Sometimes I stare at the work I have created and think ‘well that’s crap’; then other times I look at work that I thought was good a day or week ago and think ‘why did I think that was good?’. Now this might seem quite self-deprecating but without this I just don’t think I would have ever improved, or keep improving.
There is not a day that goes by that I don’t look at my industrial peers and glow green with incredible jealously at the amazing work they produce; combine this with my self-deprecation and you may think that I am heading for career meltdown, but I feel this is my greatest power as a growing designer.
In my line of work I meet many people who clearly feel they can do no wrong, everything they produce is amazing and they are always right. When these people are designers, every piece of work they create is amazing in their minds and they are the best at what they do, even if in other’s opinions they are not! For years these guys keep rolling out the same formulaic work with the same inherent flaws and mistakes; and seem completely oblivious to the fact they as people never stop growing and learning.
So my striving to be better, to take inspiration from those who I may never be as talented as are my strengths, every project I create I aim to be unique, every mistake I learn from and I keep moving forward to try and make myself the best designer that I can be. If I ever stop and say to myself ‘that piece of work is amazing’ then I have failed, my learning curve will have ended, and I will have not achieved all I am capable of – So ‘I am a crap designer’; and that is the way I will stay.