Well, as someone who hasn’t been to design school, I can’t say whether or not I would have learned the lessons Michael McDonough provides in his article entitled Top Ten Things They Never Taught Me in Design School, but he provides valuable insight into the real-world aspects of corporate design and production. Some are pretty obvious to anyone who has spent time in a Marketing department, but I think the importance of the article is taking all of the points together and viewing them in relation to the daily tasks and practices encountered by every designer.
Here are the Ten things he lists, but I highly encourage you to read the article for the explanation of each point.
- Talent is one-third of the success equation.
- 95 percent of any creative profession is shit work.
- If everything is equally important, then nothing is very important.
- Don’t over-think a problem.
- Start with what you know; then remove the unknowns.
- Don’t forget your goal.
- When you throw your weight around, you usually fall off balance.
- The road to hell is paved with good intentions; or, no good deed goes unpunished.
- It all comes down to output.
- The rest of the world counts.
From The Architect’s Newspaper, via Design Observer.