It is so strange to admit that I am reading an investing book right now: Common Stocks, Uncommon Profits by Kenneth Fisher. Wanting to make massive gains from selecting the “right” stocks is the initial reason for reading this book. However, I have another reason that I do not like to admit.
As a designer, I feel as though I should be “reading” the design books.. the kinds of books you would “display” on your coffee table, The kind that is huge and has lots of beautiful images. I know many of my work colleagues or even architecture school classmates talk about their recent purchases of those humongous books; however, I have never been one of those designers. Besides, those books are expensive!
To read a book and learn the lessons/wisdom from authors comes from “reading,” not “seeing .”At least, that is how I think about the values that can come from reading books. Flipping through design books and seeing (or skimming) the beautiful images seem too easy…if some things are too easy and comfortable, there is no value. I am definitely the “no pain, no gain” person.
Here are additional reasons why I do not want to pay for those design books: some are logical, and some definitely not.
- My brain wiring: If I see the beautiful design images in the book, they are forever ingrained in my head. Therefore, there is no need to see them again. At least, that is how I convince myself to not buy design books and head to the shoe store for the latest style boots I absolutely must have.
- 3D vs 2D: I want to see/experience the “real” designs instead of images. Instead of marvelling at the beautiful pictures of architecture, I want to visit and see them. Besides, the “beautiful” pictures produced of some buildings were the skills of the photographer rather than the designers.
- Reading vs Viewing: Flipping through the design books and seeing images do not give me the lessons/wisdom from reading words in the books.
- No pain and No gain: For some reason, I value difficult work over easy ones. I find writing assignments extremely difficult as opposed to designing work; for example, coming up with new design ideas for architecture projects feels much more manageable than writing the reasons to clients through email communication.
- Confidence (or lack thereof) in my work: This point is huge. Writing and designing are both creative works. However, I find the working process to be different; one (writing) to be uncomfortable, time-consuming, and constantly questioning…on the other hand, designing work to be easy, smooth, seeing /making progress…overall comfortable process.
These two conflicting views about the work process, skills, and knowledge in seemingly two different(?) work areas: writing and designing.
I am not confident when it comes to writing. Therefore, I constantly question throughout the writing process, coming up with an initial writing idea, facing the blank cursor on a computer screen, having a long and arduous first draft, an even longer editing process, and then some more questioning.
However, I don’t seem to go through the same arduous process when it comes to designing work. The whole process can take as much time as writing a piece; however, I do not have the same painful “should I” or “shouldn’t I” questioning process. I just start working on the design ideas, knowing that I could “perfectly” change my mind later if I wanted to.
Writing and Designing are both creative processes; however, I find one much more difficult than others. More importantly, I question myself much more on one medium than others.
Maybe it is time to remind myself that I can “perfectly” make changes to the writing later as I had done for designing work.
On the other hand, I have a hunch that my cheap tendency toward expensive design books would stay…I have a feeling I would visit my local bookstore’s design book sections more frequently. 🙂
Life Outside of Design Studio 