Filed under: Readings
Ch 2 + 3 + 4 HTBAGDWLYS by AS
Margaret Richardson use to repeat it over and over during her summer design class. It is engrained in my head. The theory of 10,000 hours.
Daniel Levitin in This is Your Brain on Music talks about the theory of 10,000 hours:
… ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert — in anything. In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again. Ten thousand hours is the equivalent to roughly three hours per day, or twenty hours per week, of practice over ten years. Of course, this doesn’t address why some people don’t seem to get anywhere when they practice, and why some people get more out of their practice sessions than others. But no one has yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.
Quoted from another blog here.
Just like Richardson, Shaughnessy believes there is no wrong job. It builds character, experience, and defines who you are and what you will become. It becomes a skill you may use in the future, even the skill which may land you the dream job you didn’t know was your dream job. We must remember “everything [you] see and touch makes [you] a better designer” (31).
To be a freelance designer, your first full time job is to find more work. It is important to remember that if you are only looking for work when you need it, it is already too late. You must be disciplined and be able to be your own secretary, accountant, HR, PR, etc. You must also deal with late paying clients and make sure to factor it in when projecting needs for future expenditures (including paying yourself). Tips are good, very good.
To work in a studio allows designers to bounce ideas from one another. Critique (which I find super useful in classes). Shaughnessy believes a “good design studio is fuelled by the notion that we all want to do meaningful and creative work for which we can claim authorship” (59). I think this statement goes beyond just studios, I think (or would hope) all graphic designers strive for this.
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