Classes just started last week and I've already had one of those moments of uh... I guess you could call it growth?
Really, it was just frustration. Sheer and utter frustration. I could go into all the details but it's really something that is somewhat endemic in this field. I often joke that design development is somewhat like being pregnant and giving birth. See, you formulate this little bitty idea and nurture it. You take care of it, making sure that when it's time to present it that everyone will LOVE it and see the brilliance of your plan. So when you actually "give birth" or present a design and it isn't received the way you expect it to be, it can be upsetting.
In this situation, it wasn't so much that the design wasn't loved, but more that I was interrupted and not allowed to share the extreme awesomeness of my idea before being told that it wasn't loved and that it was a grotesquely ugly freak. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit.
All hyperbole aside, I did spend the next three and half hours trying to revise and resolve the issues in the way I had been instructed to and ending up crumpling up all my work into a ball. Yes, there was a large quantity of angst. I felt like I made zero progress and was back at square one. The upside is that I can take away the knowledge that, like Edison was fond of saying, I now know at least a dozen ways that it doesn't work.
So yeah, quite literally, back to the drawing board.
Next post, I should have some drawings, pictures and images to share with 100% less angst.
And that is why I never share my ideas.
ReplyDeleteYeah. I can see that. Its hard to have your work criticized. The nature of my studies is such that the desk critique is part of the process. Some professors and professionals are very good at listening and providing valuable, useful criticism and some are... shall we say, not as effective.
ReplyDeleteAs it is part of the learning process, I frequently think I need thicker skin.
Oh, heck, I went through it. My graduating major at uni was creative writing, after all. Never did learn to take criticism well, unless I'm getting paid, and then I take it so I can get paid, not necessarily because I believe it ;-)
ReplyDelete