That is to say, I used to get really excited about ideas from famous designers and thinkers. I’d latch on those ideas, repeat those ideas, and make them a part of my developing worldview. And then, at some point in the last few years, I stopped doing that. Instead, nowadays, the ideas I get really excited about are my own. The ones that hit me out of nowhere. The ones that give me something to work on for months. The ones that make me smirk, plot, and scheme. Of course, they’ve come from somewhere, and are most likely extensions of the foundation I previously built by reading more than I was doing in my early 20s. Now, I’m doing more than I’m reading, and the ideas I go with are the ones tied to my inner being. It’s hard to say where they originated, but when they appear, they’re ready to go.
There are always multiple ways to get somewhere
This should give everyone hope. This should cause everyone to keep going. This should give everyone a reason to try something new, to look at things sideways, and to not always go with the flow. You have your way, I have my way, and it’s all good as long as we don’t get stuck there. Keep after it, keep scrapping, keep wondering why. To get to where we’re going, we shouldn’t be able to see it yet, and we should realize the map to get there isn’t a map at all, but a day just like today, and a spark like the one you just had.
Give up on perfect
I used to think perfect was a thing. Something to strive for. Something to go after. But with any type of creative work, it isn’t the end that’s why you do it, but the beginning and middle, the climax and conclusion. It’s the journey, as they say. And striving for perfect is not only missing the point, it can be harmful to the work you do. When you’re in it—the thinking, the making, the trying, the failing—thinking about a perfect end result gums up the works. It gets in the way. It misleads you. For creation’s sake, we must stop doing this. We need to give up on perfect and just make, make, make and try, try, try. Get rid of perfect, have more fun, and make better stuff. It’s that simple.
Getting paid on time, mostly
Getting paid on time is great. The majority of the time, I get paid on time. When that happens, there are signals that get sent out. I feel valued. I feel like the client really gets what we’re doing. They understand that what I do is my livelihood. They know that without money there would be no designer. They ask for design deadlines to be hit and in return, they get me the needed funds in a timely manner. And then, as I’m working on their project, I feel like everyone is playing their part. Mutually assured collaboration. Yep.
Add Your Helpful Tips!
Tiperosity is a tip-sharing community for smarter living. It’s where helpful people share what they know to help make every day life a little bit better. At least, that’s how the people behind the idea see things.
As one of those people, I’m really proud of the product we’ve built over the last year. Led by Nathan Preheim with the dev guys from Human Shapes, it’s been a focused side project that has come together well. A solid product of 7,000+ tips, 20,000+ Twitter followers across all accounts, and some great content continues to be added to our Tip Lists feature.
Product aside, I’ve been very pleased with the process we’ve used to get to this point. We established a clearly defined product road map and then we just started designing and building. We utilized a milestone-based approach so we could easily reprioritize to solve issues or create features we hadn’t originally planned for. From requirements to design to development, there’s always been lots of back and forth with each feature being very team-created. And since this isn’t our full-time gig, we’re able to do only the work we think is really needed. We aren’t trying to fill time or find things to “fix” because we have a bunch of money to spend. Instead, we’re very scrappy and that keeps us highly efficient.
High level, in the mix of projects that can be going on at any given time; client work, community involvement, or artistic experiments, I feel it’s key to have a startup partnership included. The time percentages can be a little tricky, but working on a focused product requires a unique kind of thinking. It’s become the space to hone objective ideation skills and try to get better at recognizing what long-term success looks like from the vantage point of very early stages.
What long-term success looks like, we have some ideas on that. Though with any startup, there is a lot of steady uncertainty. For the time being, you can expect interesting lists on a variety of topics to go with our beautiful bits of wisdom. And if you’re so inclined, create an account to start adding your helpful tips to the site. Enjoy!
To get better at X, you just have to do X more
To get better at writing, you have to write more. To get better at public speaking, you have to speak in public more. To get better at designing, you have to design more. To get better at anything, you just have to do it more. It takes work. Hard work. You simply have to put in the time. No short cuts. No pure talent right from birth. Just work. Always. If you want to get better, that’s all you need to do.
Happy Pinning!
Pinterest is an odd beast. It is a lovely platform but it’s still low on my list of social networks to put time into, whether personally or for clients. I have started using it again periodically with a focus on it being a resource for JKDC. In my mind, Pinterest was really amazing in the beginning when mostly beautiful things were pinned to it. And then as it got more popular, it suffered overall as uninspiring brands and people without taste uploaded things that weren’t beautiful or just didn’t fit the overall platform vibe. Now, aside from adding my own inspiration when it comes to design, web, music, film, and books, it has been handy to catalog mood boards for client projects. And I even have a design portfolio section. (Oh dear God, not more portfolio pushing!) It seems like a good use of a board—to have a solid set of beautiful pins of my favorite work. Sort of like Dribbble, but more for the masses. Anyway, yeah, Pinterest. A thing again for me. Happily pinning over this way »
