TL;DR
A short and small book to inspire and kickstart your creativity. Less is more and embracing that approach should allow bringing value to your work and users. Beautiful things can come in small packages!
“The only art I’ll ever study is the stuff that I can steal from.”
– David Bowie
Let’s start with the first chapter!
1. Steal like an artist
The writer discusses the notion that “nothing comes nowhere”. He means that every time we create something, it is based on a sequence of thoughts and activities that stem from references. We can be free of the burden as designers to be wholly original and embrace influence instead of running away from it.
One of the steps after this is to study every corner, and the writer mentions, “You have to be curious about the world in which you live. Look things up. Chase down every reference. Go deeper than anybody else–that’s how you’ll get ahead.”
👩🎨 Don’t be afraid to steal another design, but take a step further by understanding how and why they did it that way. And with that journey, you’ll be able to truly makes it your own.
“Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different from that from which it was torn.”
– T.S. Eliot
2. Don’t wait until you know who you are to get started
This part of the book is about knowing thyself through doing. One can wonder for a lifetime without doing anything. Part of this can be because of “imposter syndrome”, or the clinical definition is a “psychological phenomenon in which people cannot internalise their accomplishments.” And the writer has a good point; as children, we learn by copying and pretending to be our heroes, and that’s how we tend to find ourselves. The most important aspect is just not copying someone, but their way of thinking is the key to finding your internal rhythm.
I love this passage from the book “It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique.”
👩🎨 Find those great designers learn by copying and honouring their work, but most importantly, learn what made them great designers. Don’t hold back; just do it, and through that practice and failure, you become better and better.
“Start by copying what you love. Copy copy copy copy. At the end of the copy, you will find yourself.”
– Yohji Yamamoto
3. Write the book you want to read
This section of the book goes through the idea of channelling your passion through inspirational work. Whenever I see a movie or piece of artwork, I want to add my sequel or my take on that artwork. The writer mentions Bradford Cox, a member of a band called Deerhunter, and how as a child, he had to wait for his favourite band to release an album and during that wait, he would record a fake version of what he wanted that new album to sound like. Many years later, those songs were released as part of his band.
👩🎨 Channel your favourite designers and use that inspiration to create those things you feel they didn’t.
4. Use your hands
This is an exciting chapter as the writer talks about physically building your ideas before digitalising them. He almost relates to the endless opportunity of the digital space as creating too time with perfection “there are too many opportunities to hit the delete key”. He recommends having analogue and digital spaces — the first to seed your ideas and the latter to finish them.
👩🎨 As a designer, we should allow ourselves the chance to use a notebook (or iPad) as means to enjoy creating non-destructive ideas that don’t require perfectionism. Don’t kill the seed before you’ve given time to grow.
5. Side projects and hobbies are important
Being bored and procrastinating seems to be part of the creative process. Most creatives use hobbies as a way to unpack their thoughts to get to the actual idea. The writer talks about having many side projects, and hobbies can help him bounce to something else when he’s feeling stuck.
👩🎨 We should give ourselves time to reflect instead of moving from one project to the next. This period of procrastination helps us unpack and improve our creative muscles. At the same time, having a hobby or a side project shifts the mind onto something else creative. This process of creative-sharing between play and work can then feed this back into the main design work.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards.
– Steve Jobs
6. The secret: do good work and share it with people
This chapter is about getting your work out there and sharing it with like-minded people. The writer mentions the internet isn’t just a space for the finished ideas; it can be a place for incubating ideas or developing your work.
This process of sharing your work online helps him expose his work (and vulnerabilities) that then allow him to get better. Try. Fail. Get better. I always say, “a baby doesn’t give up when they try to take their first steps… Otherwise, we’d be a species of crawlers or rollers!” 😆
👩🎨 Constantly sharing your work, whether well-formed or not, is a great way to get others to look at it. This process helps you find what makes work great.
“Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats.”
– Howard Aiken
7. Geography is no longer our master
The internet has also broken down all our distance barriers, and we can connect with kind minded people. I also love this chapter because it reflects the importance of gaining perspective by stepping out of your bubble. See different cultures: listen, learn, and immerse yourself. I have experienced this, and stepping out allows me to come back with a new perspective.
👩🎨When designers tend to work on similar things day-in and day-out, it becomes harder to see new opportunities. Find a way to step out of your work bubble to create distance so that you come back with better insights.
“Distance and difference are the secret tonic of creativity. When we get home, home is still the same. But something in our mind has been changed, and that changes everything.”
– John Lehrer
8. Be nice (the world is a small town)
This chapter talks about how small the world has become. And this shrinkage can help you learn from the best person in the room. The writer mentions, “Pay attention to what they’re talking about, what they’re doing, what they’re linking to.”
The chapter also focuses on finding a way to channel your frustrations into creative pursuits. The writer mentions that his wife yelled at him one night, “Quit picking fights on Twitter and go make something!”. I love this quote because it talks about focusing your (negative or positive) energy on being productive. And when you’re feeling lonely, keep a praise file to help pick you up when you’re trying to fight those negative thoughts.
👩🎨As designers, we need to stay conscious of how small the world has become. Be friendly to those around you and keep the negativity out of your mind. Use that energy to create, design, write or build beautiful if you can’t.
“Complain about the way other people make software by making software.”
– Andre Torrez
9. Be boring (it’s the only way to get work done)
The chapter is about staying grounded and staying humble, all while focusing your life on the bigger picture of your dreams and learning to understand money and how to use it to get yourself closer to financial freedom to make better decisions.
The writer also mentions how Jerry Seinfield had a calendar of the whole on his wall, and he would use it to help him write daily jokes. This was a tool to keep momentum and help him stay motivated. The writer says, “writing a page a day doesn’t seem like much, but do it for 365 days, and you have enough to fill a novel.”
👩🎨As designers, we need to find ways to keep constant. Using boxes on a calendar can help us stay motivated as you see your progress and the routine you’re building on staying creative.
Find your way of tracking and showcasing progress.
10. Creativity is subtraction
My favourite section of this book. Here the writer talks about being paralysed by the limitless possibilities and approaches. He mentions that just use what is within your reach to get over your creative block. He writes, “Paint a painting with only one colour… Build a machine out of spare parts.” Just because you don’t have the best computer, software, or paints, it doesn’t mean you can’t be creative and have fun. Find ways to create artificial constraints, as this approach can sometimes give you more freedom to work within.
He mentions that the Dr Seus wrote Cat in the Hat by using little over 200 words and his publisher challenged him to write with less than 50. Dr Seus came back with one of his best selling books, Green Eggs and Ham.
👩🎨We might feel like we’re not getting enough creative freedom or time to show our skills as designers. But we need to show what we can do given the constraints and think about the opportunities we can create – treat every project the same like it’s going to be your best one.
“Don’t make excuses–makes things with the time, space, and materials you have, right now”
– Austin Kleon
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