DAY 028 – DESIGNING DANGEROUSLY

Make Certain Your Concept Is Active

As it turns out, this doesn’t just hold true for the work, but for how we view ourselves and our relationship with the world. There’s a marked difference in our posture depending on whether we view ourselves acting upon the world or whether the world acts upon us.

I must confess that I spend a fair amount of time believing the world acts upon me. And often it does, I suppose, but as it is with many realities, we don’t have to always stay there. We stand ourselves up, brush off, and start acting upon the world again. It’s tempting to not be an active participant. We don’t have to own our failures; we get to hold everything at arm’s length. However, as Neil Gaiman points out in his excellent commencement address now known as “Make Good Art,” luck does exist, and it is coaxed along by hard work and tenacity. Gritting it out. I would much rather deal with the stand up/knock down/stand up cycle than to always be down. In that posture I just become an obstacle, a speed bump if you will, of those who are doing the work. 

Our conception of ourselves should be of the dangerous designer: probing questions, constructing searing solutions. As Yeats said, don’t wait! Make the iron hot by striking.