kadavy's comments

How is it that you think I recommend it? It's a pretty genuine warning that it's a hard way to make a living.

Oh boy, HN.

Hi, I'm the author. Thanks for reading and commenting. To clear it all up, yes, I had health problems even at the time, and still do.

I didn't realize how much the condition was affecting me until several years after I started on my own. Now I know that it caused me to make more emotional decisions, to have a short fuse, and to tire easily. It still does.

As I reflect on it, I try not to make that too much of a factor. It's one of those mysterious impossible-to-indentify conditions. I still marvel that a person can go to an office every day, work around all of those people, and not need to take a nap in the middle of the day. In the rare days that I really feel good, suddenly "normal" people make sense. But that quickly slips away.

I don't want to make that a part of my rationalization of my decisions, though it likely played a large part. Anyway, I think I explained the rationale behind my irrationality in my post so I'll let that do the rest.

Thank you so much for your feedback Mr. Bieber. (I'm a big fan of your music, as are all of my customers).

Do you have any recommendations for me for whose writing I can study so that I can write humbly and I don't always make it about myself?

A less technical, step-by-step way (also using Audacity) http://transfermymusic.com/vinyl-to-cd-or-mp3/

I started a new podcast called "Love Your Work." I'm trying to make it free of posturing about "killing it" and such – just people who have defined success for themselves.

My first episode was an in-person interview with Jason Fried, and was a real honor. He just spews brilliance – very easy to interview: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/jason-fried-basecamp/

Another popular interview is with a neuroscience who studies insightful thinking: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-8-creati...

Having worked to help engineers design better, I think it would be more accurate to say "non-designers build ugly products." It's just that the engineers are building products, and in the process, they're designing them. Since they're usually not trained as designers, they don't turn out looking so nice sometimes.

Engineers are every bit as capable – if not more capable – as learning design as any other person who wasn't "born with it" (which I haven't seen to be a requirement). But, since most of their energy is going towards one type of thinking, it diverts cognitive resources from doing another type of thinking.

Engineering requires logical thinking, whereas design requires that you be able to let your brain go quiet and let your unconscious take over for a little bit. From what I've seen, once engineers have seen a logical way of understanding what makes a good design, they have a framework on which to bind logical thinking to their experiences with design, and iteratively progress.

(P.S. I think this article could just as easily be called "designers make unusable products.")

Thanks for recommending D4H! (I'm the author)

A huge congratulations to OP! 7 years ago, I got fired (I should have quit, but didn't have the guts). I had enough money to not have to worry for at least a couple of years, and I couldn't find it in my being to work for anyone – not even freelance.

For me, the first couple of weeks was just reminding myself that I still existed – that my "flesh sack" was still there, and would still be there despite the fact that I didn't have a job. Of course, all of the questions about "what will [I] do next?" didn't help this existential crisis.

I gradually got over it. My main metric for my days was reconnecting with the sense of "flow." For enjoying what I was doing in the moment. Thankfully, for me, I could still find that in something that resembled work.

I knew there was something in my brain that I had to discover, so after the first year, I fled SV, away from all of the noise. Two more years of experimentation later (finally supported by some freelance income), I scored a book deal on a topic that was a perfect amalgamation of my curiosities and interest.

I hope you find a similar sense of satisfaction! Just find the joy in what you're doing, and don't let others' expectations create worry for you.

I'm not fantastic at math, but I think that makes it about an 11.3% annual rate of return after inflation. That's not outrageous, but I'd take that investment.

James, you may want to read my comment again. I said nothing about "the downfall of the independent design industry." Independent designers aren't going anywhere, but there will be far fewer of them.

Synopsis: Design agencies are disappearing. The industry of design has evolved from independent experimenters, to being a core skill of successful founders, and now established enterprises are investing in design talent. But, Human Centered Design has the potential to solve big problems, so that's why the author is starting a design firm in the social sector.

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That's interesting, but I think there's another layer happening (admittedly outside the scope of this article). The very skill of design is becoming democratized, and that's bringing the era of the design studio to an end, while people who wouldn't otherwise call themselves "designers" are learning design, and applying those skills in their day-to-day jobs.

The design industry used to survive through the complexities of the craft. Pasting up layouts and setting type took more resources, training, and investment than most companies could reasonably take on themselves.

Now, the tools are so widely available, everyone is a "designer." If I say "Helvetica" or "Times New Roman," most people will have images pop into their heads of what those typefaces look like. That wouldn't have been the case 20 years ago.

People who wouldn't otherwise call themselves "designers" are already learning design, and they're using those skills across all levels of all professions to create presentations, websites, etc..

Of course, there's much more to design than just being able to use the tools. There are visual communications components such as typography, colors, and shapes.

Many people think of design as something that someone is "just wired for," but it's a skill that can be learned, is being learned, and will increasingly be learned by more people – just so they can do their jobs better.

Source: I used to win fancy-pants design awards, but quit that to write a book called "Design for Hackers" (http://designforhackers.com ). I teach non-"designers" about design. I have doctors, scientists, business consultants, software developers – even a chef – taking my courses.

First of all, thanks for the mention! (I wrote Design for Hackers).

I'll just elaborate so OP and everyone else can get an idea of how I approach things when teaching design.

My goal with the book was to "reverse engineer" everything that comes together to make a good design. In my eyes, the factors of design are always the same (purpose, technology, culture), it's just a matter of understanding how they work together.

OP mentions whitespace/margins. I'm such a white space fiend, I did a whole hour-long talk at SXSW entirely about white space. So, definitely my book talks about that. You can get much better at design very quickly if you forget about everything else (fonts, colors, ornamentation) and just concentrate on white space first.

I also do cover color schemes, and how to build them. If you want an understanding of how I approach color check out the article I wrote "Why Monet Never Used Black"[1].

I also write about font sizes & geometry in design. If you want a sampling of those particular thoughts, Lifehacker picked up one of my tips on the font sizes I always use on projects[2].

Of course, there's also my free email course that creature mentioned.

Hope this helps!

1. http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/d4h-color-theory/

2. http://lifehacker.com/stick-to-these-font-sizes-to-simplify-...

Thanks for submitting, but any chance you could delete this? I published it by accident, but should have it ready next week.

I'm glad Paul wrote this. The work culture in Silicon Valley can be invigorating; but at the same time, it can be poisonous, especially for someone who is naturally inclined to be work-obsessed.

I left 5 years ago, and I'm so glad I did. It's enabled me to think to myself, away from the noise, and at the same time stay in touch with the "real" world, whom, eventually you're really working for anyway.

With all of the opportunities to do things, it can be hard to see that if you just chose to do fewer things, you could be better at the things that you did decide to do. Also, that if you take some time to relax, the quality of your work can be enhanced.

Suggesting that meditation is a "waste of time"... Wow, that's hard to imagine thinking that way if you do creative work!

Just to add a +1 to point #2, I didn't even really like writing when I started my blog, and my first blog post sucks[1]. 9 short years later, I'm an author of a book that has done pretty well[2], and I LOVE writing.

1. http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/my-first-blog/ 2. http://designforhackers.com

Not ugly enough. You need to make the white space less uniform, and the line-heights less generous.

Just kidding, this is terrible. Great work!

The message pattern you describe sounds a lot like "the one-line hook"[1], and yes, it's very effective.

[1]http://onlinedatingmatchmaker.com/match-messages/

Hey, thanks for mentioning "Design for Hackers" (I wrote it!)

If anyone is looking for something beyond just the Kindle sample, there are some links to sample stuff at http://designforhackers.com