Field Notes: A Designer’s Guide to Surviving the Real World

This is a collection of stuff I’ve learned in the field, doing design in the wild, design principles I live by, and other tools. It is my guide to live life like a designer.

Principle #1:

A Look Inside

Embrace Ambiguity

You can’t optimize life (trust me, I’ve tried), so the sooner you let go of your plan and forcing things to go how they “should”, the sooner you will be able to play with what you’re given and build something out of what you have.*

*This is far more interesting and way more fun.

Field Note #7:

Novel creation relies on a purity of intent.

On making a movie:

“Making the process better, easier, and cheaper is an important aspiration, something we continually work on—but it is not the goal. Making something great is the goal.” (Catmull 134)

Excerpt from Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmull