Defining design is difficult because it's so subjective.
“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good”
- Malcolm Gladwell
In order to be great at something, you’re supposed to put in 10,000 hours (Malcolm Gladwell, The Story of Success “Outliers
What is an outlier?"Outlier" is a scientific term to describe things or phenomena that lie outside normal experience. Read more...”). If you are going to break this very true down, it will look a little like this:
Does that change your commitment level?
See at what hours do you consider yourself to be at, realistically?! Are you ready to dedicate at least five hours to your practice? If you can’t commit to it, according to Malcolm’s research, your chances of becoming a true master are slim-to-none.
Before you melt into the 10,000 designing hours
To an average designer´s or an artist´s brain, or if you like to an average IQ gifted person´s brain, it takes on average 2 to 2.5 hours to become active and ready to enter the “creative zone”. Have a think about: what you normally do before you actually start creating stuff - another fact to consider as part of becoming a true master. I am not going to dig into people of whom we think as prodigies, such as Mozart.
What makes the 10,000 hours rule so special?
Are you asking yourself what makes the 10,000 hours rule so special then? Seth Godin10,000 hoursYou win when you become the best in the world, however 'best' and 'world' are defined by your market. In many mature markets, it takes 10,000 hours of preparation to win because most people give up after 5,000 hours. Read more... has a bit more realistic take on it: It's not 10,000 hours that matters, it's the fact that there are fewer people who have committed themselves to a craft or skill beyond 5,000 hours. Once you have committed yourself beyond that, there are very few people who will have the same skill level as you.
Yup!
I have put in 10,000 hours
As you can assume, what I am trying to say is that at this stage of my life I can pretty much guarantee that I have put in 10,000 hours as a web designer and a web developer, but I can say that I am not as well-off as some other people that have followed the 10,000 hours rule such as Bill Gates etc…
The key acknowledgement of becoming a true master isn’t about knowing someone in the business or being a big mouth; to me it’s about pushing past the rest of the herd and setting the pace that only myself can handle. Yes it does mean sleepless nights with 12 hours workdays of learning, editing, designing, coding and much more, even though it is not for a client.
I’ll be really damned if I am going to be part of the herd that gives up, because I know that if I throw the white towel now, it means that I would have to, if I am lucky enough, type some horseshit into the keyboard and push papers from one side to another. As I am not prepared to do so, I would rather put another 10,000 hours to see where it can take me…
“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away”
– Antoine De Saint-Exupéry
Jan Libic at Du-Enter
JanConnect with Jan | LinkedinSee Jan's detailed professional profile on the Linkedin. is a Slovakia-born web designer, web developer, photographer and video producer who currently lives in London for some time. Jan is fuelled by a passion for art, clean and transparent smart code, invisible design* or design as a visual voice, true and unique photography that remains long after the other things have faded, cinematic effects that make him to ask “how it’s done” and also by endless cups of good coffee (Jan always pays respect to people who know how to make and appreciate coffee).
When Jan is not talking to his computer, he can be found out there with his canon camera or camcorder seeking some great spots, listening to his favourite tracks and mixesOnline Playlist | FliisGo straight to Jan’s favourite music collection on Fliis.com. - a big must have for him, posting nonsense on Twitterjanlibic | TwitterFollow instant updates from Jan on Twitter., catching up with friends along with some pints or large glasses of Rioja or cycling around England. Jan also never talks about himself in the third person.
Less talk, more rock!
The toughest challenge in this environment is to make people, from different areas of expertise, realize that the process is more important than the actual product! To sell the fruit is a result of a countless little decisions and ideas and the better your capability to tie them up the better the result is. Jan’s key to this challenge is the number of years of experience when dealing with such matters and countless number of “geek” books he reads about web design principles. Therefore, the answer is to keep the communication as transparent as possible for every level of expertise and to make sure that people have confidence to interact, question and also challenge the project.
User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX)
These are another two aspects of web design that have a connection to each other. In this area, Jan is very pedant and approachable to be challenged. Before you approach him you should first try to think about the below topics, because that’s what Jan is likely to discuss with you:
- Does the user understand the overall system?
- Does the user understand the message?
- Does the user understand the navigation?
- How quickly can the user accomplish your goal?
- What´s the goal for the user?
- Does the user trust your system?
- Does the website give the user a positive experience?
Timeless Thinking and Invisible Design*
Experience has showed Jan that it is more valuable to dedicate additional time to first think about the solution, rather then jumping straight onto the project itself, to make sure that only the elegant solution has been chosen, as well as to consider whether the given solution is tailored to the overall content. Then moreover to make sure that the brand identity stays untouched, or even pushed further, and whether it can be applied to any other project.
Jan knows that more he does this; more people are able to distinguish quality of his work from the work that will look inconsistent and dated as the years roll by. Resolution for his timeless thinking is a timeless design, which relies on conveying a good idea. This is where timelessness works its magic.
The simplest principle to achieve all this is to use the fewer possible elements to fully convey the message across, where there is a less chance for transitory trends and, more importantly, styles to creep in.
Typography
“Typography exists to honour content”
Jan understands the impact that his typographic decision will have on the overall design and message. That the impact serves the message, is a must have for him.
“I don’t believe that when you write ‘dog´ the type should bark”
– Massimo Vignelli
--but--
“I do not want to adjust my seat every time I drive the car”
– Oliver Reichenstein
Outstanding blurts thought!
The majority of problems the world has observed over the last few years are either solved in principle or in fact. In today’s typography, the current challenge is to get ready for the upcoming screen devices with higher than print resolution.
CSS3-Time to open your mind
This is an area in which Jan is particularly interested. CSS3 should be officially finished by 2014, but there is no point in waiting, as we can already put our hands on it and make the worldwide Web a better place. CSS3 is so far offering “endless” possibilities in cascade styling. The main thing Jan, and many other Web Developers have to deal with, is a world that is constantly changing. What was a good practice few years back can often, or actually very often, make your head shake.
Jan versus CSS3
- Jan is either working with other people’s ´obsolete´ styles, trying to make sense of them and eventually adding CSS3 features where the Web site and the end user (UI & UX) can start benefiting from them
- Or he is experimenting with endless possibilities of CSS3 and trying to make User Experience even better in any way you can think of. Because CSS3 is a future of the web development.
“CSS3 is not difficult. More difficult is to open your mind!”
“Being honest and sincere with clients and with myself”
– Vivien Anayian
I very much appreciate when people come to me with a quest “How would you do this?”, “What do you think?”, “Can you advice me on this?”, “Is there any other solution?”, ”How can we make it better, simpler?” and such…
That flatters me!
I like when people are honest with me from the very 1st instance so I can quickly establish the level of transparent communication, which is the key to success. As I am an honest person myself, I am expecting the same from others. This is where GOALS are being achieved.
“I only work on project that makes me happy and I am passionate about”
“Change is good, good change is even better”
“For www doesn’t matter where you are, but travelling makes you a better person”
Acknowledgements
- Made it to 10,000 hours
- Less is the new more or less talk and more rock
- Experienced in User Interface and User Experience
- Particularly interested in CSS3 and new web technologies
- Enjoying writing tutorials
- Working for one of the top 100 Most Innovative Companies in the world
- Favourite book “Making Ideas Happen” – Scott Belsky
- Favourite magazine “Adbusters” – journal of the mental environment
What is Jan working on theses days?
- Getting to grips with HTML5. As he likes to say “the code which went on a diet”
- Adoring jQuery as a replacement for Flash on his projects
- Designing and putting together Photoshop, CSS3 and video production tutorials
- WordPress
