Alchemy01. “Should I Be a Designer?” I received an email from one of our readers a long time ago.
For some reason, I started thinking about it again more recently. I thought I’d share bits of the conversation with you because I believe that it’s valuable to start a discussion on the topic. To paraphrase, the reader asked if his passion and his interest in design was enough for him to choose it as his career. His main concern was that he might not be talented or skilled enough to do it, but that he’s so passionate about the field that maybe there was a way for him to compensate and be successful as a designer.
What I really found interesting about his question was the word "enough. " Is passion and interest enough to choose designing as a career? Now, this wasn’t a question I wanted to answer. I did find his concerns to be very relevant and poignant because, on the one hand, there’s a lot of talk in the creative industries about passion, artistry, creativity and talent.
Graphic. 30 Essential Books for Industrial Designers. A warm welcome to you dear reader!
If you have not already, why not subscribe to The Design Sojourn Newsletter and get my latest thoughts on Strategies for Good Design conveniently delivered right to your inbox? It's free! You can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook as well. Thanks for visiting and please keep in touch? Image Source: Books by ijsendoorn. If it suits your fancy please do Digg, Stumble and share? As requested and suggested by a few loyal Design Sojourn readers, I have compiled what I think are the essential books that Industrial Designers should either own or read. Now I have one disclaimer, and that is I have intentionally left out the design yearbooks or the ever popular coffee table picture book collections. The reason is that if you are looking at such books for inspiration, you will likely be recreating the same looks in one form or another.
So going forward, I have divided the books into 3 categories, namely Thinking, Process and Designer Skills. Thinking by Mark H. Rhetological Fallacies. Aqueous Fluoreau on the Behance Network. 25 Bad Habits of Industrial Designers. A warm welcome to you dear reader!
If you have not already, why not subscribe to The Design Sojourn Newsletter and get my latest thoughts on Strategies for Good Design conveniently delivered right to your inbox? It's free! You can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook as well. Thanks for visiting and please keep in touch? Image: Thumbs Down by CraigPJ. 29 life lessons learned in travelling the world for 8 years straight. The BMW Design Process. TEDxCairo - Zap Tharwat - The Happiness. Beyond Design, 10 Skills Designers Need to Succeed Now. Judging by the number of inquiries we've received lately there are quite a few recent graduates who have not landed that all-important first job in the profession.
Of the few portfolios I've reviewed, it seems that this year's graduates continue the trend of improvement in skills and capabilities. That said, there are several attributes key to success that don't always get the attention they deserve in most design schools. Ultimately, those attributes will prove as important for a designer's success in today's economy as sheer design skill. Here are my top ten "strengths" that graduating designers--or any designers, for that matter--should bulk up on: Passionate Curiosity: Continually explore and understand. Imagination: Bring ideas and opportunities together in ways that were not initially obvious. Objectivity & Self Awareness: Assess yourself and your work, and view yourself through the eyes of others with a realistic understanding of your capabilities. The Guide to Sleeping in Airports.
SHOW OFF HOME. 10 Best Places to Live for Escaping World Conflict. Where would you be the safest if World War 3 broke out tomorrow?
Perhaps it’s a grim subject, but safety and distance from world conflict can be a motivating factor in your choice to expatriate. At the very least, conflict around the world can weigh heavy on the soul, and it’s nice to know there are some places still left in the world where you might be left in peace. Thus, we’ve assembled a list of the 10 best places to live if you want to escape world conflict. 10. Switzerland Switzerland’s long history of neutrality and its tucked away location among the valleys of the Alps still make it a safe bet, even despite having a high number of bordering nations. 9. Costa Rica has a stable democracy, a disbanded military and a national policy of neutrality. 8. There are regions of Papua New Guinea that are still being discovered for the first time. 7. 6. 5. 4. Isolated in the middle of Micronesia, Tuvalu is among the safest and most remote places in the world. 3. 2. 1. Comments.