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i made it half way through... no mention of capitalism yet, so it seems like you're missing the mark. creativity and capitalism are simply incompatible also, the way kubrick treated shelley duvall amounts to abuse. there is no excuse for that, the resulting quality of the film does not matter. knowing what we know now, i will never watch that movie again
@@louisaruth So that's why some of the most historical objects of beauty and creativity have also often been commissioned, for a price?...and I mean, what sort of a non-sensical statement is that anyway? "capitalism and creativity are simply incompatible"....it's so obviously false to everyone but the must fervent ideologue.
@@ChimpyChamp your lack of imagination is showing. forget commission. we would have a renaissance if folks did not have to worry about paying money for food and rent
Something I've noticed over 20 years working in the arts industry: People who are hard working and genuinely good at what they do tend to be helpful and eager to share everything they know. People who got where are based on luck and connections are toxic jerks who hold on to their handful of tricks like it's top secrete info, blame others and tear others down.
Totally agree. Work comes out of work. If you need to pontificate and bully, you probably don’t have the work to speak for itself. Are there exceptions? Sure, but it’s a pattern I’ve noticed.
I feel there's two types of creatives. There are the creatives who are people who love creating and would create regardless of the medium because it's in their soul to create, it's their passion. And then there's the "creatives" who only focus on money, engagement, and feedback, the type who look down on other type of artwork they don't like and will consistently bring others down in an attempt to boost themselves up. Although the prior are the majority, the latter are extremely vocal in any art related community.
So it's not that being a jerk makes you a good designer. Being a jerk helps you fight your way to the "top" which the industry perceives as top designers. Imagine how many great designs, and great designers get lost to history because they are not compatible with this toxic environment.
Yes, it's sort of like survivorship bias. It also reminds me of this Stephen Jay Gould quote: "I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops."
@@craven5328 A very good point. The issue is not _who_ is on the top, but the fact that by paying attention to this hierarchy, we support its existence.
It's funny, in the early age of european maths, mathematicians used to work for royalty (helping architects and with strategies and stuff) and were really good payed, so a way to protect their careers were actually keeping his most valuable knowledge on secret and available only for his most trustable pupils, seems like the same for designers.
I’m a neurosurgeon and people in surgical specialties have a reputation for having an inflated sense of self importance that distorts how they see the world and themselves in it resulting in temper tantrums when reality pokes its nose in. In fact it’s only a few individuals that are like that, doctors are generally caring calm people (and so are surgeons) but those jerks are so successful in spreading their nasty germs that the behaviour becomes normalised and widespread and we go through contortions trying to figure out why, like you did, when the deceptively simple answer is a-holes and jerks exist in nature, they are loud and visible and fields that involve confidence scams attract them. If you look at the personal lives of the people you mention, i would not be surprised to find that being a jerk is not limited to their work, it’s how they live their lives.
I've worked in a hospital for civil service, and from personal experience, I've met all kinds of doctors. I've met some doctors, who were very kind and practical people. I've met doctors, who believed the world revolved around them. I've met doctors, who yelled at me and told me to k**l myself for saying "I'm very sorry, but this falls outside my responsibility. Please contact ... instead." But at the end of the day, the negative experiences stick with you much more than the positive ones.
I also immediately thought of doctors. I worked for an optometrist (not ophthalmologist) who had an enormously over-inflated sense of ego, and his wife was the practice manager, she backed up his outbursts and his berating of employees. It was a very toxic work environment. After working there, I started working for an outpatient surgery that primarily did ophthalmic procedures, I didn't work closely with the surgeons, but the nurses all had horror stories. It's too bad that kinda negativity has to infect our healthcare providers. I realize being a doctor (esp a surgeon) is a tough line of work, and stress will rear its ugly head... but, some just take things way too far.
Also consider which type of doctor or surgeon is likely to put themselves in front of the public as their professions representative, as opposed to doctors who are more than content helping patients and advancing medicine through their ongoing research.
I actually went to an art school with a department/major that specialized in designing cars, and you'd constantly hear horror stories from the students about how insanely toxic the environment was. It was a regular occurrence for teachers to tear down student's work, designs they spent months working on, and toss them into the trash before openly tearing them down and humiliating them in front of the entire class. It shouldn't come off as a surprise when I say that department had a high drop-out rate. If you've ever watched the movie Whiplash, it was like that but multiplied by tenfold. The worst part about it was that the higher-ups knew about the abuse these students were being put through by their teachers, and continued to say nothing about it for the sake of saving their reputation. Fucking scumbags.
It's the same in every design related field/school and I doubt it will change because the people who do 'nope' out of the toxicity, sadly aren't the ones staying to teach the next generation. It's a circle.
I looked into going to Art Center in Pasadena for car design, said F it. I'll just try to make it without the degree. Self taught skills like 3D modeling, experience with marketing and consumer research, have worked to gain a better understanding of engineering and manufacturing. I know I stand no chance at a large OEM, but my plan is to develop a solid portfolio, and apply to a smaller car company, maybe a startup. The kinds of brands many aren't even paying attention to.
I am a custom cabinet maker, so what I do for a living is essentially design. Sadley most of the interior designers I come across think that design is all about prancing around like Meryl Streep in the Devil wears Pradda. I am usually amazed by how predictable an uninteresting most of the ideas they come up with are. For me personally the design process is about figuring out what my client's happy space is then finding a way to build it. I am really just helping the client's ideas materialize. Right now I am working on a dinning room that looks like it is out of a Guilermo Del Torro movie, and I am really enjoying it.
I’m in the same trade and have noticed exactly the same thing. They can be completely insufferable. Somehow they managed to elevate themselves above the craftsman despite having no real skill. I generally try to massage their ego which usually works a treat… then deal with the client directly.
Got any advice for a wardrobe? I learned the skills to build them from my dad but he only ever made shaker or other classic designs. Don't get me wrong, those are timeless, but there are a lot of other options. I just don't know how to start exploring them. Anyway if you've got some advice for different styles to look at I'd appreciate it.
Pretty much. It's about a lack of integrity, But I wouldn't say it's about low bar, ironically it is very very high nowadays because there are no lack of competition and huge lack of competent designers. I mean this profession is suppose to be about communication, and this very skill is lacking because these same elitist people influencing younger folks. As any meta- profession design can't be easy, this low bar is a mirage for newcomers
@@eklerrr A low bar to entry is not equivalent to a low bar for success. Funnily like you point out a low bar to enter means high bar for rewards. Someone with a pen and paper calling themselves a designer is for all intents and purposes a designer. You can sell a logo for $20K or for $50. I think from a pscyhological perspective it's easy to see why the designer asking $20K for a logo (treatment/package) feels uneasy about the Fiiver logo designer offering one for $50.
I started off life in design (fashion), then went back to business school and moved into product management. While it's not perfect, lemme tell you how refreshing it was to be measured by the success of my product (customer demand, revenue, profit) vs what I was wearing last Wednesday.
Agree. I try to measure/quantify things whenever possible. Although, to be very clear, not everything that can be measured is important....and if you can't measure something, that doesn't make it unimportant.
There is this UX designer called Melody Koh who writes UX career articles on Medium and if "Elitist jerk" had a Wikipedia article, she would be in the feature photo 😂She wrote a very controversial one titled "Still can’t get a UX job? Give up." She is a total gatekeeper who thinks that unless you have a portfolio of work and experience up to a completely unreasonable standard for a newcomer, you don't have the right to work in this industry and you're a fool if you think otherwise. The UX industry has a real aversion to hiring intern and junior level talent because they look for unicorn candidates that can run projects on their own, instead of building talent from the ground up. It's like being priced out of a stock.
Just read her article. What an awful take. Yes, if you are reviewing someone's work and it's not up to a certain standard, you should be honest about it with them. No, that doesn't mean they should "give up". Jesus Christ. I hope she sees this video.
I read that article, and it's horrendous. Also, fully agree on the aversion to junior talent. The other thing about these unicorn candidates who can work across multiple disciplines is that many companies see this as a cheaper way to operate (and it's not just happening in the design field either). For example, why hire a content designer and visual designer and ux designer, when you might be able to get away with hiring 1 jack of all trades?
I've stopped reading medium because as I've garnered more experience, the frequency of reading a Medium article and thinking what trash take is this? And I'm worried about how easy it is to stumble on them as a beginner and think that's the way things are, or should be, there's no vetting for writers, it's just a click game and it really affect your knowledge intake. As for the gatekeeping, I feel like there's a boom in UX, it's one of the most lucrative creative fields and there's been a huge influx of newcomers, and I can understand how senior designers want newcomers to understand best practices, seek high standards, not pull rates down. But the gatekeeping like the article of give up is so weird it almost feels like fear of being replaced.
Oooh~ I came across that article before but didn't even read it because it sounded so mean! I have noticed the gatekeeping amongst designers but the ones who don't, are so full of kindness and wisdom! I owe so much to these people for the UX job I have today.
In my experience, software has the opposite problem. Not only _can_ you fix and change software, UX designers see changing things as something they _must_ do. This is how so many functional pieces of software end up with worse and worse UI over time.
@@TheForbinExperiment Microsoft Word, Windows after Windows 98, there are so many, oh and iTunes, and the trend is rampant. The failure with software, in my opinion, is similar to the problem with programmers writing the user manuals. They know all its features so intimately they forget about the actual user and person new to software, its not only feature creep but UI obfuscation where the UI indeed has so much in it, it becomes harder to use. Which is better, the army knife with 40 features or the one with 6? At some point the software becomes stable and popular and the programers then find new and "clever" things to add.
People forget that UIs are interfaces. The other side of that is something you have zero control of. You can inform, you can hopefully shape how someone interacts with it though UX changes, but at the end of the day they are going to use it however they want to. Basically, IMHO, if you want to radically change the UX/UI, make a new thing. You can use the same backend, you can reuse the internals, just whatever you do don't call it the same thing. Let it and all the user expectations with it die with the old name. Every trope and every convention you reuse will also shape the user expectations. You also run into the issue of any long-standing project/product of making the perfect UX for the users of that product. You can keep fine-tuning, and they will keep getting more and more experienced. Building greater and greater workflows around this tool. Until finally making a product so truly interfaced with a select few groups of people that no one else in their right minds would even consider learning to use it.
The secret is that 99% of elitist designers are terrified to talk to an actual "user" while they are creating (or usually borrowing) the design. The design world is full of uniformity because most designers are Googling the same references and rarely dig below the surface.
Calling the Dino Taco Holder a bad design should be considered a crime. Expensive Chair: Has No Dino, Has No Taco and I can't afford Dino Taco Holder: Has Dino, Has Taco and I can Afford
@@dimplesd8931 If you have two hands, getting two of them will let you carry *four* tacos at the same time without breaking the shells. I'm not sure you're ready for that kind of power though.
Reminds me of some backlash at my design school when the Cybertruck was announced: a real car brand made something that our teachers would have ridiculed unanimously if a student presented such a project.
I don't think it's elitist to dislike the cybertruck's design (or any design). I think it comes down to why you dislike it. I recognize that it is very innovative for a whole bunch of reasons (manufacturing, marketing, etc. etc.) but I still hate it because it represents a dystopian future that I don't want to be a part of.
@@Design.Theory dystopian future? what are you talking about? cybertruck is the coolest thing, and in a field that's getting staler year the year (car design)
@@JohnDoe-ph6if I'm pretty sure he is talking about an expensive EV by a company that, like many silicon valley brands, tout promises of 'making the world a better place', but are really just making luxury items for well off yuppies to FEEL like they're doing something good. While at the same time they (the ev manufacturer) are contributing to the eroding of our biosphere in only slightly different ways than oil companies.
As a student of architecture, I always used to think that good design is for all. It solves problems and makes life better. After working on projects with all types of budgets (low to high), I observed that my efforts were duly paid on projects with high budgets, and I had to work extra hard to make a low budget project happen. I think that's why a lot of designers want to be elite, to attract high value clients. Clients with low budget do deserve a good design, but designers have a duty to take care of their own well-being, too. My on-field experience made me think about concentrating more on high value designs, but your video inspired me to keep working on the low budget ones too. Talking about why elitist designers have a specific design type, I hope that it doesn't happen in India. Here, some people like minimalism while some are maximalists. All types of design are welcomed by someone or the other, that's why cities here look a bit chaotic, but individually good.
Architecture is such a terrible industry nowadays. 90% of modern architecture is the garbage of egotistical jerks who give each other pats on the backs. Everything international style is a writeoff.
Which is not great for me, as an architect and an Indian. I love minimalism. I don't think it was because of the euro centric designs (maybe it was). But I just love the clean, crisp, sleek aesthetics of minimalism.
This is probably a big reason I didn’t pursue graphic design professionally. These kinds of people exist in every kind of workplace, but when it comes to your own art, criticism can feel personal. Not saying that constructive criticism is bad, but when others are overly competitive, it seems like the worst traits of the design world come to fruition. I’m glad the Internet and other resources have become available for artists of every medium, because even though it isn’t perfect, there is definitely a more accepting and diverse community of people out there.
I started in it to pay off my college debt. It is really difficult and you have to have a very thick skin and really work quickly and think on your feet. Very stressful for me.
Design is different from art. What you design is not an “expression of yourself”. It’s an expression of who you’re designing for. No need to take it personal. If we called bad design “good”, then that helps no one except a persons ego.
@@katscandanceThat's easy to say but not in actual practice. When I was in architecture school, criticism was never relayed to me/us as a failure of upholding the design brief or failure of the needs of a client, instead, criticism was often centered on the failure of our selves as designers. It was intentionally delivered as 'you, the designer/architect, should know better'. And to a certain degree, I can understand some of it. Especially when you're still in the learning stages, it's important that certain standards are upheld, however, to say that art criticism is different from design criticism is not that clean cut, because all design processes whether for yourself or others can't help but have your own personal interpretation and self expression in it. And therefore, criticism of such design will always be personal. Art itself is never in a vacuum and alot of art are specifically designed to be reactive to public consumption in the same way design is. Imo, there's just too many egomaniacs running design schools/firms and not only upholding the same toxicity that they were delt with, but also passing it on to others.
This really touched on my college experience in industrial design. Not only the “designing for designers” part but the eurocentric POV many professors and peers spoke from. It can really mess with your head when a design professor rips your ideas apart for no reason meanwhile they don’t even know how to do 3d CAD or set anything up for manufacturing and at the same time championing a designer who made a pintrest idea look a little bit different. I like to take chances and think about the average user thats needs a product but I guess designers don’t like that lol.
ugh, it was exactly the same in my experience in architecture school. Even when you're working inside this eurocentric POV (can't help it though, I am in Europe), but even then, I've had professors fall for the peers who brought in a project practically stolen from Pinterest. The only way they would've seen it that way would've been if they actually used Pinterest themselves, in order to recognize the theft. This threw me into such a useless depression and lack of self doubt and motivation (because what point was there in trying to improve while competing with ready-mades) in my 3rd year of study - I'm barely over it 5 years later...
i'm an ID student closing in on my senior year. the past year and a half has stripped me of so much passion - i used to be one of the top students but now feel barely motivated to work on anything. i noticed there was a sudden shift in attitudes of faculty at the higher level (3rd and 4th year instructors, some important administrators) where everything suddenly became "conceptual" rather than innovative, feasible / functional, well-researched, with measurably good impact. when i propose a project idea, there have been times where i was told it's not "poetic" or "artful" enough. other times i've been bullied by instructors to go with the form ideation that is the most aesthetically hyper-minimal - even at the cost of function. i've been expected to pump out extremely unrealistic levels of CAD or advanced prototyping (metalworking, ceramics) from instructors who don't do either of these things in their own practice (and therefore can't even help you achieve what they demand). it's also interesting to me that most of these faculty members work in either the museum or high-end designer space. they are some of the most decorated individuals in the school with permanent exhibitions in museums, who regularly cancel class to attend design trade shows, with a massive list of awards and published books under their belt... and yet every time i seek out feedback, the responses i get are almost always about "higher level concepts". ironically, when a design is carried only by it's "higher-level concepts", it becomes superficial fluff with no place in the real world (imo!). my instructors earlier on were great! they were typically new hires, sometimes freshly graduated from their master's, and very young with experience in the field. they taught me technical skills, how to research, how to develop a "designer's eye", and assessed projects through a wide range of criteria. the emotional tipping point for me i guess was earlier this semester when one of my peer's work was praised and nominated for an award by our professor (who's also the director of undergraduate studies) - only i knew it was a one-to-one direct rip-off of a very famous design piece. she and i had taken the same class where we were exposed to said piece. i brought the similarities up during critique in a non-accusatory way but the instructor didn't think to look into it. SORRY this turned into a therapy session for me... it's something i've been thinking about a lot and didn't know other people felt the same. it can also be hard to talk about these things with peers as not everyone shares the same perspective / it comes across as "shit-talking" / "just work harder" / etc.
@@one-stopgodshop2171 Exactly. Unfortunately, the fountain of self-hatred is fed by these types. The sooner you talk about it with someone (one of your peers or a young professor experiencing something similar in the same academia) and demystify the situation, the better. Those professors once wronged who finally get to a higher position might not do the same if they've had a few open discussions about the issue. I guess it's a more common symptom, regardless of the root cause. I think here, where those who were professors during or soon after communism (Central/East Europe) - they are often those who spark these conflicts. It's been naturalised for so long, relative to their lifelong experience, they might not see they're doing something wrong. I've personally noticed that some think they're "toughening people up" - it worked for them, after all - you can't even hope of telling them they should try and change after decades. So we're left with dealing with the issue, barricading or taking it head on - both, from what I've seen, have hindered students' projects and motivation (at times, before 'growing up', I guess, myself included). Professors' as well, in return to seeing students lose interest. I would spend 30 minutes after every 1-to-1 crit with my thesis advisor to discuss the environment. Other students gladly jumped in. Guess we all need to let out some steam
The moment you talked about the designer ripping people's ideas off of a wall, it took me back to art school. Particularly for video game art and design. I've constantly heard chairs, instructors, and presidents of the school say "this student over here is the smartest student we have" in front of other students. The dean of the school was observing a character design class I was in where he swung his arm saying "all of this is shit" in a class that...well wasn't really teaching us much. That mentality is seen in the educational process as well. Hell, even in high school art classes.
I had to laugh. When I was in high school, my art teacher assigned us an abstract project. We had to draw an abstract piece. I fully admit, drawing is not my strong point, it never was, but I enjoyed art class and making the effort. So we all drew our abstract pieces. The teacher looked at mine ans told me it was too abstract and to do it over or get a 'D'. Too abstract? Really? 😂
I've experienced both studying gd. Also, had a few clients that wanted to scrap everything, or that said everything is wrong. In a roundabout way, the bad experiences in university taught me to defend my work with calm, rational arguments and ask questions, and extract some bit of useful actionable information from even the worse interactions. I'm not perfect at it, sometimes I still get bothered or stressed, but professional confidence is absolutely required to survive and do good work in a design field. Complaining about critiques, even malevolent ones, on unfinished work, just signals immaturity and lack of confidence to more experienced peers and difficult clients, it's in your best interest that they not get under your skin.
Christ Universities ripping character design drawings off walls for being shit or whatever.. Did the university bother teaching the students artistic anatomy, shading, light and shadow? From what I've seen of art education the technical aspects and craft of art isn't being taught in university, because it is difficult to teach the highly technical and skilled aspects of art, in the same way that it is difficult to teach the technical design principals of neo classical architecture It's frankly easier to be able to throw an abstract painting on canvas, or to draw some wonky cartoon face, than to spend the enormous amount of time and repition that it takes to be able to make art that is objectively skilled and technical, rather than hiding and obfuscating your work under subjective taste I find it discouraging looking into architecture that ornamentation has been completely ripped out of university curriculums. I believe that removing the objectivity of hard won technical skill through practice, repetition, making mistakes and learning that students are forced to float free without proper guidance from instructors or an ability to orient themselves to reality or history. The greatest artists I've seen in the modern era have been great despite the tertiary education system that is in place for creative industries, and not because of their education It is strange, music education is one of the last arts where artists and crafts people are forced to put in the repititions to build up the muscle memory, practice objectively based artistic techniques till they can be the supportive skeleton of further exploration I let myself escape from grinding away at artistic anatomy into cartoon character, cubism and abstract art. It was easier on my ego to play around in an artistic space that wasn't objective, where I could hide my fragile ego away from my own critique With guitar I had to sit down for years working on my techniques till they finally became smoothe and fell into place Even mathematics. A maths professor I knew said learning maths is like learning the violin, you have to practice your scales again and again. Consistently working on a skill till it becomes entrenched within your subconscious mind, and can be drawn upon instinctively. I wish art subjects were taught in technical colleges for craftspeople rather than being taught in universities. To strip away the intellectualism that obscures the lack of substance in modern art education
Ive Been an intern and have seen this happen a lot. Thanks for open some of our eyes who are new to the design world. We sometimes can be broken down by the wrong philosophy in the workplace. Keep posting more like these
There are many great design leaders/studios/companies who are extremely supportive and inclusive while still putting out excellent design work. Those companies are still out there!
@@Design.Theory im an aspiring designer and the results of my design college entrance exam came today and I didn't make it in. It would be really helpful if you could mention some of those companies cuz I believe in those environments and want to keep on working to become a good designer
I can only agree. I give public talks and have a gift in convincing others in conferences. Sometimes I rewatch my talks and cringe at the small lies like "Wow, I actually believed that at that moment" It's SO easy to give small lies when you get good at speaking just to make pieces fit or a conversation to continue in the direction you want it to. You can delude yourself to act like what you say is real and tell the same stories so often that you can start just forgetting you made that up at some point in some conversation.
This really does effect many if not all creative industries, I'm a creative writer and University was the first time I saw someone's work get demolished in a public setting by both students and professors. Now they're all either writing or editing/publishing, and yeah the attitude is still there.
I'm in second year of architecture school and I feel like this is probably the most challenging time of my life, trying to balance your personal wishes with the demands of your group. Also, I learned what it feels like to be around actual selfish jerks who really live in their microcosmos and make group work even harder. Thanks to you, I finally feel like I'm not alone with these thoughts!
Very well presented, As an Art Center College of Design alumni I've been through years of this first at school then years of this at various motion graphics shops ... my work motto has always been: "we're not saving lives here."
Design perfectionists loooove to get their knickers in a knot over details, that, at the end of the day, are not as important as, say, the correct process/material/strategy for a successful design. Not being able to see the forest for the trees/the big picture can hinder the pursuit of a solution. As a big fan of Syd Mead, I wanted to attend Art Center, but my own artistic abilities were never up to my own internal standards to allow myself to take a stab. I’ve had what I would call great ideas from time to time, but I’ve noticed that the best designers seem to ALWAYS knock it out of the park without fail.
I think, like the video mentioned, that these high standards and perfectionism we strive for is because we gained a persons trust and we want to deliver. Definitely not saving lives, but once someone trusts us to do work for them, we don’t want to disappoint them or ruin our ability to get future clients.
Architecture student and enthusiast here, designing mass stuff usually means you'll be forgotten, starchitects all make dubiously useful or aesthetically pleasing stuff
Yes, most of us are relegated to designing tiny residential apartments and those have no innovation whatsoever. It's been years since I graduated but I couldn't work more than 2 years at architectural firms or construction companies. I always thought I would have the chance to design a school, an art gallery or anything that's not a residential apartment complex. But seems like that's what's majorly built and my dream of designing something else seemed like a distant dream.
20 years experience in auto oem advanced design here , you nailed it at " designers just want to impress their peers" and that " club" . couldn't agree more , good job
@@Design.Theory of course, but i've seen too many real creatives being pushed aside because they didn't want to fit the mould ... such a waste of talents... anyway pretty good analysis on the subject , we could talk for hours on the subject !
A sincere thank you to all you creatives who work tirelessly behind the scenes, designing the wonderful, practical, and beautiful things we see, touch, and use every single day. Signed, an appreciative violinist and composer, working behind the scenes in TV and film.
"Craftmanship and care are considered luxuries but that's a topic for another day" - have you hit this topic yet? I would love a full dive into this! this is the first vid I watched of yours, and I appreciate your scripting and POV! Subbed!
Did you ever notice that most jobs a few hundred years back were essentially sole proprietorship? Or maybe a guy and a couple of assistants who may or may not be his family. Farmer, barber, cobbler, tailor, carpenter etc. (Merchants being an exception and farmers may not be considered craftsmen.) And then industrialization came and made shit cheaper than what these folks could make for. And then, everyone was working in a factory and now some in the office too, for a company. So, what's special now is being an entrepreneur and bespoke suits and shoes and watches, which are now considered a luxury.
It’s so interesting you mentioned so many things on why I’ve moved from Architecture into scenic design. I just finished my first full production and seeing how many people it takes to execute the show is humbling. I was just one piece in a big system of people who made it happen. I love the work I did, but it was the lighting, the costumes, the acting, and the crew that made it magical. I never want to forget that.
I used to be elitist and way more egotistical and was making way more ambitious work than I do now since my god-complex deflated. I think my stuff is more relatable to people now though!
I think there’s a useful distinction to be made between kindness and encouraging high (er) standards. The flip side is the junior creative who can’t handle the truth about their work without their feelings getting hurt in an inefficient way, requiring coddling by others and studio inefficiencies. Everybody is going to experience the frustration of blocked goals and has to be able to handle that maturely- not taking critiques too personally AND not letting it spill over into counterproductive expressions. Drama happens, is generally not helpful, so being able to manage your own ego driven issues will make you a better creative regardless of rank. That it’s not always possible is part of the job. The job eventually reveals each persons weakness that way. After a little practice, work relationships can allow for a wide range of expression without anybody taking it too personally. Always a little bit but in check.
I love your content. You leave no bases uncovered. It's inclusive and considerate, yet realistic and pragmatic. I'm not a designer by trade but the way with which you approach these topics with endless alternatives and counter arguements within the topics you are discussing is brilliant in my opinion. Bravo.
this video needs to be watched on repeat by anyone who wants to be serious about this line of work. Thankfully my professor of design history and design critique frequently went out of his way to engrain these concepts into his students, but they're not near as common sense as they should be. Great work!
The problem with most designers is that they are very weak in real technical matters and real knowledge of execution process (construction or manufacturing), they ended up just relying on "artistic flair", "artistic licence", and showmanship to get what they wanted through, by even bulldozing their ways, over actual reality and real knowledge.
This is unfortunate. As an ‘old school’ designer, who has worked in various industries some of my best experiences were working for manufacturing firms at the factory facilities. These were not glamorous design offices, but I had an opportunity to work directly on a daily basis with machine operators, engineers, craftsmen, and other technicians as well as the sales and marketing people. We worked out the execution of my ideas together. Sometime my ideas had to be compromised substantially to be produced, but most times everyone worked toward getting the product as close to the original idea as possible. Working in mfg facilities also gave me a great appreciation for the steps required to bring a product to market after it leaves the design desk.
I blame alot of it on the schools. Mine taught design but not business so later I went back and took coursework offered in business for designers that they offered years later.
I have worked in and out of the art/design world for 30 years and this is absolutely true. It’s long been a trope that these fields are cut-throat and competitive, but what that means is that lots of people within it are constantly and exhaustingly trying to be accepted by their peers or audience, to the point of mutual alienation and very lonely and superficial social relationships - all in the pursuit of Beauty. Just walk into a gallery opening and feel the icy winds of judgment, about your pants, about your earrings, about your most recent work…. I have a love-hate relationship with my own profession and have periodically dropped out because I’m not thick skinned enough.
@@one-stopgodshop2171you're right but its hard for people to buy that. Better just say do some meditation or wim hof breathing that makes it sound more scientific. Because there are actual scientific studies backing that up
What he said about Eurocentric minimalism was so true. I currently struggle with this in school with a teacher. It’s like they don’t understand that not all design solutions have to be braun or Bauhaus esc
I think you might be disappointed later on.... The reason minimalism is so dominant is not part of the design sphere but rather, the manufacturing sphere Most minimalist designs have STUPID margins for their markets (i'm speaking 35% in a 6% market, 99.98% in a 4% market in one case) and also have large stable sale volumes as they fit almost anywhere
@@angrydragonslayer your actually 100% spot on. One of my professors who advocated heavily for bauhaus or minimalist style designs also placed a large emphasis on manufacturability. I think my goal will be to work in the more niche private sector of design so this limitation is only on me and my methods, not effecting an entire company’s ability to manufacture something
As a consumer I want the best aesthetics for my budget. As a person that worked in a design office I was proud to design things that other designers, pm, line builders wanted. We had a lot of success and we had some failures. Unless you worked in the field it can seem odd. You spot on with a lot of things in your video!
I think it was dieter rams who said or maybe it was bbc documentary about design, "the fact that it's designed should mean that it's affordable to the average consumer".
Your commentary on design awards and the designs that get celebrated reminded me of my own feelings when I see a lot of "sustainable" design concepts that get celebrated. Looking at them with a practical engineering background, so many are impossible wishful thinking wrapped up in pretty renderings. And people talk about them as innovative and meaningful contributions, without any questions about whether they would work in reality.
That's why I personally despise the sustainability movement as a whole. I am more of a fan of intensity myself, which does run counter to sustainability in a variety of settings, but generally it's about fulfilling the entire scale of systems rather than watering things down and distilling it to a version that completely misses the entire point.
I had a girlfriend studying industrial design. Most of their projects were about coming up with impossible invention gadgets. This is what the academics expected of them and this is what they did. Of course, any realistic engineering would have made the gadgets either: worse knock-offs of complete existing commercial products; or completely inefficient alternatives to already solved and existing mechanisms/technology inside commercial products. You really need to be a competent engineer with years of experience in a particular tech field before you're a designer. So in my mind, proper design is an engineering discipline in all fields it can be applied in.
This is the second video I watch of you, I really love your editing style and the structure of your videos. Wish you all the best on your journey, your videos are amazing!
This is an excellent sample of why I switched to Hunan-centric design. UX and CX design are always focused on the human we are seeking to serve. That means that we can replace that egocentric conversion with empathy, and that insecurity in the presentation with testing and results. Human-centric design has also elevate the design department outside the shadow of marketing KPIs, and ultimately give designers a sit on the table to participate in the development of modern business and Brands
When it comes to creatives, the internet is remarkable when it comes to separating those in it for the money, or the status from those in it for the art and craft, because there is no reason whatsoever to be against the democratization of a skill that leads to opportunity and elevation of the craft by allowing people without money, or connections to learn and demonstrate their talent.
The dino taco holder is brilliant. Its designer descended from heaven, and heralded a golden age! Actual Japanese lowercase design is humble and functional. I have been working with designers in the software industry for almost a decade now, and I have ALWAYS stood at their desks and engaged with their process live, especially when it comes to reminding them of what happens when somebody interacts with their design; in my experience, if they actually know what they're doing they'll respond in kind by placing reasonable demands and constraints on the behavior of the software; if they don't know what they're doing they'll lash out and put people down.
Yeah, working with designers that actually have a good idea of what's reasonable and what the possibilities for the software are, and keep UI consistent - makes for good conversations, debates and decisions. Working with designers that can also code is even better.
I was terrified to enter the art and design fields because all of the “good” artists who I experienced who had “made” it were the exact people you are describing on this video. It took me years of doing professional work for clients to realize that i actually did know what I was doing after all and that most of the high end art world was just a fancy tax shelter
I'm a student studying aerospace engineering and going into my final senior design project soon. The advice at the end seems really helpful and I'll try to follow it to the best of my ability as I enter the next semester. Thanks!
These are good points to remember. Elon Musk, Anna Wintour, Kanye West, Stanley Kubrik, most classical conductors, Frank Lloyd Wright, Steve Jobs, etc... the list goes on and on. One reasons why I'm hesitant to continue pursuing interior design and what I've seem really puts me off in terms of toxic work culture at the high end of the industry. IMO an unfortunate amount of people at the top of any industry who are toxic jerks might suffer from clincially diagnosable Narcissistic Personality Disorder as controversial as that might be to say....
I was just thinking what psychology analisis can be performed here.. a lot of leaders and manager are often sociopaths.. this might apply to this branch of designer leaders.. when someone’s name pops out more often than their product.. what is the product/brand there.. I’d argue about apple/android - I have no idea who stands behind android other than google, I barely recognize any google founders (I’d have to google for their names 😂) I do prefer the design and ux and functionality of iphone over android, since used both .. I’m sort of impressed by Steve Jobs but also realise he’s got that assholiness.. ..macbooks, incredibly unique quality design, but UX - a bit of a mess compared to iphone.. but still a reliable software/hardware.. what was my point? Lost it.. ? I still sort of gravitate to those well known branded designer leaders.. I’d love to own a tesla.. bcs they are the e car originals.. ..there’s many others e cars but I don’t know much about them.. I think both steve jobs and E musk have sociopathic tendencies at least - did I buy into their brands (they themselves being brands).. didn’t get a tesla to compare.. I’m convinced about iphones as I used them, and at least their whole thing with devices connectivity to each others is really impressive and usefull.. .. yeah, I guess they are a bit of freaks, the loud elitist ones do sometimes step far above and do actually do something different and better.. Again I also hate perfectionism when I have to it myself - I love the result, but 99% of that perfectionism is lost on 99% people.. used to do (and sometimes still do) perfect product renders (they always want it to look like iphone commercials).. I could have done it in a week and most people looking at it would feel it’s accurate, but we spend a month on each product and after a year of that perfectionism grinding I started to burn out slowly - doing hundred micro adjustments to get pixel perfect render, that look great at 8k res zoomed in, then you get that down to 600x600 pixels and compressed.. loosing 80% of that perfectionism.. FML it gets suffocating to do this constantly, maybe it’s for masochistic people Maybe an elitist approach from me would mean that I’d stop and decide this is great and keep from burning out - maybe that’s what these designers also do, some have perfectionism disorder, some protect themselves from burning out.. ..it’s probably some mental/psychological trait that big names people usually have (You know like, dad always criticised, and they never think they are good enough so they want to do it perfectly, and then when they gain some power they will look down and criticise in return, not realising it’s their trauma leading their life)
@@robob3ar I'm super perfectionistic and this is almost certainly a big part of why most of the things I make are not released yet… and I'm definitely burning out in these projects, for sure. Gigs like Doordash that I am doing, are making way more money than I've ever made creating things digitally, much more quickly and easily. I wish there were better guides on how to make digital creation profitable; I have struggle to conceive of how I might make things remotely economically, when I will often spend a month or longer on a project, spending many hours that would lead to an absurd bill at minimum wage, when the alternative is making $150 in a single day on Doordash… How can I possibly make anything at a price people will be able to pay quick enough that it makes sense economically?
You could just be a good interior designer who listens to their client and makes suggests within their taste. There is no need to be 'high end' or toxic or a jerk.
Well, Interior Design is one of the more extreme hide outs for that kind of behavior. When I first got out of school and went on an interview, the designer who owned the business didnt even show up and his assistant kept saying he didn't want anyone to steal his clients and he was so exclusive his number was unlisted.🤣
Great video - I was wondering when you were going to post again! Elitism in design is definitely something I’ve run into but I think younger peers are changing too. I think there’s also some amount of “I dealt with it so you will have to, too”
I think elitism is human nature. One time I saw some homeless people talking and trying to 1up eachother on how long they had been homeless. It was like a pissing contest to the bottom. If elitism exists in homelessness, it exists everywhere.
It's a manifestation of our need to survive and not die. And if that means someone else has to die instead of us because they "lost", they will lose and we will make sure they lose, and we win/live.
Elitism is not human nature, it’s just the systems we live in that make elitism and egoism flourish. Monarchy, imperialism, feudalism, capitalism, all of them focus on clear divisions and a hierarchy. Saying elitism is human nature because we live under a system that favors elitism is like saying dying of water poisoning is human nature because the water supply is polluted.
@@elijahhernandez906 Copying from wikipedia: "-ism is a suffix in many English words, originally derived from the Ancient Greek suffix -ισμός (-ismós), and reaching English through the Latin -ismus, and the French -isme. It means "taking side with" or "imitation of", and is often used to describe philosophies, theories, religions, social movements, artistic movements and behaviors. It is typically added to nouns.
@@elijahhernandez906I hope you aren’t making this comment in bad faith, many people would imply that any philosophy or political leaning is “bad,” and that would be a very reductionist view for any progress in society.
this is a complete subjective statement. what you see as extra effort as AD/ CD can be nothing but perfectionism for me. so the whole sentiment is unhealthy and elitist af
I’ve found in my short time working in film that it has become more friendly and less exclusionary. Film is also a collaborative medium. I’ve seen a lot of want to be Kubricks fail to find ways to communicate and burn out do to their inability to collaborate.
Yeah, my cousin worked for Barry Levinson and enjoyed her time in production work. After the recent 'Rust' drama it sounds like this industry is changing alot now - churn, burn. Although I'm not a part of it so I can't really say.
I enjoy making user interfaces. It's so interesting to see how different people think and interact with it. It makes you think no one is stupid, we all just think differently.
I've worked both freelance and in Design Agencies and have seen some of (but not qiuet to the extent you have shared) what you mention at the start of the video. I would say though that I've been lucky enough to have Creative directors that are nurturing and have helped develop me into the designer I am today. I would also say though that the obsession with perfectionism is something that , like you pointed out, can actually ruin the design process. I always think if you give something for instance 8 hours of you're time and you get it to 95% of what it needs to be, does an extra 2/3/4+ hours actually get it to 100%? or does it even add another 1% to that total. This is where perfectionism can demoralise and strip the fun out of the creative process.
I'm an software engineer and although it's not a creative job in my opinion I can totally relate to the points you made, especially that it _requires_ a big ego to push and implement your ideas. Thanks for the video!:)
I agree so much with what's been said in this video. I've come across my fair share of egotistical creatives who span over different industries (photography, animation & graphic design in my experience). It was a shock to me seeing this when I was in art school, and later on at work. But at the same time, I've also met plenty of creatives who are so kind, wise and what my country calls "tidak kedekut ilmu" (someone who is not stingy with their knowledge aka NOT a gatekeeper). These people are what keeps the community alive.
I'm an Architect and what bugs me about the design world is the lack of appreciation for practicality, like if a design is practical or multi-functional it means it's for the poor = cheap = bad design. It really puts a damper on creativity. I work at a studio that mainly designs and builds public buildings but we get a private house here and there and rich people CRINGE when you say the word practical, like they WANT for things to be hostile/hard otherwise they are cheap. I honestly don't get it.
Personally, I think that an inferiority complex, especially in the school context, also plays a very big role in this problem. The art school I went to had the slogan "So you want to be an artist? It's going to be hard, but it's going to be worth it." And the teachers regularly made statements about how an art education is supposedly at least as difficult as, say, studying law, maybe even more difficult because "law students just have to memorise some information while an art student has to work hard every day to develop their talent" (their words , not mine). There was also a lot of complaining about how society looks down on artists when our skills are needed for countless things. It was a breeding ground for arrogance and self-pity. Worst of all, this mentality created a space where teachers can freely terrorise their students without any resistance. It was awful.
just a friendly reminder that design research is a great tool to back up design decisions. This way, there's no need to be overly critical about a design decision. I don’t know why this is not mentioned. Maybe it does not help solve the elitist jerk problem?
That’s a really good point. I lean on this really heavily more-so in software UX but it doesn’t account for the emotional and intangible aspects that don’t have a precedent to point to. There’s also way less data on the hardware side you can conduct studies but sometimes there isn’t budget and/or there’s just gut intuition and an amalgam of experiences that put a designer or any innovator in a position to see something others don’t yet.
The end is very relevant to my experience - I had experience in web design at an old school communication agency with a very arrogant and competitive culture. Then I changed to the exact same job but within an IT engineering culture company: people were so much nicer, and I think we served our clients better.
I have learned over the years the more outrageous the designer looks and acts. The poorer the work will be, if your focused on your persona. The work will take a back seat.
@@robob3ar I’m not the OP but I think he’s a good figure head, not the do-it-all genius some people think but he performs the leadership and ‘thought leader’ role well by the looks of things, people want to work for him.
Wonderful insightful video. Thank you for this. More professionals need to watch this all the way through. Especially the end part when you talk about needing to be strict with your team or how to deliver a not so positive remark about someones work. Tact is vital.
You captured my experience exactly. I did a double degree with the former in design and the later in computer science. Near the end of my design degree I had this uneasy feeling of my personality becoming more and more pretentious and concieted because of the nature of the work and the attention to detail required in places most people would never even think of. When I switched to software engineering, my personality morphed too. It was more rigid, and methodological and I started to feel like a normal person again funnily enough. I like the perspective each has given me, but I could never shake the feeling that the moral values in design were fundamentally flawed because of greed.
Awards-for-pay exactly like the ones you describe exist in the short-story writing market, too. I find it fascinating that in the industrial design world they are apparently accepted and quasi-respected, when all of the authors that I know are unified in considering them predatory scams.
Interesting comment! Can you please elaborate further on how this specifically operates in short story writing? I hear alot about how publishing companies lobby and buy awards for authors and books for commercial gains but I've never heard how this plays out in shorter work, especially when these same publishers don't seem to care for publishing short story collections.
@@SaffariRose : In this case, there are companies (different companies from the big publishing companies, usually) that announce contests for short stories, charge entry fees, and then use some of the entry-fee money to produce a low-budget anthology of the winners ... which they then mostly sell to the people who won. Or, alternately, they don't charge an entry fee but charge the winners to publish their work, and arrange things to have as many winners as they can -- because their business model is publish-for-pay. In neither case do they put significant effort into selling the resulting anthology. If you do a search for the phrase "writer beware" and "contest", you'll find lots of things on the Writer Beware blog about contests of this sort. I do note that, when I was looking this up to remember details, I discovered that my knowledge is mostly coming from the science-fiction/fantasy publishing world, which is reasonably commercial (and there are a number of actual paying markets that make money through sales of the resulting magazines or anthologies). The "literary" short-story market is reportedly somewhat more like the industrial-design world in accepting such contests.
I think their are two components: the feedback loop of success which reinforces and amplifies underlying personality traits, the inherently destructive and antisocial nature of creativity. What drives you to be creativity is dissatisfaction with the status quo. If you are successful at dismantling that and replacing it with your own ego centric vision, you are going to repeat that behavior.
But what if you see something with the status quo is wrong or isn't working for humanity? What if you care enough to just try to do something a little different? Not all designers are A-holes. Lots, but not all.
Social designers do the opposite thing: they try so hard to look friendly and close, like regular common people, so they can manipulate other with their social engineering.
The dinosaur taco holder came on screen and I immediately thought, wow, amazing! seems obvious now that I've seen it, which is a sure sign of greatness. I hope that they sell a complete range of dinosaur shaped home products, such as knife block, chairs, coffee table, lamps, clock etc, perfect thing for the dinosaur house that I live in in my imagination
Very different from the engineering process, my goodness. Crazy to think a seemingly simple design went through hells kitchen and back. Great video my friend
@@definitlynotbenlente7671 I guess that’s the other thing with creatives. We don’t really think about these limitations/restrictions when thinking up new ideas. That’s what the engineer is there for lol. If we had to seriously limit our creativity and couldn’t think outside the box, we wouldn’t be able to create anything innovative and better. Most things in this world started out as a “crazy idea” long before it became a reality.
So many good points. Especially hearing that a concept is basically a lie that you try to sell. Though I would phrase it differently at least in my mind and you said it as well. Having confidence while not loosing your humanity is the key. Giving respect and looking for a good solution do not necessarily have to fight with each other. You'll probably loose many ideas and concepts on the way but that feels like a way of trial and error. Maybe it has to do with the reality check. If we would build a lot of concepts that would and could cost a lot of money and effort. I notice this is not a definitive comment. Just a bit of talking points. Anyways thanks for the insights. I am curious what will come in the future. :)
Oh could you please do a video on the exclusivity of craft and quality? I work ultra high end architectural metal work in the bay area and have so many thoughts on it. I've made details for clients that would've been available cheaper, faster, and more consistently in off the shelf items but had to make them by hand just because the client wanted something made just for them. We haven't talked much since I got out of CCA but I hope you're doing well!
@B Felber our shop is one of a handful in the area doing that kind of work and each of us kinda has our specialties. I only recently have begun getting paid enough it's hard to find competitive offers but I've been there over a decade. My coworkers could likely find comparable or better pay in the area at other shops. It's hard to find good employees though.
My favourite classes in design school were Graphic Design History and Colour and Design, got about a year in and concluded, it made me a more technically solid artist but after 17 years in body piercing, and moonlighting in kitchen jobs, I decided focus on menial jobs to pay the bills and make art and music on the side, I am a perfectionist but am pretty critical of my own finished product.
I love this video. Thank you for making it. 😊 It's interesting to see the same patterns cropping up everywhere, including the effect of phone cameras and the internet to increase inclusiveness, creative freedom, and diversity. My impression of another creative area, the visual arts, is that there is a huge divide in the minds of 'regular' people between the fine arts ('real art') and all the other arts (like media illustration, kids illustration, poster/branding/product design, online content creator, or being a self-employed niche artist). And broadly speaking, those areas seem to attract very different people with different mindsets and different goals. But also with different audiences. So an arrogant outgoing stereotypical visionary artist may do well with non-artist media and rich customers, but maybe not on social media. Conversely, a helpful collaborative explorative artist may do better on youtube than with big media looking for the extravagant, or rich clients looking for an expensive yet impersonal investment.
Which german university are you referring to about the Colani situation? I‘m a product design student at a german school, and actually one of my professors learned under Colani back in Italy; she praises his work! So I‘m curious, cant find anything online about that
Amazing video with great observations. A software developer who also makes art, these were some really good insights into the mindset of people in the creative sphere. I had no idea that the open-source, things-can-be-improved attitude of devs was unique to us. I've been kinda taking it for granted. This gives me a fresh perspective and appreciation for the field I'm currently in.
I’m both ux and game designer, and I really appreciate your video. The truth is, that the result of your work will be hundreds of times better if you are an empathic listener. User research is a tough sell to clients, but it’s the most important part, strategy aside. That alone is a very good opportunistic reason to act like a humble human being. And as you mentioned, that doesn’t end with the users, but extends to your team. A good designer is a director, filtering through the teams ideas, rather than seeing themselves as the sole vision holder. I like that you didn’t push on that idea too hard though, since in the end the primary motivation to being a good human being should be just the act of enjoying it for itself. Unfortunately even in my field (digital) I’ve worked with arrogant designers, but eventually you’ll find yourself clients which see past all that bullshit and appreciate your authenticity, and with that there’s no necessity to deal with those narcissists anymore
It sucks cuz certain arts like architecture are in a dark age because the law firm nature of that industry allows these old established architects to act like gatekeepers never allowing people in unless they design something they approve of.
Architecture is not art. Your planing something that’s to function as something for people to live in whereas art is the act of crafting something that necessarily doesn’t function at all.
@@danial3600 If that were so true, then we'd all be living in completely featureless cubes. Your definition is myopic as fuck. People want the places they live, work, and visit to be as pretty as they are useful. Architects are the translators between the creative vision of what they want the building to look and feel like, and the concrete engineering realities of actually creating such a thing. That's an art. Full stop
There is a study on people in creative jobs and how high they score on the dark triad in psychology: narcissisum, machiavellianism and psychopaty. Architect scored the highest on all three. Also in architecture they still think that its a male type of job even though more then half of students are women but only 1/3 of them get a job after they get a degree. They harass and bully people at work and they also think that stealing others ideas and even drawings is a normal thing.
Great video super insightful, and eye opening. As a chef I see this same thing in the top of our field. I was talking to my partner about why don’t we see more from afro centric cultures being represented. Even the top of the food world we design our plates in a very dieter rams style. Hell I’ve taken ideas from him directly. We’re working hard on trying to listen to nature when designing a dish a without being a diorama
You could always do that fancy thing where you serve it on a block of wood so that it gets cold really quickly, but if you're dead set on switching from white supremacy to cultural theft, at least be sure that the new solution is at least as effective as a nice, heatable, non-absorbent painted ceramic plate.
Something beautiful about the internet is the rising stars have anonymity, I don't have to go to design school to be well accepted And it becomes a very much people driven rise Love your analysis btw
I got reminded of something mark rosewater mtg game designer said on its talk about game design, it takes ego to will something to existance and as a result creative people tend to have large egos, maybe this is also a point
It's hard to describe how happy I am I've discovered your channel from when you had 10+ subsribers. The video, content, story quality was great from the start, but now... DAAAAAMN! I love every second of your videos, it's a huge inspiration everytime!!
It's because many creatives develop a god complex, especially if they experience some success. In my opinion the antidote, if you can do it, is to realize that you don't so much "own" your creations. Your ideas don't really wholey originate in your brain, rather you discover them through a process of exploration. What the brain is doing is making a lot of connections, in which each node (or perhaps literally group of neurons) is a concept learned from the external world, not generated from within. I think I came upon this perspective from years of playing the piano and composing music, when I realized that there are a finite combination of keys and chords, very few of which that actually sound good together. Of course, we should still celebrate the composers that have found beautiful music, but the point is that the music already existed in the universe and they were the ones to discover it. Does anyone own the C-minor to A-major chord progression? Was it the first person to have found that those chords sound epic together? To me this is actually empowering because it means that you can externalize this process to develop strategies for innovating new inventions, music, stories, etc. by listing several concepts, generate every combination of those concepts, then discovering the possibilities. Anyway, hopefully that is an enlightening, helpful, and not angering idea for any creatives reading this. It'd be interesting if you, Design Theory, made a video on this topic of, to what extent do we own our ideas vs. borrowing from the past, from culture, from other artists, from... physics, if you haven't already.
This is actually one of the topics I talk about in a book I'm writing with my friend Raffi (who's also in the video). Basically, I agree with you. I did a video about "When Designers Copy" which briefly touches on this. But it's more on the practical side of things and less on the philosophical side that you are exploring in your comment.
Any good designer who doesn’t believe in god has a high likely hood to develop a god complex. Any designer good or bad who believes in God knows all comes from him and they are just the pencil. If you can think of something outside of the concept of infinity let me know.
This makes sense, I love creating art projects and have many ideas for stories, but have very low confidence in myself. I didn't believe my personality could withstand the industry, so I've never tried despite how much I love my ideas.
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i made it half way through... no mention of capitalism yet, so it seems like you're missing the mark. creativity and capitalism are simply incompatible
also, the way kubrick treated shelley duvall amounts to abuse. there is no excuse for that, the resulting quality of the film does not matter. knowing what we know now, i will never watch that movie again
All Creatives will be replaced by AI anyway
Is the thumbnail a picture of George Lazenby from the '60s?
@@louisaruth So that's why some of the most historical objects of beauty and creativity have also often been commissioned, for a price?...and I mean, what sort of a non-sensical statement is that anyway? "capitalism and creativity are simply incompatible"....it's so obviously false to everyone but the must fervent ideologue.
@@ChimpyChamp your lack of imagination is showing. forget commission. we would have a renaissance if folks did not have to worry about paying money for food and rent
Something I've noticed over 20 years working in the arts industry:
People who are hard working and genuinely good at what they do tend to be helpful and eager to share everything they know.
People who got where are based on luck and connections are toxic jerks who hold on to their handful of tricks like it's top secrete info, blame others and tear others down.
I agree with you on this
And that’s also my experience
Totally agree. Work comes out of work. If you need to pontificate and bully, you probably don’t have the work to speak for itself. Are there exceptions? Sure, but it’s a pattern I’ve noticed.
I feel there's two types of creatives. There are the creatives who are people who love creating and would create regardless of the medium because it's in their soul to create, it's their passion. And then there's the "creatives" who only focus on money, engagement, and feedback, the type who look down on other type of artwork they don't like and will consistently bring others down in an attempt to boost themselves up. Although the prior are the majority, the latter are extremely vocal in any art related community.
Yep!!!
So it's not that being a jerk makes you a good designer.
Being a jerk helps you fight your way to the "top" which the industry perceives as top designers.
Imagine how many great designs, and great designers get lost to history because they are not compatible with this toxic environment.
Yes, it's sort of like survivorship bias.
It also reminds me of this Stephen Jay Gould quote:
"I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops."
@@craven5328 A very good point. The issue is not _who_ is on the top, but the fact that by paying attention to this hierarchy, we support its existence.
Great point
It's funny, in the early age of european maths, mathematicians used to work for royalty (helping architects and with strategies and stuff) and were really good payed, so a way to protect their careers were actually keeping his most valuable knowledge on secret and available only for his most trustable pupils, seems like the same for designers.
It's pretty much the same in Academia. As we say "you need to have sharp elbows."
I’m a neurosurgeon and people in surgical specialties have a reputation for having an inflated sense of self importance that distorts how they see the world and themselves in it resulting in temper tantrums when reality pokes its nose in. In fact it’s only a few individuals that are like that, doctors are generally caring calm people (and so are surgeons) but those jerks are so successful in spreading their nasty germs that the behaviour becomes normalised and widespread and we go through contortions trying to figure out why, like you did, when the deceptively simple answer is a-holes and jerks exist in nature, they are loud and visible and fields that involve confidence scams attract them. If you look at the personal lives of the people you mention, i would not be surprised to find that being a jerk is not limited to their work, it’s how they live their lives.
Pure narcs
I've worked in a hospital for civil service, and from personal experience, I've met all kinds of doctors. I've met some doctors, who were very kind and practical people. I've met doctors, who believed the world revolved around them. I've met doctors, who yelled at me and told me to k**l myself for saying "I'm very sorry, but this falls outside my responsibility. Please contact ... instead."
But at the end of the day, the negative experiences stick with you much more than the positive ones.
I also immediately thought of doctors. I worked for an optometrist (not ophthalmologist) who had an enormously over-inflated sense of ego, and his wife was the practice manager, she backed up his outbursts and his berating of employees. It was a very toxic work environment. After working there, I started working for an outpatient surgery that primarily did ophthalmic procedures, I didn't work closely with the surgeons, but the nurses all had horror stories. It's too bad that kinda negativity has to infect our healthcare providers. I realize being a doctor (esp a surgeon) is a tough line of work, and stress will rear its ugly head... but, some just take things way too far.
Also consider which type of doctor or surgeon is likely to put themselves in front of the public as their professions representative, as opposed to doctors who are more than content helping patients and advancing medicine through their ongoing research.
Thought that was a problem with a god complex.
I actually went to an art school with a department/major that specialized in designing cars, and you'd constantly hear horror stories from the students about how insanely toxic the environment was. It was a regular occurrence for teachers to tear down student's work, designs they spent months working on, and toss them into the trash before openly tearing them down and humiliating them in front of the entire class. It shouldn't come off as a surprise when I say that department had a high drop-out rate. If you've ever watched the movie Whiplash, it was like that but multiplied by tenfold.
The worst part about it was that the higher-ups knew about the abuse these students were being put through by their teachers, and continued to say nothing about it for the sake of saving their reputation. Fucking scumbags.
I'd never take that shit lol. I'd never survive that class. Or that teacher wouldn't. One of the two.
Students can fight back these days in many different ways.
It's the same in every design related field/school and I doubt it will change because the people who do 'nope' out of the toxicity, sadly aren't the ones staying to teach the next generation. It's a circle.
I looked into going to Art Center in Pasadena for car design, said F it. I'll just try to make it without the degree. Self taught skills like 3D modeling, experience with marketing and consumer research, have worked to gain a better understanding of engineering and manufacturing.
I know I stand no chance at a large OEM, but my plan is to develop a solid portfolio, and apply to a smaller car company, maybe a startup. The kinds of brands many aren't even paying attention to.
Thats disgusting. Wanna start a real academy of the arts?
I am a custom cabinet maker, so what I do for a living is essentially design. Sadley most of the interior designers I come across think that design is all about prancing around like Meryl Streep in the Devil wears Pradda. I am usually amazed by how predictable an uninteresting most of the ideas they come up with are. For me personally the design process is about figuring out what my client's happy space is then finding a way to build it. I am really just helping the client's ideas materialize. Right now I am working on a dinning room that looks like it is out of a Guilermo Del Torro movie, and I am really enjoying it.
I’m in the same trade and have noticed exactly the same thing.
They can be completely insufferable.
Somehow they managed to elevate themselves above the craftsman despite having no real skill.
I generally try to massage their ego which usually works a treat… then deal with the client directly.
awesome dude you get it!
😂
Got any advice for a wardrobe? I learned the skills to build them from my dad but he only ever made shaker or other classic designs. Don't get me wrong, those are timeless, but there are a lot of other options. I just don't know how to start exploring them.
Anyway if you've got some advice for different styles to look at I'd appreciate it.
@@Oberon4278 I just look on google images for wardrobe etc.
They're elitist out of fear... Design has a low bar to entry... So old heads are afraid of losing out to new up starts
Absolutely a big reason.
Never felt like this or experienced this as an architect in Australia
Pretty much. It's about a lack of integrity, But I wouldn't say it's about low bar, ironically it is very very high nowadays because there are no lack of competition and huge lack of competent designers. I mean this profession is suppose to be about communication, and this very skill is lacking because these same elitist people influencing younger folks. As any meta- profession design can't be easy, this low bar is a mirage for newcomers
@@eklerrr A low bar to entry is not equivalent to a low bar for success. Funnily like you point out a low bar to enter means high bar for rewards. Someone with a pen and paper calling themselves a designer is for all intents and purposes a designer. You can sell a logo for $20K or for $50. I think from a pscyhological perspective it's easy to see why the designer asking $20K for a logo (treatment/package) feels uneasy about the Fiiver logo designer offering one for $50.
if that's really the case, then the Chinese would have totally owned the design game by now
I started off life in design (fashion), then went back to business school and moved into product management. While it's not perfect, lemme tell you how refreshing it was to be measured by the success of my product (customer demand, revenue, profit) vs what I was wearing last Wednesday.
Agree. I try to measure/quantify things whenever possible. Although, to be very clear, not everything that can be measured is important....and if you can't measure something, that doesn't make it unimportant.
same
@@Design.Theory this 100%
You were probably just a very mediocre designer. Don’t blame the industry for your incompetence.
There is this UX designer called Melody Koh who writes UX career articles on Medium and if "Elitist jerk" had a Wikipedia article, she would be in the feature photo 😂She wrote a very controversial one titled "Still can’t get a UX job? Give up." She is a total gatekeeper who thinks that unless you have a portfolio of work and experience up to a completely unreasonable standard for a newcomer, you don't have the right to work in this industry and you're a fool if you think otherwise. The UX industry has a real aversion to hiring intern and junior level talent because they look for unicorn candidates that can run projects on their own, instead of building talent from the ground up. It's like being priced out of a stock.
Just read her article. What an awful take. Yes, if you are reviewing someone's work and it's not up to a certain standard, you should be honest about it with them. No, that doesn't mean they should "give up". Jesus Christ. I hope she sees this video.
I read that article, and it's horrendous.
Also, fully agree on the aversion to junior talent. The other thing about these unicorn candidates who can work across multiple disciplines is that many companies see this as a cheaper way to operate (and it's not just happening in the design field either). For example, why hire a content designer and visual designer and ux designer, when you might be able to get away with hiring 1 jack of all trades?
I've stopped reading medium because as I've garnered more experience, the frequency of reading a Medium article and thinking what trash take is this? And I'm worried about how easy it is to stumble on them as a beginner and think that's the way things are, or should be, there's no vetting for writers, it's just a click game and it really affect your knowledge intake.
As for the gatekeeping, I feel like there's a boom in UX, it's one of the most lucrative creative fields and there's been a huge influx of newcomers, and I can understand how senior designers want newcomers to understand best practices, seek high standards, not pull rates down. But the gatekeeping like the article of give up is so weird it almost feels like fear of being replaced.
Has she ever branded a two billion dollar health insurance company? Let her talk to me. Sounds like an A-hole.
Oooh~ I came across that article before but didn't even read it because it sounded so mean! I have noticed the gatekeeping amongst designers but the ones who don't, are so full of kindness and wisdom! I owe so much to these people for the UX job I have today.
In my experience, software has the opposite problem. Not only _can_ you fix and change software, UX designers see changing things as something they _must_ do. This is how so many functional pieces of software end up with worse and worse UI over time.
Completely agree....it's like the philosophy "change for the sake of change" starts running amok!
oh God yes. I am a programmer usually the best versions of software are 1.2, 1.3 and 2.1, 2.2, 2.3.
…. Mmm are you sure? Would love to hear some examples of this (without revealing brands/products specifically of course!)
@@TheForbinExperiment Microsoft Word, Windows after Windows 98, there are so many, oh and iTunes, and the trend is rampant. The failure with software, in my opinion, is similar to the problem with programmers writing the user manuals. They know all its features so intimately they forget about the actual user and person new to software, its not only feature creep but UI obfuscation where the UI indeed has so much in it, it becomes harder to use. Which is better, the army knife with 40 features or the one with 6? At some point the software becomes stable and popular and the programers then find new and "clever" things to add.
People forget that UIs are interfaces. The other side of that is something you have zero control of. You can inform, you can hopefully shape how someone interacts with it though UX changes, but at the end of the day they are going to use it however they want to.
Basically, IMHO, if you want to radically change the UX/UI, make a new thing. You can use the same backend, you can reuse the internals, just whatever you do don't call it the same thing. Let it and all the user expectations with it die with the old name. Every trope and every convention you reuse will also shape the user expectations.
You also run into the issue of any long-standing project/product of making the perfect UX for the users of that product. You can keep fine-tuning, and they will keep getting more and more experienced. Building greater and greater workflows around this tool. Until finally making a product so truly interfaced with a select few groups of people that no one else in their right minds would even consider learning to use it.
The secret is that 99% of elitist designers are terrified to talk to an actual "user" while they are creating (or usually borrowing) the design.
The design world is full of uniformity because most designers are Googling the same references and rarely dig below the surface.
Calling the Dino Taco Holder a bad design should be considered a crime.
Expensive Chair: Has No Dino, Has No Taco and I can't afford
Dino Taco Holder: Has Dino, Has Taco and I can Afford
They're just jealous haters
you are depreciating the genius of the inventor of the dino taco holder by comparing it to a overpriced, badly designed chair!
To be honest, the dino taco holder is probably more comfortable to sit on than some of those fancy chairs too...
I don’t have kids but I want a Dino taco holder. It’s so cute and I can carry two tacos at the same time and not break the shell!
@@dimplesd8931 If you have two hands, getting two of them will let you carry *four* tacos at the same time without breaking the shells. I'm not sure you're ready for that kind of power though.
Reminds me of some backlash at my design school when the Cybertruck was announced: a real car brand made something that our teachers would have ridiculed unanimously if a student presented such a project.
I don't think it's elitist to dislike the cybertruck's design (or any design). I think it comes down to why you dislike it. I recognize that it is very innovative for a whole bunch of reasons (manufacturing, marketing, etc. etc.) but I still hate it because it represents a dystopian future that I don't want to be a part of.
The key difference is that Tesla's designers are being paid for designing the truck and can pretty much tell professors to screw off.
@@Design.Theory but thats not the point, it shows how suppressive institutions and bodies that work in design can be of creativity in a new direction
@@Design.Theory dystopian future? what are you talking about? cybertruck is the coolest thing, and in a field that's getting staler year the year (car design)
@@JohnDoe-ph6if I'm pretty sure he is talking about an expensive EV by a company that, like many silicon valley brands, tout promises of 'making the world a better place', but are really just making luxury items for well off yuppies to FEEL like they're doing something good. While at the same time they (the ev manufacturer) are contributing to the eroding of our biosphere in only slightly different ways than oil companies.
As a student of architecture, I always used to think that good design is for all. It solves problems and makes life better.
After working on projects with all types of budgets (low to high), I observed that my efforts were duly paid on projects with high budgets, and I had to work extra hard to make a low budget project happen. I think that's why a lot of designers want to be elite, to attract high value clients. Clients with low budget do deserve a good design, but designers have a duty to take care of their own well-being, too.
My on-field experience made me think about concentrating more on high value designs, but your video inspired me to keep working on the low budget ones too.
Talking about why elitist designers have a specific design type, I hope that it doesn't happen in India. Here, some people like minimalism while some are maximalists. All types of design are welcomed by someone or the other, that's why cities here look a bit chaotic, but individually good.
Face value, prestige matters.. U will understand it once u enter the industry..
Architecture is such a terrible industry nowadays. 90% of modern architecture is the garbage of egotistical jerks who give each other pats on the backs. Everything international style is a writeoff.
I would like to place a comically huge plain concrete cube on the grave of le corbusier with a sign that says " a depiction of a human"
So, basically, money.
Which is not great for me, as an architect and an Indian.
I love minimalism. I don't think it was because of the euro centric designs (maybe it was). But I just love the clean, crisp, sleek aesthetics of minimalism.
This is probably a big reason I didn’t pursue graphic design professionally. These kinds of people exist in every kind of workplace, but when it comes to your own art, criticism can feel personal. Not saying that constructive criticism is bad, but when others are overly competitive, it seems like the worst traits of the design world come to fruition. I’m glad the Internet and other resources have become available for artists of every medium, because even though it isn’t perfect, there is definitely a more accepting and diverse community of people out there.
I started in it to pay off my college debt. It is really difficult and you have to have a very thick skin and really work quickly and think on your feet. Very stressful for me.
Design is different from art. What you design is not an “expression of yourself”. It’s an expression of who you’re designing for. No need to take it personal. If we called bad design “good”, then that helps no one except a persons ego.
@@katscandanceThat's easy to say but not in actual practice.
When I was in architecture school, criticism was never relayed to me/us as a failure of upholding the design brief or failure of the needs of a client, instead, criticism was often centered on the failure of our selves as designers. It was intentionally delivered as 'you, the designer/architect, should know better'. And to a certain degree, I can understand some of it. Especially when you're still in the learning stages, it's important that certain standards are upheld, however, to say that art criticism is different from design criticism is not that clean cut, because all design processes whether for yourself or others can't help but have your own personal interpretation and self expression in it. And therefore, criticism of such design will always be personal. Art itself is never in a vacuum and alot of art are specifically designed to be reactive to public consumption in the same way design is.
Imo, there's just too many egomaniacs running design schools/firms and not only upholding the same toxicity that they were delt with, but also passing it on to others.
Also I feel graphic design school its so ambiguos in its reviews. Like any teacher can explain me why something doesnt work. Just a solid no.
This really touched on my college experience in industrial design. Not only the “designing for designers” part but the eurocentric POV many professors and peers spoke from. It can really mess with your head when a design professor rips your ideas apart for no reason meanwhile they don’t even know how to do 3d CAD or set anything up for manufacturing and at the same time championing a designer who made a pintrest idea look a little bit different. I like to take chances and think about the average user thats needs a product but I guess designers don’t like that lol.
ugh, it was exactly the same in my experience in architecture school. Even when you're working inside this eurocentric POV (can't help it though, I am in Europe), but even then, I've had professors fall for the peers who brought in a project practically stolen from Pinterest. The only way they would've seen it that way would've been if they actually used Pinterest themselves, in order to recognize the theft. This threw me into such a useless depression and lack of self doubt and motivation (because what point was there in trying to improve while competing with ready-mades) in my 3rd year of study - I'm barely over it 5 years later...
i'm an ID student closing in on my senior year. the past year and a half has stripped me of so much passion - i used to be one of the top students but now feel barely motivated to work on anything. i noticed there was a sudden shift in attitudes of faculty at the higher level (3rd and 4th year instructors, some important administrators) where everything suddenly became "conceptual" rather than innovative, feasible / functional, well-researched, with measurably good impact.
when i propose a project idea, there have been times where i was told it's not "poetic" or "artful" enough. other times i've been bullied by instructors to go with the form ideation that is the most aesthetically hyper-minimal - even at the cost of function. i've been expected to pump out extremely unrealistic levels of CAD or advanced prototyping (metalworking, ceramics) from instructors who don't do either of these things in their own practice (and therefore can't even help you achieve what they demand). it's also interesting to me that most of these faculty members work in either the museum or high-end designer space. they are some of the most decorated individuals in the school with permanent exhibitions in museums, who regularly cancel class to attend design trade shows, with a massive list of awards and published books under their belt... and yet every time i seek out feedback, the responses i get are almost always about "higher level concepts". ironically, when a design is carried only by it's "higher-level concepts", it becomes superficial fluff with no place in the real world (imo!).
my instructors earlier on were great! they were typically new hires, sometimes freshly graduated from their master's, and very young with experience in the field. they taught me technical skills, how to research, how to develop a "designer's eye", and assessed projects through a wide range of criteria.
the emotional tipping point for me i guess was earlier this semester when one of my peer's work was praised and nominated for an award by our professor (who's also the director of undergraduate studies) - only i knew it was a one-to-one direct rip-off of a very famous design piece. she and i had taken the same class where we were exposed to said piece. i brought the similarities up during critique in a non-accusatory way but the instructor didn't think to look into it.
SORRY this turned into a therapy session for me... it's something i've been thinking about a lot and didn't know other people felt the same. it can also be hard to talk about these things with peers as not everyone shares the same perspective / it comes across as "shit-talking" / "just work harder" / etc.
Professors have to justify their tenure somehow.
@@one-stopgodshop2171 Exactly. Unfortunately, the fountain of self-hatred is fed by these types. The sooner you talk about it with someone (one of your peers or a young professor experiencing something similar in the same academia) and demystify the situation, the better. Those professors once wronged who finally get to a higher position might not do the same if they've had a few open discussions about the issue. I guess it's a more common symptom, regardless of the root cause.
I think here, where those who were professors during or soon after communism (Central/East Europe) - they are often those who spark these conflicts. It's been naturalised for so long, relative to their lifelong experience, they might not see they're doing something wrong. I've personally noticed that some think they're "toughening people up" - it worked for them, after all - you can't even hope of telling them they should try and change after decades.
So we're left with dealing with the issue, barricading or taking it head on - both, from what I've seen, have hindered students' projects and motivation (at times, before 'growing up', I guess, myself included). Professors' as well, in return to seeing students lose interest. I would spend 30 minutes after every 1-to-1 crit with my thesis advisor to discuss the environment. Other students gladly jumped in.
Guess we all need to let out some steam
Oh yeah… I was an ID student for about two years and had to switch to graphic design cause I felt that! 😬😅
The moment you talked about the designer ripping people's ideas off of a wall, it took me back to art school. Particularly for video game art and design. I've constantly heard chairs, instructors, and presidents of the school say "this student over here is the smartest student we have" in front of other students. The dean of the school was observing a character design class I was in where he swung his arm saying "all of this is shit" in a class that...well wasn't really teaching us much. That mentality is seen in the educational process as well. Hell, even in high school art classes.
I had to laugh. When I was in high school, my art teacher assigned us an abstract project. We had to draw an abstract piece. I fully admit, drawing is not my strong point, it never was, but I enjoyed art class and making the effort. So we all drew our abstract pieces. The teacher looked at mine ans told me it was too abstract and to do it over or get a 'D'. Too abstract? Really? 😂
Yeah, and it's really ignorant of them to do that, isn't it?
I've experienced both studying gd. Also, had a few clients that wanted to scrap everything, or that said everything is wrong.
In a roundabout way, the bad experiences in university taught me to defend my work with calm, rational arguments and ask questions, and extract some bit of useful actionable information from even the worse interactions. I'm not perfect at it, sometimes I still get bothered or stressed, but professional confidence is absolutely required to survive and do good work in a design field.
Complaining about critiques, even malevolent ones, on unfinished work, just signals immaturity and lack of confidence to more experienced peers and difficult clients, it's in your best interest that they not get under your skin.
Christ
Universities ripping character design drawings off walls for being shit or whatever..
Did the university bother teaching the students artistic anatomy, shading, light and shadow?
From what I've seen of art education the technical aspects and craft of art isn't being taught in university, because it is difficult to teach the highly technical and skilled aspects of art, in the same way that it is difficult to teach the technical design principals of neo classical architecture
It's frankly easier to be able to throw an abstract painting on canvas, or to draw some wonky cartoon face, than to spend the enormous amount of time and repition that it takes to be able to make art that is objectively skilled and technical, rather than hiding and obfuscating your work under subjective taste
I find it discouraging looking into architecture that ornamentation has been completely ripped out of university curriculums.
I believe that removing the objectivity of hard won technical skill through practice, repetition, making mistakes and learning that students are forced to float free without proper guidance from instructors or an ability to orient themselves to reality or history.
The greatest artists I've seen in the modern era have been great despite the tertiary education system that is in place for creative industries, and not because of their education
It is strange, music education is one of the last arts where artists and crafts people are forced to put in the repititions to build up the muscle memory, practice objectively based artistic techniques till they can be the supportive skeleton of further exploration
I let myself escape from grinding away at artistic anatomy into cartoon character, cubism and abstract art. It was easier on my ego to play around in an artistic space that wasn't objective, where I could hide my fragile ego away from my own critique
With guitar I had to sit down for years working on my techniques till they finally became smoothe and fell into place
Even mathematics. A maths professor I knew said learning maths is like learning the violin, you have to practice your scales again and again. Consistently working on a skill till it becomes entrenched within your subconscious mind, and can be drawn upon instinctively.
I wish art subjects were taught in technical colleges for craftspeople rather than being taught in universities.
To strip away the intellectualism that obscures the lack of substance in modern art education
Ive Been an intern and have seen this happen a lot. Thanks for open some of our eyes who are new to the design world. We sometimes can be broken down by the wrong philosophy in the workplace. Keep posting more like these
There are many great design leaders/studios/companies who are extremely supportive and inclusive while still putting out excellent design work. Those companies are still out there!
@@Design.Theory im an aspiring designer and the results of my design college entrance exam came today and I didn't make it in. It would be really helpful if you could mention some of those companies cuz I believe in those environments and want to keep on working to become a good designer
I can only agree. I give public talks and have a gift in convincing others in conferences. Sometimes I rewatch my talks and cringe at the small lies like "Wow, I actually believed that at that moment" It's SO easy to give small lies when you get good at speaking just to make pieces fit or a conversation to continue in the direction you want it to. You can delude yourself to act like what you say is real and tell the same stories so often that you can start just forgetting you made that up at some point in some conversation.
It's a constant battle as a designer. It requires constant self-policing. Very hard to pull off.
Congrats on your gift. My gift is not telling others I have a gift
Great insight!!
Happens to me I'm also very good at telling small lies
This really does effect many if not all creative industries, I'm a creative writer and University was the first time I saw someone's work get demolished in a public setting by both students and professors. Now they're all either writing or editing/publishing, and yeah the attitude is still there.
I'm in second year of architecture school and I feel like this is probably the most challenging time of my life, trying to balance your personal wishes with the demands of your group. Also, I learned what it feels like to be around actual selfish jerks who really live in their microcosmos and make group work even harder. Thanks to you, I finally feel like I'm not alone with these thoughts!
Very well presented, As an Art Center College of Design alumni I've been through years of this first at school then years of this at various motion graphics shops ... my work motto has always been: "we're not saving lives here."
Design perfectionists loooove to get their knickers in a knot over details, that, at the end of the day, are not as important as, say, the correct process/material/strategy for a successful design. Not being able to see the forest for the trees/the big picture can hinder the pursuit of a solution.
As a big fan of Syd Mead, I wanted to attend Art Center, but my own artistic abilities were never up to my own internal standards to allow myself to take a stab. I’ve had what I would call great ideas from time to time, but I’ve noticed that the best designers seem to ALWAYS knock it out of the park without fail.
At both art schools I attended, my teachers were sane, generous, and encouraging. They taught actual skills. I see I was fortunate.
I think, like the video mentioned, that these high standards and perfectionism we strive for is because we gained a persons trust and we want to deliver. Definitely not saving lives, but once someone trusts us to do work for them, we don’t want to disappoint them or ruin our ability to get future clients.
Architecture student and enthusiast here, designing mass stuff usually means you'll be forgotten, starchitects all make dubiously useful or aesthetically pleasing stuff
Yes, most of us are relegated to designing tiny residential apartments and those have no innovation whatsoever.
It's been years since I graduated but I couldn't work more than 2 years at architectural firms or construction companies.
I always thought I would have the chance to design a school, an art gallery or anything that's not a residential apartment complex. But seems like that's what's majorly built and my dream of designing something else seemed like a distant dream.
20 years experience in auto oem advanced design here , you nailed it at " designers just want to impress their peers" and that " club" . couldn't agree more , good job
Yeah, I mean we're all guilty of wanted to feel included. I think it can go too far though.
@@Design.Theory of course, but i've seen too many real creatives being pushed aside because they didn't want to fit the mould ... such a waste of talents...
anyway pretty good analysis on the subject , we could talk for hours on the subject !
Photography is the same
Actors too.
A sincere thank you to all you creatives who work tirelessly behind the scenes, designing the wonderful, practical, and beautiful things we see, touch, and use every single day. Signed, an appreciative violinist and composer, working behind the scenes in TV and film.
"Craftmanship and care are considered luxuries but that's a topic for another day" - have you hit this topic yet? I would love a full dive into this! this is the first vid I watched of yours, and I appreciate your scripting and POV! Subbed!
Did you ever notice that most jobs a few hundred years back were essentially sole proprietorship? Or maybe a guy and a couple of assistants who may or may not be his family. Farmer, barber, cobbler, tailor, carpenter etc. (Merchants being an exception and farmers may not be considered craftsmen.)
And then industrialization came and made shit cheaper than what these folks could make for. And then, everyone was working in a factory and now some in the office too, for a company.
So, what's special now is being an entrepreneur and bespoke suits and shoes and watches, which are now considered a luxury.
It’s so interesting you mentioned so many things on why I’ve moved from Architecture into scenic design. I just finished my first full production and seeing how many people it takes to execute the show is humbling. I was just one piece in a big system of people who made it happen. I love the work I did, but it was the lighting, the costumes, the acting, and the crew that made it magical. I never want to forget that.
How did you get into that field?
I used to be elitist and way more egotistical and was making way more ambitious work than I do now since my god-complex deflated. I think my stuff is more relatable to people now though!
Aiming to the huge jobs and projects leads to creative burnout, immobility and self hatred... it's doing art for the wrong reason
you're so right about designers impressing their peers as opposed to real people.... actually most practical tools seem untested these days.
I think there’s a useful distinction to be made between kindness and encouraging high (er) standards. The flip side is the junior creative who can’t handle the truth about their work without their feelings getting hurt in an inefficient way, requiring coddling by others and studio inefficiencies. Everybody is going to experience the frustration of blocked goals and has to be able to handle that maturely- not taking critiques too personally AND not letting it spill over into counterproductive expressions.
Drama happens, is generally not helpful, so being able to manage your own ego driven issues will make you a better creative regardless of rank.
That it’s not always possible is part of the job. The job eventually reveals each persons weakness that way.
After a little practice, work relationships can allow for a wide range of expression without anybody taking it too personally. Always a little bit but in check.
I love your content. You leave no bases uncovered. It's inclusive and considerate, yet realistic and pragmatic. I'm not a designer by trade but the way with which you approach these topics with endless alternatives and counter arguements within the topics you are discussing is brilliant in my opinion. Bravo.
this video needs to be watched on repeat by anyone who wants to be serious about this line of work. Thankfully my professor of design history and design critique frequently went out of his way to engrain these concepts into his students, but they're not near as common sense as they should be. Great work!
The problem with most designers is that they are very weak in real technical matters and real knowledge of execution process (construction or manufacturing), they ended up just relying on "artistic flair", "artistic licence", and showmanship to get what they wanted through, by even bulldozing their ways, over actual reality and real knowledge.
This is unfortunate. As an ‘old school’ designer, who has worked in various industries some of my best experiences were working for manufacturing firms at the factory facilities. These were not glamorous design offices, but I had an opportunity to work directly on a daily basis with machine operators, engineers, craftsmen, and other technicians as well as the sales and marketing people. We worked out the execution of my ideas together. Sometime my ideas had to be compromised substantially to be produced, but most times everyone worked toward getting the product as close to the original idea as possible. Working in mfg facilities also gave me a great appreciation for the steps required to bring a product to market after it leaves the design desk.
I mean, what they know is also "actual reality" and real knowledge. If its not, we won't be talking about it.
I blame alot of it on the schools. Mine taught design but not business so later I went back and took coursework offered in business for designers that they offered years later.
Isn’t that the manufacturer / engineers job
Yes, Frank Lloyd Wright and the stress work/rebar arguments at Falling Water springs to mind.
I have worked in and out of the art/design world for 30 years and this is absolutely true. It’s long been a trope that these fields are cut-throat and competitive, but what that means is that lots of people within it are constantly and exhaustingly trying to be accepted by their peers or audience, to the point of mutual alienation and very lonely and superficial social relationships - all in the pursuit of Beauty. Just walk into a gallery opening and feel the icy winds of judgment, about your pants, about your earrings, about your most recent work…. I have a love-hate relationship with my own profession and have periodically dropped out because I’m not thick skinned enough.
Those people need to raise their vibrational levels.
@@one-stopgodshop2171you're right but its hard for people to buy that. Better just say do some meditation or wim hof breathing that makes it sound more scientific.
Because there are actual scientific studies backing that up
What he said about Eurocentric minimalism was so true. I currently struggle with this in school with a teacher. It’s like they don’t understand that not all design solutions have to be braun or Bauhaus esc
I think you might be disappointed later on....
The reason minimalism is so dominant is not part of the design sphere but rather, the manufacturing sphere
Most minimalist designs have STUPID margins for their markets (i'm speaking 35% in a 6% market, 99.98% in a 4% market in one case) and also have large stable sale volumes as they fit almost anywhere
@@angrydragonslayer your actually 100% spot on. One of my professors who advocated heavily for bauhaus or minimalist style designs also placed a large emphasis on manufacturability. I think my goal will be to work in the more niche private sector of design so this limitation is only on me and my methods, not effecting an entire company’s ability to manufacture something
As a consumer I want the best aesthetics for my budget. As a person that worked in a design office I was proud to design things that other designers, pm, line builders wanted. We had a lot of success and we had some failures. Unless you worked in the field it can seem odd. You spot on with a lot of things in your video!
This channel is a beacon of hope in between the design world haha Thank you man! What you do and say it's most necessary
Thanks Davi :)
I think it was dieter rams who said or maybe it was bbc documentary about design, "the fact that it's designed should mean that it's affordable to the average consumer".
Your commentary on design awards and the designs that get celebrated reminded me of my own feelings when I see a lot of "sustainable" design concepts that get celebrated. Looking at them with a practical engineering background, so many are impossible wishful thinking wrapped up in pretty renderings. And people talk about them as innovative and meaningful contributions, without any questions about whether they would work in reality.
That's why I personally despise the sustainability movement as a whole. I am more of a fan of intensity myself, which does run counter to sustainability in a variety of settings, but generally it's about fulfilling the entire scale of systems rather than watering things down and distilling it to a version that completely misses the entire point.
I had a girlfriend studying industrial design. Most of their projects were about coming up with impossible invention gadgets. This is what the academics expected of them and this is what they did. Of course, any realistic engineering would have made the gadgets either: worse knock-offs of complete existing commercial products; or completely inefficient alternatives to already solved and existing mechanisms/technology inside commercial products.
You really need to be a competent engineer with years of experience in a particular tech field before you're a designer. So in my mind, proper design is an engineering discipline in all fields it can be applied in.
Great video. Abusive behavior is never acceptable- in any industry. That toxic shit needs to go.
This is the second video I watch of you, I really love your editing style and the structure of your videos. Wish you all the best on your journey, your videos are amazing!
This is an excellent sample of why I switched to Hunan-centric design. UX and CX design are always focused on the human we are seeking to serve. That means that we can replace that egocentric conversion with empathy, and that insecurity in the presentation with testing and results. Human-centric design has also elevate the design department outside the shadow of marketing KPIs, and ultimately give designers a sit on the table to participate in the development of modern business and Brands
Interesting. I was always wondering how that field was going as it is really in high demand right now.
Which area of design isn't human centric?
UX design is a cool field but I truly don’t understand how I’m demanding it actually is
When it comes to creatives, the internet is remarkable when it comes to separating those in it for the money, or the status from those in it for the art and craft, because there is no reason whatsoever to be against the democratization of a skill that leads to opportunity and elevation of the craft by allowing people without money, or connections to learn and demonstrate their talent.
"democratisation of a skill" bestie if you're talking about AI art then you are throughly mislaid on both the words democratisation and skill.
The dino taco holder is brilliant. Its designer descended from heaven, and heralded a golden age!
Actual Japanese lowercase design is humble and functional.
I have been working with designers in the software industry for almost a decade now, and I have ALWAYS stood at their desks and engaged with their process live, especially when it comes to reminding them of what happens when somebody interacts with their design; in my experience, if they actually know what they're doing they'll respond in kind by placing reasonable demands and constraints on the behavior of the software; if they don't know what they're doing they'll lash out and put people down.
Yeah, working with designers that actually have a good idea of what's reasonable and what the possibilities for the software are, and keep UI consistent - makes for good conversations, debates and decisions. Working with designers that can also code is even better.
I was terrified to enter the art and design fields because all of the “good” artists who I experienced who had “made” it were the exact people you are describing on this video. It took me years of doing professional work for clients to realize that i actually did know what I was doing after all and that most of the high end art world was just a fancy tax shelter
I'm a student studying aerospace engineering and going into my final senior design project soon. The advice at the end seems really helpful and I'll try to follow it to the best of my ability as I enter the next semester. Thanks!
These are good points to remember. Elon Musk, Anna Wintour, Kanye West, Stanley Kubrik, most classical conductors, Frank Lloyd Wright, Steve Jobs, etc... the list goes on and on. One reasons why I'm hesitant to continue pursuing interior design and what I've seem really puts me off in terms of toxic work culture at the high end of the industry.
IMO an unfortunate amount of people at the top of any industry who are toxic jerks might suffer from clincially diagnosable Narcissistic Personality Disorder as controversial as that might be to say....
I was just thinking what psychology analisis can be performed here.. a lot of leaders and manager are often sociopaths..
this might apply to this branch of designer leaders.. when someone’s name pops out more often than their product.. what is the product/brand there..
I’d argue about apple/android - I have no idea who stands behind android other than google, I barely recognize any google founders (I’d have to google for their names 😂)
I do prefer the design and ux and functionality of iphone over android, since used both .. I’m sort of impressed by Steve Jobs but also realise he’s got that assholiness..
..macbooks, incredibly unique quality design, but UX - a bit of a mess compared to iphone.. but still a reliable software/hardware..
what was my point? Lost it.. ? I still sort of gravitate to those well known branded designer leaders.. I’d love to own a tesla.. bcs they are the e car originals..
..there’s many others e cars but I don’t know much about them..
I think both steve jobs and E musk have sociopathic tendencies at least - did I buy into their brands (they themselves being brands).. didn’t get a tesla to compare.. I’m convinced about iphones as I used them, and at least their whole thing with devices connectivity to each others is really impressive and usefull..
.. yeah, I guess they are a bit of freaks, the loud elitist ones do sometimes step far above and do actually do something different and better..
Again I also hate perfectionism when I have to it myself - I love the result, but 99% of that perfectionism is lost on 99% people.. used to do (and sometimes still do) perfect product renders (they always want it to look like iphone commercials).. I could have done it in a week and most people looking at it would feel it’s accurate, but we spend a month on each product and after a year of that perfectionism grinding I started to burn out slowly
- doing hundred micro adjustments to get pixel perfect render, that look great at 8k res zoomed in, then you get that down to 600x600 pixels and compressed.. loosing 80% of that perfectionism.. FML it gets suffocating to do this constantly, maybe it’s for masochistic people
Maybe an elitist approach from me would mean that I’d stop and decide this is great and keep from burning out - maybe that’s what these designers also do, some have perfectionism disorder, some protect themselves from burning out..
..it’s probably some mental/psychological trait that big names people usually have
(You know like, dad always criticised, and they never think they are good enough so they want to do it perfectly, and then when they gain some power they will look down and criticise in return, not realising it’s their trauma leading their life)
@@robob3ar I'm super perfectionistic and this is almost certainly a big part of why most of the things I make are not released yet… and I'm definitely burning out in these projects, for sure. Gigs like Doordash that I am doing, are making way more money than I've ever made creating things digitally, much more quickly and easily. I wish there were better guides on how to make digital creation profitable; I have struggle to conceive of how I might make things remotely economically, when I will often spend a month or longer on a project, spending many hours that would lead to an absurd bill at minimum wage, when the alternative is making $150 in a single day on Doordash… How can I possibly make anything at a price people will be able to pay quick enough that it makes sense economically?
You could just be a good interior designer who listens to their client and makes suggests within their taste. There is no need to be 'high end' or toxic or a jerk.
I wouldn't add Kanye to that list, but to each his/her own.
Well, Interior Design is one of the more extreme hide outs for that kind of behavior. When I first got out of school and went on an interview, the designer who owned the business didnt even show up and his assistant kept saying he didn't want anyone to steal his clients and he was so exclusive his number was unlisted.🤣
Great video - I was wondering when you were going to post again! Elitism in design is definitely something I’ve run into but I think younger peers are changing too. I think there’s also some amount of “I dealt with it so you will have to, too”
I think elitism is human nature. One time I saw some homeless people talking and trying to 1up eachother on how long they had been homeless. It was like a pissing contest to the bottom. If elitism exists in homelessness, it exists everywhere.
It's a manifestation of our need to survive and not die. And if that means someone else has to die instead of us because they "lost", they will lose and we will make sure they lose, and we win/live.
Elitism is not human nature, it’s just the systems we live in that make elitism and egoism flourish. Monarchy, imperialism, feudalism, capitalism, all of them focus on clear divisions and a hierarchy.
Saying elitism is human nature because we live under a system that favors elitism is like saying dying of water poisoning is human nature because the water supply is polluted.
@@eddie-roo the suffix they all have in common... ism. Does the suffix mean anything in particular?
@@elijahhernandez906 Copying from wikipedia:
"-ism is a suffix in many English words, originally derived from the Ancient Greek suffix -ισμός (-ismós), and reaching English through the Latin -ismus, and the French -isme. It means "taking side with" or "imitation of", and is often used to describe philosophies, theories, religions, social movements, artistic movements and behaviors. It is typically added to nouns.
@@elijahhernandez906I hope you aren’t making this comment in bad faith, many people would imply that any philosophy or political leaning is “bad,” and that would be a very reductionist view for any progress in society.
We face soo many rejection at our early stages( Kinda similar to how bullied students end up becoming the bullies)
what differentiates great artists and mediocre artists is 'the extra effort that is rarely worth it'
this is a complete subjective statement. what you see as extra effort as AD/ CD can be nothing but perfectionism for me. so the whole sentiment is unhealthy and elitist af
I’ve found in my short time working in film that it has become more friendly and less exclusionary. Film is also a collaborative medium. I’ve seen a lot of want to be Kubricks fail to find ways to communicate and burn out do to their inability to collaborate.
Yeah, my cousin worked for Barry Levinson and enjoyed her time in production work. After the recent 'Rust' drama it sounds like this industry is changing alot now - churn, burn. Although I'm not a part of it so I can't really say.
I enjoy making user interfaces. It's so interesting to see how different people think and interact with it. It makes you think no one is stupid, we all just think differently.
I've worked both freelance and in Design Agencies and have seen some of (but not qiuet to the extent you have shared) what you mention at the start of the video. I would say though that I've been lucky enough to have Creative directors that are nurturing and have helped develop me into the designer I am today. I would also say though that the obsession with perfectionism is something that , like you pointed out, can actually ruin the design process. I always think if you give something for instance 8 hours of you're time and you get it to 95% of what it needs to be, does an extra 2/3/4+ hours actually get it to 100%? or does it even add another 1% to that total. This is where perfectionism can demoralise and strip the fun out of the creative process.
I was taught to do three quick 'comps' first and put them on paper (back when we used paper). Your right too many ingredients can ruin a dish.
I'm an software engineer and although it's not a creative job in my opinion I can totally relate to the points you made, especially that it _requires_ a big ego to push and implement your ideas. Thanks for the video!:)
I agree so much with what's been said in this video. I've come across my fair share of egotistical creatives who span over different industries (photography, animation & graphic design in my experience). It was a shock to me seeing this when I was in art school, and later on at work. But at the same time, I've also met plenty of creatives who are so kind, wise and what my country calls "tidak kedekut ilmu" (someone who is not stingy with their knowledge aka NOT a gatekeeper). These people are what keeps the community alive.
We appreciate all your effort and hard work on this channel. God bless you.
I appreciate such a nice comment. :)
As a self-taught designer, this is a very refreshing take. This channel is slowly becoming one of my favorites on this app, bless!
@Aya Gaballa may I know how you taught yourself design
@@bbqboi8782 there are literal free design courses here in YT and some designer channels teaching tips.
@@tkraid2575 which all channels do you recommend
graphic?
"She probably isn't even acting anymore, I bet she's feeling genuine hysteria..."
Well there you go, that's the answer right there!
I'm an Architect and what bugs me about the design world is the lack of appreciation for practicality, like if a design is practical or multi-functional it means it's for the poor = cheap = bad design. It really puts a damper on creativity. I work at a studio that mainly designs and builds public buildings but we get a private house here and there and rich people CRINGE when you say the word practical, like they WANT for things to be hostile/hard otherwise they are cheap. I honestly don't get it.
Personally, I think that an inferiority complex, especially in the school context, also plays a very big role in this problem.
The art school I went to had the slogan "So you want to be an artist? It's going to be hard, but it's going to be worth it." And the teachers regularly made statements about how an art education is supposedly at least as difficult as, say, studying law, maybe even more difficult because "law students just have to memorise some information while an art student has to work hard every day to develop their talent" (their words , not mine). There was also a lot of complaining about how society looks down on artists when our skills are needed for countless things.
It was a breeding ground for arrogance and self-pity. Worst of all, this mentality created a space where teachers can freely terrorise their students without any resistance.
It was awful.
just a friendly reminder that design research is a great tool to back up design decisions. This way, there's no need to be overly critical about a design decision.
I don’t know why this is not mentioned. Maybe it does not help solve the elitist jerk problem?
That’s a really good point. I lean on this really heavily more-so in software UX but it doesn’t account for the emotional and intangible aspects that don’t have a precedent to point to. There’s also way less data on the hardware side you can conduct studies but sometimes there isn’t budget and/or there’s just gut intuition and an amalgam of experiences that put a designer or any innovator in a position to see something others don’t yet.
The end is very relevant to my experience - I had experience in web design at an old school communication agency with a very arrogant and competitive culture. Then I changed to the exact same job but within an IT engineering culture company: people were so much nicer, and I think we served our clients better.
I have learned over the years the more outrageous the designer looks and acts. The poorer the work will be, if your focused on your persona. The work will take a back seat.
Bruno Sacco is a good example! He looks like an accountant, yet he’s a design legend!
What do you think about elon m
@@robob3ar I’m not the OP but I think he’s a good figure head, not the do-it-all genius some people think but he performs the leadership and ‘thought leader’ role well by the looks of things, people want to work for him.
all my worst teachers looked like absolute cartoon characters how is this so accurate
Wonderful insightful video. Thank you for this. More professionals need to watch this all the way through. Especially the end part when you talk about needing to be strict with your team or how to deliver a not so positive remark about someones work. Tact is vital.
You captured my experience exactly.
I did a double degree with the former in design and the later in computer science. Near the end of my design degree I had this uneasy feeling of my personality becoming more and more pretentious and concieted because of the nature of the work and the attention to detail required in places most people would never even think of.
When I switched to software engineering, my personality morphed too. It was more rigid, and methodological and I started to feel like a normal person again funnily enough.
I like the perspective each has given me, but I could never shake the feeling that the moral values in design were fundamentally flawed because of greed.
Desire to attain use of the thing I’m designing has always been my primary fuel for a design effort. Great and interesting video!
Awards-for-pay exactly like the ones you describe exist in the short-story writing market, too. I find it fascinating that in the industrial design world they are apparently accepted and quasi-respected, when all of the authors that I know are unified in considering them predatory scams.
Yeah, but aren't creatives usually looked down upon by liner sequentials?
Interesting comment! Can you please elaborate further on how this specifically operates in short story writing? I hear alot about how publishing companies lobby and buy awards for authors and books for commercial gains but I've never heard how this plays out in shorter work, especially when these same publishers don't seem to care for publishing short story collections.
@@SaffariRose : In this case, there are companies (different companies from the big publishing companies, usually) that announce contests for short stories, charge entry fees, and then use some of the entry-fee money to produce a low-budget anthology of the winners ... which they then mostly sell to the people who won. Or, alternately, they don't charge an entry fee but charge the winners to publish their work, and arrange things to have as many winners as they can -- because their business model is publish-for-pay. In neither case do they put significant effort into selling the resulting anthology.
If you do a search for the phrase "writer beware" and "contest", you'll find lots of things on the Writer Beware blog about contests of this sort.
I do note that, when I was looking this up to remember details, I discovered that my knowledge is mostly coming from the science-fiction/fantasy publishing world, which is reasonably commercial (and there are a number of actual paying markets that make money through sales of the resulting magazines or anthologies). The "literary" short-story market is reportedly somewhat more like the industrial-design world in accepting such contests.
I deeply appreciate this video, and your work. I cannot wait till I can get to point to support you and people like you financially.
Never knew John Travolta was so well educated in the field of design! This video was very very good!
I thought it was Julian Casablancas from the Strokes.
Man, you have nailed it!!! It is rare to hear such honesty in the design industry. I hope you're right about elitism is dying out. Well done.
As an electrical engineer in charge of a product design and never having had a design class, thank you for enlightening me🤗🤗
I think their are two components: the feedback loop of success which reinforces and amplifies underlying personality traits, the inherently destructive and antisocial nature of creativity. What drives you to be creativity is dissatisfaction with the status quo. If you are successful at dismantling that and replacing it with your own ego centric vision, you are going to repeat that behavior.
But what if you see something with the status quo is wrong or isn't working for humanity? What if you care enough to just try to do something a little different? Not all designers are A-holes. Lots, but not all.
Social designers do the opposite thing: they try so hard to look friendly and close, like regular common people, so they can manipulate other with their social engineering.
it's true - you have to be mentally strong to be able to push through all the non-believers
The dinosaur taco holder came on screen and I immediately thought, wow, amazing!
seems obvious now that I've seen it, which is a sure sign of greatness.
I hope that they sell a complete range of dinosaur shaped home products, such as knife block, chairs, coffee table, lamps, clock etc, perfect thing for the dinosaur house that I live in in my imagination
Very different from the engineering process, my goodness. Crazy to think a seemingly simple design went through hells kitchen and back. Great video my friend
When a desiner comes up with a desing that is inpossible to make and you're the one who has to tell them
Tbf, we’re constantly told in design that we must push boundaries and create something new. Easier to dial back an idea than it is to push it further.
@@katscandance yes but you can not desing a building that cannot be build with modern techology if you want to have a overhang you need to balance it
@@definitlynotbenlente7671 I guess that’s the other thing with creatives. We don’t really think about these limitations/restrictions when thinking up new ideas. That’s what the engineer is there for lol. If we had to seriously limit our creativity and couldn’t think outside the box, we wouldn’t be able to create anything innovative and better.
Most things in this world started out as a “crazy idea” long before it became a reality.
So many good points. Especially hearing that a concept is basically a lie that you try to sell. Though I would phrase it differently at least in my mind and you said it as well. Having confidence while not loosing your humanity is the key. Giving respect and looking for a good solution do not necessarily have to fight with each other. You'll probably loose many ideas and concepts on the way but that feels like a way of trial and error. Maybe it has to do with the reality check. If we would build a lot of concepts that would and could cost a lot of money and effort. I notice this is not a definitive comment. Just a bit of talking points.
Anyways thanks for the insights. I am curious what will come in the future. :)
I do not remember subbing, but i am not disappointed with the content
I do not remember you subbing, but I am not disappointed with your comment
you are so inspiring as a youtuber man. You strike a cool balance between your opinion mixed with solid factual argumentation
What a fantastic channel! I know nothing about design but this has me really excited to learn more
Oh could you please do a video on the exclusivity of craft and quality? I work ultra high end architectural metal work in the bay area and have so many thoughts on it. I've made details for clients that would've been available cheaper, faster, and more consistently in off the shelf items but had to make them by hand just because the client wanted something made just for them.
We haven't talked much since I got out of CCA but I hope you're doing well!
Do you earn more than you would working for the masses? Just curious
@B Felber our shop is one of a handful in the area doing that kind of work and each of us kinda has our specialties. I only recently have begun getting paid enough it's hard to find competitive offers but I've been there over a decade. My coworkers could likely find comparable or better pay in the area at other shops. It's hard to find good employees though.
Hey Greg!
Greg!!! Nice to hear from you again. I might do a video that touches on this in the near future, but I need to think of how to approach it
My favourite classes in design school were Graphic Design History and Colour and Design, got about a year in and concluded, it made me a more technically solid artist but after 17 years in body piercing, and moonlighting in kitchen jobs, I decided focus on menial jobs to pay the bills and make art and music on the side, I am a perfectionist but am pretty critical of my own finished product.
I think being a jerk heightens your chances of succes, but in the end you will probably only be surrounded by other jerks.
Lots of great points. You covered a wide variety of issues about design, and the profession itself. Very smart well articulated presentation.
My four mantras for design are Form, Function, Visual and Physical Comfort!
PS: LOVED the TACO- SAURS! Elegant, effektive, cheap AND:ENTERTAINING! 👏👏😊
They looked really cute
I love this video. Thank you for making it. 😊
It's interesting to see the same patterns cropping up everywhere, including the effect of phone cameras and the internet to increase inclusiveness, creative freedom, and diversity.
My impression of another creative area, the visual arts, is that there is a huge divide in the minds of 'regular' people between the fine arts ('real art') and all the other arts (like media illustration, kids illustration, poster/branding/product design, online content creator, or being a self-employed niche artist).
And broadly speaking, those areas seem to attract very different people with different mindsets and different goals. But also with different audiences. So an arrogant outgoing stereotypical visionary artist may do well with non-artist media and rich customers, but maybe not on social media.
Conversely, a helpful collaborative explorative artist may do better on youtube than with big media looking for the extravagant, or rich clients looking for an expensive yet impersonal investment.
Which german university are you referring to about the Colani situation? I‘m a product design student at a german school, and actually one of my professors learned under Colani back in Italy; she praises his work! So I‘m curious, cant find anything online about that
Pforzheim
Amazing video with great observations. A software developer who also makes art, these were some really good insights into the mindset of people in the creative sphere. I had no idea that the open-source, things-can-be-improved attitude of devs was unique to us. I've been kinda taking it for granted. This gives me a fresh perspective and appreciation for the field I'm currently in.
I’m both ux and game designer, and I really appreciate your video. The truth is, that the result of your work will be hundreds of times better if you are an empathic listener. User research is a tough sell to clients, but it’s the most important part, strategy aside. That alone is a very good opportunistic reason to act like a humble human being. And as you mentioned, that doesn’t end with the users, but extends to your team. A good designer is a director, filtering through the teams ideas, rather than seeing themselves as the sole vision holder. I like that you didn’t push on that idea too hard though, since in the end the primary motivation to being a good human being should be just the act of enjoying it for itself. Unfortunately even in my field (digital) I’ve worked with arrogant designers, but eventually you’ll find yourself clients which see past all that bullshit and appreciate your authenticity, and with that there’s no necessity to deal with those narcissists anymore
It sucks cuz certain arts like architecture are in a dark age because the law firm nature of that industry allows these old established architects to act like gatekeepers never allowing people in unless they design something they approve of.
Architecture is not art. Your planing something that’s to function as something for people to live in whereas art is the act of crafting something that necessarily doesn’t function at all.
@@danial3600 If that were so true, then we'd all be living in completely featureless cubes. Your definition is myopic as fuck.
People want the places they live, work, and visit to be as pretty as they are useful.
Architects are the translators between the creative vision of what they want the building to look and feel like, and the concrete engineering realities of actually creating such a thing. That's an art. Full stop
There is a study on people in creative jobs and how high they score on the dark triad in psychology: narcissisum, machiavellianism and psychopaty. Architect scored the highest on all three. Also in architecture they still think that its a male type of job even though more then half of students are women but only 1/3 of them get a job after they get a degree. They harass and bully people at work and they also think that stealing others ideas and even drawings is a normal thing.
Don't judge us like that mate haha. We're nice people. But yeah, the head architects running the firm are probably like that, as the video says.
Great video super insightful, and eye opening. As a chef I see this same thing in the top of our field. I was talking to my partner about why don’t we see more from afro centric cultures being represented. Even the top of the food world we design our plates in a very dieter rams style. Hell I’ve taken ideas from him directly. We’re working hard on trying to listen to nature when designing a dish a without being a diorama
You could always do that fancy thing where you serve it on a block of wood so that it gets cold really quickly, but if you're dead set on switching from white supremacy to cultural theft, at least be sure that the new solution is at least as effective as a nice, heatable, non-absorbent painted ceramic plate.
Something beautiful about the internet is the rising stars have anonymity, I don't have to go to design school to be well accepted
And it becomes a very much people driven rise
Love your analysis btw
I got reminded of something mark rosewater mtg game designer said on its talk about game design, it takes ego to will something to existance and as a result creative people tend to have large egos, maybe this is also a point
It's hard to describe how happy I am I've discovered your channel from when you had 10+ subsribers. The video, content, story quality was great from the start, but now... DAAAAAMN! I love every second of your videos, it's a huge inspiration everytime!!
I appreciate you being here since the beginning! It's only going to get better from here :)
It's because many creatives develop a god complex, especially if they experience some success. In my opinion the antidote, if you can do it, is to realize that you don't so much "own" your creations. Your ideas don't really wholey originate in your brain, rather you discover them through a process of exploration. What the brain is doing is making a lot of connections, in which each node (or perhaps literally group of neurons) is a concept learned from the external world, not generated from within. I think I came upon this perspective from years of playing the piano and composing music, when I realized that there are a finite combination of keys and chords, very few of which that actually sound good together. Of course, we should still celebrate the composers that have found beautiful music, but the point is that the music already existed in the universe and they were the ones to discover it. Does anyone own the C-minor to A-major chord progression? Was it the first person to have found that those chords sound epic together? To me this is actually empowering because it means that you can externalize this process to develop strategies for innovating new inventions, music, stories, etc. by listing several concepts, generate every combination of those concepts, then discovering the possibilities. Anyway, hopefully that is an enlightening, helpful, and not angering idea for any creatives reading this. It'd be interesting if you, Design Theory, made a video on this topic of, to what extent do we own our ideas vs. borrowing from the past, from culture, from other artists, from... physics, if you haven't already.
This is actually one of the topics I talk about in a book I'm writing with my friend Raffi (who's also in the video). Basically, I agree with you. I did a video about "When Designers Copy" which briefly touches on this. But it's more on the practical side of things and less on the philosophical side that you are exploring in your comment.
Any good designer who doesn’t believe in god has a high likely hood to develop a god complex. Any designer good or bad who believes in God knows all comes from him and they are just the pencil. If you can think of something outside of the concept of infinity let me know.
Totally agree with this video. I think insecure artists act this way, and they are in industries that welcome this sort of behavior.
This makes sense, I love creating art projects and have many ideas for stories, but have very low confidence in myself. I didn't believe my personality could withstand the industry, so I've never tried despite how much I love my ideas.