Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Contained

In a recent post Seth Godin talks about rigid boundaries and no boundaries ar all. It's fun to think about just how far you can go but that also has me thinking about the old saying… "give him enough rope and he'll hang himself". Rules are versions of boundaries. In design, to be a good designer I believe you need to know the rules… at least as many of them as possible… so that, if and when necessary, you can break them… or go beyond the boundaries of what is generally accepted. With clients you need to know where you stand and where, under no circumstances, should you go. Sometimes I am that kid that Seth refers to that spends days scheming to get what I want and I know that I am wasting my time. You need to know when it is time to accept that you can't always do the best work possible but you can always give it your best effort with the tools that you are given. You need to know when it is time to stop fighting those monsters and give the client what they ar asking for… no matter what. And hopefully, while doing so, you have an "ah ha" moment and figure out how to give the client what they are asking for AND the best possible work.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

yep sometimes its hard to keep that monster at bay. nice drawing to depict that. michael dailey

Bella Sinclair said...

Wise words, and I agree that sometimes it's hard to stop fighting those monsters, even though you should. But by gosh, Michael, you can't let THOSE monsters in! Look at 'em, they're absolutely frightening!

theartofpuro said...

I totally agree with you

About the illo is great how you figured it,love it

yoon see said...

True...True...
Beautiful sketch in blue.
Just get inspired by so many positive people out there.
You will soon move out of this monster pool!

ArtSparker said...

I subscribe to Seth Godin's blog. I love the way he dispenses old school rabbinical wisdom transposed to the digital age. And a good post by you too, something that certainly comes up for people in the business.

Tomás Serrano said...

The sketch is really fantastic.