Twitter Design Challenge: Things I Learned

After the latest and first ever Twitter Design Challenge, I learned some things.

First of all, sucking so much is definitely painful, make no mistake. But I think that this has to be done, and as long as it has to be done, I might as well do it with you watching and commenting.

This is like the “What I Wore” series in that, no matter what happens, even though it might be a little crappy at times, I’ll come to a greater understanding of my subject in a real way that will change my eye and affect my choices down the line.

In the future, I’m going to need a time limit. It took me almost 3 days to produce the last design challenge, and that’s a turn-around I’m not happy with. I’m also going to have to stick to one concept at a time. Trying to do two separate assignments and then blog about them both felt scattered and I didn’t give either one the attention it deserved. If people are going to be nice enough to help me out with design ideas, I should honor their request with my full attention. I should treat each concept with as much seriousness and effort as I treat my assignments at work, or that I would treat a freelance job were I to ever get one. This is something that’s going to be on my blog in perpetuity, which means that, more than just content, this may be an illustration of my working style over time.

In real life, I ask for as much time as possible to research and outline the work I do, so the finished product can be the best quality I’m able to produce. But when it comes to the blog, I frequently have other things going on that take presidence. So, the time limit is there to ensure that content gets produced in a timely manner, without taking up too much of my real life and without yoking my twitter followers to the plow of anticipation.

The problem with the inaugural Design Challenge was that I didn’t treat the requests seriously, not that I  didn’t have enough time. I understand that the whole point is to get the shitty work behind me, but there’s no reason to be cute about it. It’s going to be crap without me making it crappier by preemptively holding back effort on that account.

So, in the interest of self-improvement, the next Twitter design challenge will follow these rules:

  • 1 tweet.
  • 1 concept.
  • 24 hours.
  • Everything goes up, all work is shown.

So I’m extending the challenge, here and on twitter: Tweet or comment a concept to me, I’ll pick one of them, and 24 hours after I announce the one I pick, I’ll post the results on this blog for all to see.