§ 20. The young and the seasoned

Sometimes you have to wriggle to meet the challenge of explaining why this design is nice and that one is hideous, while a person behind it just doesn’t cut it.

Your first encounter may be with whatever except a sound assessment. Propagators of bad design have a fair lot of arguments in store, like the author is a good person, or the picture looks fine etc.

The source of this lack of professionalism in evaluation lies in the inability to see, while the latter is rooted in poor experience. Acquiring experience is not a big deal: all it takes is several years of careful study of the subject.

The knack for giving credit to a good design is an achievement tantamount to its creation. This commonplace truth is utterly new to the folks in charge of product quality control.

How come top-quality, spectacular stuff still makes its way into the broad field and sees the light? By sheer accident. The customer doesn’t bother about twists and turns and goes in for anything but fine design. He is tickled pink about meeting the deadlines, consideration, the price. He is delighted by a vivid image, a funny pun, a brilliant solution, or a sleek look. But he never sees what the whole thing is about.

All the designer garners is an unmerited praise or undeserved blame. And he cares for neither. A young designer facing an undeserved criticism for the first time gets the sulks, while a seasoned one shrugs it off, since indifference is the only sure defense.