OUGD502: It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be - Paul Arden

This book was read for my cop project but found the book influential to my general graphic design practise. It's a good book for regaining inspiration for graphic design. Last week I had a mental block with the course and think I ended up getting creative burn out which is what any person in the creative industry gets and it is hard to get yourself out of it. I find listening to talks or podcasts, watching videos or reading books helpful to give me an insight into why I enjoy doing this course. It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be discusses key concepts behind interpretation of briefs and mental blocks. A few quotes I favoured are:

"Here are some common excuses for failure:

1. It was a terrible brief.
2. I need a better partner.
3. There wasn't enough money to do it properly.
4. The director didn't listen to me.
5. I was too busy on other projects.
6. I wasn't given enough time.
7. The client took out the best ideas.

Most of these grievances are every day on every job. That won't change. The point is that, whatever other people's failings might be, you are the  one to shoulder the responsibility. There are no excuses."

It's so easy for designers to blame external factors. When they are all small issues that can be resolved or we just use as excuses as to why the brief or job wasn't done to how we expected or wanted it to be.

"If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules."

Design is all about being innovative, all options must be considered and speaking to other people helps.

"We ALL get mental blocks. We need to get unblocked. The way to get unblocked is to lose our inhibitions and stop worrying about being right."

A mental block is something everyone in the creative industry has to deal with. We are constantly having to engage and think of new ideas but sometimes we get blocks where our brain can't produce anything new. This is when we need to take breaks and find inspiration somewhere else so we don't prolong the mental block or get creative burn out.