Should Designers Learn the Craft Before Critiquing Other People's Work?

Katie Dill says designers should get close to the craft before they start having opinions about other people's craft. At Art Center, a teacher named Norm Sherman told her more than once that it is all about mileage: do the time, put in the effort, and get better and better by doing.

She did not want to hear it. As a design student she wanted to rush ahead into strategy and become a leader. His point was that hard skills come first, so people will listen and she knows the material of the work. Knowing what it takes to make great things, what the process is like, how important a sense of flow and a time of focus are, how important it is to try a lot of bad ideas to find a good one, what it is like to develop taste, and how hard the tools can be made her a better leader. She had heard Norm's voice in her head saying it is all about the mileage, and she wishes she had put the time in then.

People about to graduate reach out wanting to get into strategy. They should get in with the work, spend time in the pixels and with hand skills, and get close to the craft before they have opinions about other people's craft.