Robert Roose - My Thoughts about Technology, Games and Design » self improvement

Outliers: How talent is overrated

Robert Roose — Sun, 31 May 2009 10:08:28 +0000

In his latest book Malcom Gladwell claims that talent doesn’t make one successful. It’s more about practice and being lucky. He makes his point with insightful examples which can hold their claim. The Beatles are one example. They were lucky enough to be invited to play in Hamburg, Germany in 1960. In Hamburg they played seven days a week for eight hours straight! In those trips they made to Hamburg they played twelve hundred times together which is quite unique. So you can conclude that The Beatles had a lot of practice.

According to Gladwell it comes down the the 10.000 hour rule. If you practice something for 10.000 hours you’re bound to get good at it. Outliers: The Story of Succes is loaded with great examples which demonstrate this 10.000 hour rule.

How does this 10.000 hours of practice apply to a designer?
Dee Barizo made a blog post about how to practice as a designer. He gives some great pointers:

Practice is not enough, you need to improve. Doing the same thing over and over again won’t help you unless you improve.
Seek feedback. Without feedback it’s hard to determine if you improve.
Don’t overdo it. Your brain can handle so much, straining it won’t do you any good.

So, stop reading this blog and start practicing!

P.S: Dee Barizo talks about another book Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin. I haven’t read it but it looks very similar to Outliers. Fascinating.

What to do when a client disagrees

Robert Roose — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:29:55 +0000

As a web designer you’ve probably been in a situation where a client has an idea about his or her website but you, as a web designer, know this idea will end up in a train wreck. Some examples:

“Our brochure has the logo on the bottom so it has to be the same on our website!”
“Our corporate colours are green, brown, yellow, purple and red. Could you please put them in as a background?”
“We want a 15 minute long flash animation in front of our website. No need for a skip button, people will love this animation!”

But don’t blame the client just because he or she is lacking the experience! You are the web designer so you have to warn your client. If you don’t mention it, because you think client is always king, you will end up with a dissatisfied client. The project turns out to be a disaster and nobody warned him or her. And guess who gets the blame.

Here are 5 things you can do when you happen to be in this situation:

Tell your client that you’ve designed hundreds of websites and that his idea is rather unusual and that your advice as a designer is to drop it.
Show your client studies which show that the idea he or she is having is not working in the world wide web. (I know he is an internet dinosaur but Jakob Nielsen has done some great studies which help convincing your client)
Go along and tell the client that the idea is unusual but would make for a great experiment. Make amends and tell them to test it at home with his or her friends and family to see if it works.
Be blunt and tell the client it’s a bad idea. You understand that the client is king but making these changes and putting it all back when it doesn’t work will cost them a lot of extra money.
If you are really against the idea you can always refuse to make the changes. Tell the client you don’t want to make the changes because in the end it will make your client and you unhappy. You give the client all the project files so he or she can go to another web designer and you keep the good relationship with the client.

Have you been in this situation and have another tip? Please share!

How I stopped worrying and learned to love the deadline (Or: stop being a perfectionist)

Robert Roose — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 19:47:23 +0000

I used to hate ‘the deadline’. ‘Nobody can ask me to deliver on a schedule. I’m working on art here, you can’t rush art!’ But I’ve started to love the deadline, because it’s the only thing preventing me from working myself to death. Let me explain.

When someone is on a job interview and they are asked what there specialities are they will almost always answer: ‘I’m a perfectionist’. Trying to do your best is great. But being a perfectionist is a great disadvantage. Perfectionists have the tendency to miss deadlines because they want to deliver perfect work. You did good when you get your deadlines with OK work. You’re doing really bad when you miss every deadline with perfect work. That’s why I learned to love the deadline. It gives me the opportunity to stop worrying about the quality of my work. It doesn’t always get better when I have more time.

So stop being a perfectionist and start delivering.

Most stressful job in the world: Webdesigner

Robert Roose — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:10:25 +0000

Designing seems like a gift. To be able to create beautiful things on will almost seems magical. Time after time we, as web designers, are asked to deliver our best work on a very tight schedule. And every time I stare at the blank photoshop canvas I start worrying if I can pull it off this time. I don’t know where it comes from, this ability to make designs which please the clients time after time. And I’m worried that one day I will wake up and that it this gift will be gone. Just as easily as it came. I didn’t study design, I didn’t go to Art school… I just started designing.

And even when I have ‘completed’ the design it’s still a gamble if the client likes it. I’m never sure. Of course I do my best to follow the brief as closely as possible. But is it enough? Maybe I misunderstood the client? And then the moment comes. I have to present my design to the client. My heart is pounding, my hands are sweaty. I start talking and then… I show it. And the first look, that first facial expression of the client always makes me think that they hate it. But 99 out of 100 times they actually like it. It may need some tweaking or some copy is wrong but overall they are very pleased. I’m relieved, happy, high five my boss. And then it starts all over again… staring at that blank photoshop canvas, stressing out.