A Record of Regrets
Continuing the thread of our previous blog entry, designer Paul Sahre bravely shares with us not only his failed designs, but his regrets, as well. Some fantastic war stories here.
Quit Your Job
A young designer stopped by the studio the other day and as he sheepishly showed work he was doing ‘on the job,’ I flashed back to the last such ‘job’ I held in Baltimore.
I remembered a particular project (one I should have never been working on in the first place) that had degenerated into a situation where the client–some middle manager at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maryland–was standing behind me making me move type around etc…I remember insisting that we put a sunset on there just for spite.
I snapped out of it and told this designer to quit immediately, and that he would figure out how to pay his bills some other way. This is advice that I would have found difficult to follow when I was in a similar situation–making a steady paycheck–as I had to be fired before I finally made the decision to start working for myself.
I always wished I’d quit that last job, which is probably why I’ve held onto this piece-of-shit for 15 years.
How I Changed A History of Western Philosophy
Please note the ridiculous typo on the front cover, which in effect, re-titles one of the most important books of 20th century. I just noticed this today May 15, 2007, more than 4 years after this redesigned cover first hit the bookshelves.
The correct title is “A History of Western Philosophy.”
I wonder if Lord Russell would have been ‘philosophical’ about this? “Mr. Russell, the graphic designer thinks the title works better on the cover this way: ‘A’ would hurt the rag, ‘The’ works much better.”
I am now sitting in my office, with my chin resting on my fist, thinking about the thousands of philosophy students who have read this book and NOT noticed this.
Coda
Perfection is an illusion. Behind all of those perfectly-curated portfolios, every designer has their regrets. We’re always learning.
It takes some real humility to post this stuff out in the open. Thanks, Paul.
PS: I’d forgotten that Paul T. wrote a couple of great posts on the subject of failure back in June. They’re worth a look if you’ve just joined us of late.
| Tagged with: | Design, Failure, Graphic Design, Paul Sahre, Regrets |
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Comments on this post
1.
This is great! Share that pain. Catharsis for everybody. :)
2.
Think about it this way.
*Regrets* are mistakes you don’t learn from. I don’t have any regrets.
*Perfection* is a mirage. Reality is always imperfect and hence, unpredictable and interesting.