Let me start off by saying that I am a very deep thinker and it has been said that I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve. I’m not ashamed of this and it is part of who I am. It’s what drives me to create the best quality work I possibly can and I don’t believe I could function as a Front End Designer without being this way. Nothing I say or do is intended to offend or hurt anyone yet I often find this to be the case. Sound familiar? Then you’re probably a creative too.
I recently read a few articles on subjects like The cheapening of music (yes I know, not particularly Web related but you could think of the web in this way too) and also Nihilism, accessibility, and the preponderence of amazing co-incidences (I feel sorry for this guy!). There are more and more people who are starting to think this way and I tried to think why this might be.
There’s no time for creativity in a process, there’s no time for process in creativity.
It’s a catch 22. There is possibly a link between feelings like this and the fact that huge online companies such as My Space are in trouble. They have been around almost as long as the Web has, so how can this be? Could it be that even though there are lots of creatives working on making the site wow its users, they are a little bit shackled by the system, process and short project times. I suspect that has at least a small part to play.
Whoever you are doing work for whether that be your client or colleague, pride in what you do is a large part of it. Things are often trivialized before work starts on them. This means that when you want to tackle it in the best way possible, you can often feel a sense of defeat when you run out of time, opting for the quicker shortcut. Things can all too easily get pushed to one side so that a great idea turns into just another half finished gimmick.
If you ever talk to me, you’ll find that I’m actually a very quiet, unassuming person yet some people who have read my twitter profile tend to assume I’m this arrogant self centred know it all.
Modesty (IMO) has a role to play in all this. On my personal twitter account, I call myself a ‘Front End Demigod‘, which has also been commented on more than a few times. If you ever talk to me, you’ll find that I’m actually a very quiet, unassuming person yet I feel that some people who have read my twitter profile tend to assume I’m this arrogant self centred know it all. I find that fascinating, which is why I leave it on there. This literal sense of things is damaging and also why I’m not a big fan of things like Facebook. I use Twitter, which allows you to be much more succinct but does not lend itself to taking over your life. If you are modest about what you do, I believe it shows confidence in your ability. Of course, let people know what you are up to but give them a choice and it’ll be obvious how good you are. Shouting it from the rooftops is the best way to lose respect from your peers who are trying just as hard, probably more so. Nothing is set in stone and you can never know everything. Everyone, of course, has their own opinion, this is just mine and I’d love to hear yours so please do leave a comment.
Life – now there’s a word that sums up what this post is really about. Every time a techie task is dumbed down or trivialised, it gives the techie (person) involved in the task a sense of defeat before they’ve actually started. Emotion is a powerful thing.
I’m not just talking about the Photoshop or Illustrator experts either. Nothing exists until it’s created. You cannot foresee how you are going to create something until you are creating it and the odds are if you cannot find an example of something similar to inspire you, its going to take a long time. To create great work and think deeply enough to really make it work (properly), does draw on emotions more than those not involved in the creative process may think. There is no creative switch that you flick on but if respected and incubated, award & client winning work can be the result.
Irais
I’m impressed! You’ve managed the almost impobsslie.
Webegg
Interesting comment Irais, although I’m not sure what you mean.