Focus on the nuances and details of the design craft itself

“Accept—quietly and implicitly—that your work will affect millions. Focus on the nuances and details of the craft itself, and on your capacity to engage in a conversation with your work. Through this will come humble and beautiful design solutions that will live on, affect culture, and change behavior. And through this will come a sense of subdued pleasure in your creative work.” – Jon Kolko

Read more from Jon in his interactions magazine article “On Hopelessness and Hope.” In this article Jon argues that successful design may come from those who focus more on designing for deep impact, rather than on broad high level strategic solutions.

1. Have undying, unending passion for design
2. As designers we are helping to define the culture of our society
3. Designers think through problems from the “outside in.”
4. Any true practice of design with a human focus has to be built on a foundation of traditional design
5. We want to focus on achieving our goals, not deciphering technology