"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Design is knowing which ones to keep."
- Scott Adams
Scott Adams is best known as the creator of Dilbert, a satirical comic strip about white collar life, but is also an established as a non fiction writer. After being rejected from art school, Adams chose to excel in law school. After he graduated, he wound up working as a bank teller where he was held at gunpoint twice. He tried many different occupations such as a management trainee and a computer programmer. It was somewhere in-between these jobs that adams created Dilbert, the name which comes from an old boss. Adams tried to get his comics published in the New Yorker and Playboy, but was unfortunately rejected. After many rejections, Adams was finally published in United Media in 1989.
I chose this quote because of its honesty. In design, at least the final products, seem to have achieved the perfection it always had, and while a beautiful end result is seen no one stops to consider that there ever was an extensive process that consisted of many, many mistakes. This quote tells me that I shouldn't be afraid to take risks because the process is something that will not be displayed when the final product is unveiled. The mistakes will not be seen because I chose to transform it from a raw, unpolished mistake into a clean, concise thought that is my end result.
Nice post. You gave the context we need to fully understand the quote, as well as why it is important to you.
ReplyDeleteOn the writing:
"but is also an established as a non fiction writer."
^ need to proofread
"In design, at least the final products, seem to have achieved the perfection it always had, and while a beautiful end result is seen no one stops to consider that there ever was an extensive process that consisted of many, many mistakes."
^ excellent point, but the poor writing makes it confusing on first read.