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Is design your love or addiction?
Obsess over process, not outcomes.
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As the field of design matures, the weight of responsibility we get from having a “seat at the table” means more pressure to measure the success of design. More metrics, more validation, more proven design outcomes.
But the problem with creative work — truly innovative work — is that we can’t guarantee an outcome. That uncertainty is precisely what makes it creative. If it was a tried and true formula that produced exactly the same result every time, that’s not creativity, it’s an assembly line.
Even for the best of us, some projects elicit praise and awards, while others get…crickets. And how often does what you believe to be your best work go unnoticed, while something that was almost a throw-away turns viral? There’s little rhyme or reason to external outcomes.
Yet in this Instagram world, it’s easy to get caught up. It’s comforting to seek a validating pat on the back from your boss, or an explosion of likes on your Dribbble account. But all of that — or even the potential to earn a big paycheck — is not the right motivation for doing good design work.
“The search for a guarantee is endless, fruitless, and the end of possibility, not the beginning.”
— Seth Godin