t happen all the time. You wan’t to gain control? Make yourself a freelancer and learn to say no. Most companies cut you off from direct customer relationship. You feel deprived from your right to speack and explain your work. Offer yourself a treat take up some freelance work. But not anything at any price. Learn to sell yourself your real price. take the time for each client and explain, teach, and sometimes, say no for valuable reasons. Take control. It won’t change your daily job, but will make you more in power. Plus, you’ll see if you’re really the expert you tell everyone your are.

MY CLIENTS SUCKS

We all complain about the lack of quality in our portfolios. Clients that add stupid elements to a layout that was once awesome. Sucky graphics  you have to put into that layout. Crappy subjects that can’t urn out well, ever. Bigger logos and partneships that make syou whole work look cheap.  What’s worse for a designer than looking back at his protfolio and feel like he hasn’t accomplish anything but sold his soul to the devil ?

In an utopian world, the perfect workplace would have only top-notch clients, glamourous ideas, awesome R&D, and as much creative freedom as you might dream of.
Be your first and best client then. Design stuff for people you know, people you don’t know, you, and anything you can find. But do it the greatest way around. Again, taking a side freelance job is  a great way to play with your creativity. Negociate your rate in term of creative freedom. You let me do whatever I want? I’ll be cheaper then. You’re starting to ask for a blue logo with comic sans? Let’s renegociate. Of course this is no business plan if you ever intend to grow a real studio. But if you already lower your standards at work, then try not to do it when you’re by yourself. Maybe it’ll make the client angry, or maybe you’ll just deliver your greatest work ever.
Oh, and personal work. Things that really appeal to you. It won’t make your portfolio suddenly awesome, but you’ll have some nice stuff to show in the end. And maybe a few extra bucks in your pocket.

PERFECT IS DULL ANYWAY

If you’re not currently working in the “perfect place”, that you still have to do all-nighters to keep up with the workflow, you hate your coworkers, and the project you do are so crappy you wouldn’t even show them to your mom… Well, maybe it’s time to ask yourself the good questions. What would make it better? Would it be better somewhere else? Can you do anything to change it? Are you just bored and need to push yourself a little further? You’re never stuck anywhere, you can always move forward to find new exciting things to do. And maybe once you’re old enough to create you own workplace, it’ll be perfect. And maybe not. You just oughta try.

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of posts whose sole aim was to rant about other post. Being some kind of sheep, I’ll do the same right now. And you’ll probably agree with me, because, in fact, all those posts are true in a way.
First there was Clients from Hell, and then there was Do not read clients from hell, because you know better.
First there was the Paula Scher interview, and then ther was it’s countepart by Eric Karjualoto.
First there were post containing lists, and then posts saying than lists sucked.
First there were posts ranting about uneducated clients, and now, there’re posts saying how bad we, designers, are uneducated and not able to educate our clients.

As a matter of fact, the community loves to talk. And loves to complain too, but that’s human nature. I wonder if there’s any other other community ( as in “people sharing the same jobs”) where people are so incline to talk about what they do and how they do it, and how it should be done. There even were posts about how bad was the community to design itself — because of the lists, the inspiration posts, the likeness of everything declared awesome by the peers. Right. this is probably not that good — but is well-balanced by the fact that the community is also full of resources, exchanges, discussions and friendship. Among all those things, the real problem I see is that, wanting to pursue every articles’ ideal designer behaviour, one might get lost and confused as what is really good for him/her.

As an example, we’re told quite often about educating our clients — I’m thinking about a peculiar Smashing Magazine post here — but how does that apply in real life? If you are not in a position to negociate, let alone your own boss. As much as you’d love to tell a client how much his choice is wrong regarding design concerns, you can’t always have the final word on this. People telling you not to work with those assholes clients? Yes, right, again if you have the choice, and can afford it.

In the end, all those posts about do & don’ts, what good and what’s wrong, what you should do and what would be considered an awful sin by the law of God designers all lead you in a sort of guilty confusion. Am I a good designer? Am I a coward for not fighting my client? Am I an awful person for enjoying a good laugh at horror client stories?
It’s not that I don’t like those articles.
I’ve wrote some of them, most for my own inspiration and motivation, in the past. Now, the more I read, the more I feel confused. There are rules I want to follow, about color theory, UI design, golden ratio and such. But being told how I should talk to a client or what I’m supposed to read in order to be a good designer? I don’t know. I don’t feel comfortable with that.
I thought being a designer, which means to me being a problem solver, involved a great part of unique individual sensibility. There are things great designers have in common, like an eye or an ability to understand people. But I don’t feel like they should all endorse the same behavior pattern, as described in most of the recent articles. More than pushing you forward to discover what works for you, they try to much to impose a repetitive scheme. Again I wrote some of those, and am not really sure it helped anyone in this case.

I do wonder, though, if one should not stop reading the community’s articles and start focusing more on what really works in his/her context, his/her environment, his/her own work pattern or maybe just taking a hint from time to time from those, without reading all of it. There’s not one and only solution. But it’s definitely not in someone’s else writing.

Yes, this post is a total rant, yet again. You can comment, disagree, shout, or send me flowers if you want to. The point is, as long as you don’t obey blindly anything I wrote here it’ll be fine by me.