Cool vs. Practical Musings

It is my belief that in the world of designer survival, there exist two basic breeds: those who will not compromise their artistic integrity under any circumstance, and then, there are the pragmatic. Accepting this philosophy can be a tough pill to swallow. As for myself, well, I think I do fall into the the latter group.

It's not to say that I don't think I have talent (for I have a typical designer ego, loving my own work, for the most part). I argue, however, that willingness to compromise, while sometimes eliminating my candidature from some of the more sophisticated and creative contests (much to my regret), has probably brought me more steady work over the years, and enabled me to survive as a self-employed freelancer.

True, I envy exciting projects that cross the desks of some of those non-compromising colleagues. On the other hand, I believe that (inevitable) change requests are perhaps less disturbing to pragmatic designers.