I’ll introduce this blog entry with a little bit I just posted this on my Twitter:

“A thought: I’m thinking that thinking (and overthinking) too much is both a strength and a weakness, I think.”

Now, I wrote this as a way of mocking myself because it’s a few minutes from 2 AM, and I can’t sleep because I’m, you know, thinking. Well, if I force myself to put together a coherent blog post about what I’m thinking, knowing that there’s a significant chance someone might read it, I might be able to come to some sort of conclusion and then, oh, there may be a chance I will finally be able to rest my very tired little head. Blogging may be the new cure for insomnia; who knew!

Onto the topic I’m tackling tonight as I’m trying to sleep: What makes a good (or… great or… successful or… talented… I’m not sure if the right terminology!) designer? Maybe the better question is, what makes the type of designer that I want to be?

I keep jumping around with my ideas on this topic, so in no particular order, here are some possible answers to this question:

1. Someone with artistic abilities to make something look “good,” no matter the consequences*
2. Someone who makes something functional, that communicates effectively, no matter the consequences*
3. Someone who is a savvy business person, no matter the consequences*
4. Someone who pleases the client, no matter the consequences*

*Consequences = Losing all of the other 3 options in the list. Example: For 1. Someone who makes something look good, but isn’t functional, loses/wastes money, and doesn’t please the client… and so on!

This is getting quite confusing now, at this late hour. I feel like I need to break out a flow chart for this, because I’m losing my original point that I wanted to write about. After all, I’m a visual person.

For now, this is the conclusion I’ve made: The best possible designer is a person who can do all 4, and thereby, leave behind no consequences. But is that really even possible? As I think about projects that I have done, or even, maybe more importantly, think about work done by people I admire, I think that is a lot to live up to. Don’t you? So, now that I’m fresh out of school, and I’m thinking about what I want to do with my career, the answer to “what type of designer do I want to be?” is just that: someone who THINKS about and understands the consequences, even if he/she can’t eliminate them all.

So maybe thinking isn’t so bad after all.

Here’s to hoping when I wake up in the morning that my conclusion somewhat made sense. It probably doesn’t, but hey, I’m just starting, there’s a lot I don’t know, but I have the rest of my working days to figure it out.