Design culture is a frozen shithole

So is Winnipeg.

Edit with actual content: The number of companies that describe in glowing terms how they're moving forward by shutting down and taking all your data with them is really way too high. I think fotopedia.com is the last one I heard of, you should check out their blog post and the comments: http://blog.fotopedia.com/fotopedia-shutdown/

Mods: why can't I make a comment linking to the ourinrediblejourney tumblr? It's relevant to the "make companies just to flip them" point in the article.

I've had similar frustrations, but I've started to understand it as a matter of visibility bias. There are lots of people out there, doing the good work, doing it well, for the right reasons, in the right ways, without buzzwordy bullshit. But you don't hear about them because... they're working. They aren't promoting themselves. They're just working. It's the asshats who don't know what they are doing, don't have their skills in constant, 100% demand, don't have work to do, that have the time to promote themselves like this.

I've been on a PR bent for the last 6 months. It's a slog. If I don't treat it like a full-time job when I do it, it doesn't go anywhere. And that means my other work suffers. You can't be in two places at one time.

I sometimes rail against the larger market of "DIY" and "Makers" and "Creatives". Most people who would call themselves a "maker" are in-name only. People who actually make things call themselves “postal worker” or "teacher" or "accountant". In other words, we make things as a matter of course and don't use it as a status symbol, as a component of our identity that we need to broadcast to others.

I think it's the same way with Design. There is design in everything we do. "Design" is nothing more than the human condition: impacting upon the environment through your will, through your intention. At least it is to me. If I think of any way that design is different than a monkey throwing shit on the wall, it's intention. Agency. And every man and woman has that. So to call someone a "designer" is a null statement. Designer of what? And how? For whom? And most importantly, by what set of values?

So keep working, and don't let the TEDx asshats get you down.

You can't implement a good design by committee...