On the eve of Manchester United’s big game againt A.C Milan, Beckham returning to old Trafford and my return to football after being out of action for over a month due to back problems, I’m reminded of a few words from Ron Manager.
I’ve got a bad habit of uploading stuff to sites like vimeo and forgetting I did. Which results in some gems being un-earthed periodically when I remember about them. Well, no more, I’ll be adding that sort of thing to my blog, if for no other reason than reminding me this stuff exists.
After reading some end of year reviews from the likes of Jon and Elliot this week (yes I know I’m behind!) it struck me with a thought; which may just be a thought, or maybe it could well be an actionable idea to some extent.
It was this point in Elliot’s post that casued the lightbulb to go off;
Release a new version of this site. Yes, you read that right. Even though I redesigned just a few months ago and put a considerable amount of time (i.e: too much time) into the project, I’m still not happy with the outcome, and as the months have gone on, I’ve once again found myself yearning for something new.
That got me thinking.
As designers were tasked with creating an idea and a public face to other people’s businesses and identities, but how would another designer approach branding us?
Because we’re always the ones doing we’re never created for. That is to say, we never really analyse & research ourselves to the same extent as we would a client and their audience.
And how can we? Sure we can be self-critics (show me a designer who isn’t) and we can try and be impartial and objective about representing who we are, but how do our peers, friends and family define us? Ultimatley, how would they design us?
So here’s my thinking. What if, in 2010, we design one thing for one of our peers – and by that I mean for them, not their clients, friends, family, pets – and in return they do the same for us. I for one find the idea interesting enough to persue, maybe you do too.
Just once I’d like to be the one being designed for, and see the process from the other side of the fence.
Who knows, it may even open my eyes to a few things along the way.
10/4 over and out – Pete