Designers’ Egos
Do you ever come to the point sometimes when you are designing and the design is just simply not working so you begin to wonder why you are even a designer or could even claim to be one? This used to happen to me, but then I just surf the web and see somebody else’s ugly site and am instantly reinspired to push forward. Now I am wise enough to have Rundle on my team and let him get frustrated with design instead of me.
I can see the reason for many people entering the field of web design is that they believe that designing a website is easy. Wrong. Building a website is easy, designing one takes skill. This is where the ego kicks in. There are two key elements (I am sure there are many more) that designers should possess.
The first one is that you need to be your own harshest critic. And believe me this is extremely hard to do on the web since there are many people out there who are quick to point out how wrong your design is. When you think you are done with a design, take a step back and look at it. Could you do better? If you think you could, but can’t figure out how then just step away for a bit. If you don’t think you could do better then either you are right, or you just don’t want to push yourself further.
Hopefully you don’t think your design is done because it looks like another popular site. You cannot call yourself a designer when all you do is steal other people’s designs. Sort of like thinking you can draw by placing a paper over a picture so you can trace the lines. Don’t get me wrong because it is okay to take the design elements of others to help with your own designs, but your ego cannot develop until you have your own style. Sure your style may be similar to someone else’s, but at least when you design something you know that you designed it.
The second important aspect of being a designer is knowing how to take criticism. I am fortunate to have an audience that gives excellent criticism without being too harsh or demeaning. Sure, many times I do not agree with what people say, but I have learned to listen to them because maybe in another design their ideas could work. Every once in a while you may get some jackass telling you how horrible everything looks. Why is he saying this? Who knows and who cares. When taking criticism there is always going to be signal and noise. Filter out the noise. Listen to others. Grow as a designer.
This is more important than ever now because as Rundle points out there are 100 million web designers out there and the field is getting crowded. The usual designers who just happened to pick up the profession will troll the design galleries to see what they can pick up and emulate, emulate and emulate till they become just like the person they are emulating. Their ego tells them that they designed it when they didn’t. You need an ego that pushes you to do better with each passing design. You need an ego that accepts the praise and also laughs at it because you know you still have room to grow.
Eventually you might get to a point where you now how to do the right things for a design to look good, but that doesn’t mean it works. Large type, some gradients and the right color choices can get you in your gallery of choice, but is it the right design for the job? Is it what is needed? Did you actually design the site or did you just put on the right dressings? Depending on how your ego is developed will determine your answer.
Even when your ego is too big to fit on screen and you think you are the best around or people tell you there is no one better, there is always a way to learn and get better. Every website on the web has something to teach you. Be it something good or something bad, but from every design it is possible to take some knowledge away with you. If you want to be a designer then be one. You must have an ego or else you wouldn’t be doing it (unless you just do it for fun). Just make sure to keep it in check.
3 Responses
Chris Poteet / 04.09.08
I think an important thing to remember is that no matter how good you think you are there is always someone better. My dad told me that which still humbles me to this day.
Paul Scrivens / 04.09.08
Well a key to that is finding that person who is actually better, which isn’t necessarily the person you are following.
Chris Poteet / 04.10.08
Naturally.