One of the many reasons I love this channel is this guy is so serious and understated, but you KNOW his 20s were wild. Like a smart dude who's fucked around and found out, and was then kind enough to lay it out for us. These are the kind of people I respect the most.
no joke this is one of the best videos ive seen on youtube! your abstract analysis of learning and self actualisation is so CLEAR and EFFICIENTLY EXPLAINED, youre the fucking best man!!!!!
Im 25 feeling lost and left behind most of the time, but then I watch videos like these videos and realize Im exactly where I should be. This stuff wouldve never clicked with me years ago no matter how important I was told it was. I used to be obsessed with finding the right courses, materials, method etc and nowadays I realize I just have to be in love with improving and problem solve every step of the way get there. It's up to me. Said tools will then gravitate towards me naturally.
I love your content, I'm a designer who dropped out of college in her early 20s. In my late 30s I picked it back up, I'm a self taught designer working for a company now. It takes passion and discipline, but it is achievable. One must only accept that you never achieve full knowledge and will never cease to study, as the basics remain but style changes with the times and trends and there's always so much to learn to stay current, but that's part of the beauty of this career.
Thank you, Elliot. This was the exact kind of framework I was trying to figure out for myself for years. I absolutely agree with you about the quality of domestika courses. Thanks for laying it out so succinctly, I'm ready to get something a little more concrete from my self-studies!
I was trained as a designer and have worked in various fields but eventually became a sculptor/artist. I approached this in much the same way as I did design, it being a problem to be resolved and the work I produced was ok but essentially dull. I then started working in a different way where I would have no conscious idea of what I was doing, just produce anything and see where it end up. This produced a far more interesting and innovative product where I often had no idea where it was leading but just trusted that all the false paths and dead end would lead somewhere and they did. I concluded from this that creativity is a far more mysterious and unconscious process than my initial training indicated.
This. This is what I've tried to pin down the last 7 years that I've been teaching. This attitude. This way of thinking. This way of being. It comes first. My colleagues and I have had countless tired conversations around how to instill passion into our students. Is this the wrong question? Should we ask how to “encourage” (what’s the right word here?) personal responsibility?
I’m old school AF. And i am anti-postmodern = the word IMHO… is Responsibility. Fact: we cannot choose those things that happen to us in our lives… but we *can choose our response to them. It’s RESPONSIBILITY
The word responsibility has a few slight nuances in how it’s applied, when I hear you say this word I am hearing the exact definition “the opportunity or ability to act independently and make decisions without authorization”. Curious on your exact definition. Great video, keep them coming!
I think it's worth nentioning that feelings are the meanings we attach to the emotions we feel. Emotions we cant control. Emotions are fundamental for our survival, as individuals and collectives. Fear, hunger, sex, vanity emotions like ambition, honour pride, are all fundamental emotions that is programmed in us. We cant control them, but we can influence them by the meanings we attach to them. When we feel fear, we can either attach a positive or negative meaning, which help us form thoughts and intergrate them into actions through our feelings - meanings of emotion. When we feel fear, we can either attach a lacking meaning - "I'm not good enough, my work is rubbish, etc" OR we can attach a opportunity meaning - "I can learn something new! I can grow from this! etc" I don't believe in self-esteem, but I do believe in self-awareness. The narrative you tell yourself, the inner voice that speaks and narrates your life through feelings, determins your thoughts and actions. Much of our problems stem from our lack of self-awareness. We attempt to control what we can't - emotions play a very large part of our day to day life. We cant control them. They will arise temporary pausing and stopping us. The important thing is to remember is that is okay to stop. Rest is important, it does not mean you're being lazy, it means you're recovering, reflecting, resting and you will carry on again. The important thing is to carry on. Part of the journey is resting, temporary stopping. There are no absolutes in time, everything is temporary and relative. So even if you plan 3 months of this study, life is bigger than you and so mucu can happen to you thats not in your control. And that thought you can't control everything is humbling but also to some, brings anxiety. We're not meant to control everything. So if your plan to be this fresh new graphic designer by 3 months doesnt go to your expectations or plan, remember that this was an opportunity to learn and you will learn something with that opportunity mindset. You can only control so much. Within the 3 months so much can happen. You get sick, a relative can get sick, you break up with your partner, ecomony gets worse or better etc, you get a new job, soo much can happen. But that is out of your control. Self-awareness is knowing your limitations, knowing your limitations requires compounding efforts every day that will add up to something at the "end". You never stop learning btw. The mark of a great designer is that they keep learning new and better ways with each opportunity. With each opportunity, have a opportunity mindset, attach a positive meaning when you feel emotions. Challenges are good if you see it that way. Unfortunatley, many of our childhoods we did not learn this. So adulthood is an opportunity for us to replace negative narratives with a balanced one by utalising a positive mindset and attaching positve meanings to emotions we were told were onoy negative. Emotional intelligence is a discipline or rather skill applicable in every part of your life simply becauase emotions operate in our everyday of our lives. Denying, dissmising ans avoiding them isn't mastering them. Mastering requires to understand the fundamentals, then finding the effecient ways to given context. Adoptability and flexibility are necessary because no one situation is the same. They are devloped from positive mindest which is habit and a challenege especially when your "normal" is constant negativity.
I'm pretty early in my career , I did art in high school nothing too serious , since then I've been self taught , and I tell you nothings quite clicked until I started watching your videos , your straight to the point "tough love" videos are exactly what was needed , you've put everything into perspective for me and you have shown me a different approach to design and creativity in general. You sir, are the stepping stone I think will take any self taught artist/creative to the next level they have been wanting to reach. Thank you for your time and your knowledge , I will be forever grateful 🙏
Being a design mentor, i found this video absolutely critical for every student out there. Thanks for putting this out here Elliot.All Love for this channel!
I have been pursuing art for about four years. What you said rang true to me. It took me a long time, but I realized how much power the tools I was using, my brain, and spirit had and that they could all work together to create something significant...to me.
One thing a good design school will give you is connections to the industry you can't online. Especially with the top design schools where most of the staff are working in the industry at major brands already.
I agree. (Technically I am a “professor” so I understand your point quite well). I think my larger point is about a cultural disease. My point is T that college isn’t worth it. It’s more that many people waist this time and that they take close to zero responsibility for their learning. I’m a huge proponent of college and art and design school if you have a CONSTRUCTIVE ETHOS. Not so much if you don’t. ❤️
I strongly agree that the checklist structure that's mostly a result of the Prussian education model does not result in an effective learning programme and that its far more nuanced, philosphical and skill oriented, more classically aligned.
Elliott, I've been binge watching your videos for the last few days and they have been tremendously insightful amid the professional and psychological turmoil where I find myself in right after graduating from a product design degree and having no clue of what to do.
There's a cultural epidemic right now... people think they have no power over their feelings. We are hostages to the thought/emotion feedback loop. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps break this, but not enough people know about it or use it. CBT is the formal / official therapy for the concepts you're talking about here.
Domestika is great. As a graphic designer of over 20 years, I routinely watch basic courses, and always pick up new ways of working or ideas, which either I have never learnt, forgot, or gives me reassurance that I have been doing things in the best way.
incredible content man. this is my first year out of high school, and I decided to completely skip school for a full year to get out there and get some work done as a designer. I can't even believe how much I've learned in 7 months reading the greats and trying to design my finest work everytime; I really resonate with what you say in your channel; I definetly will keep on this path for the next months
The only design degree I can get near me is highly selective and requires solid drawing skills, I m taking classes in drawing not knowing if I ll make it and if I fail, self taught path will be my plan B.
The five-phase process looks useful well beyond graphic design (e.g., want to learn music theory and apply it to your playing?); thanks for this. Re: "a list of books or specific courses", I suppose one could also search for course syllabi, maybe narrow things down by limiting their search to .edu domains, and find their topics, readings, etc. for research, working through the five phases.
Just stumbled across your videos and even though the visuals and the montage part may be rough around the edges in some parts; the tone, information and language hits hard. I've never been in an art school or college because money and courage were laking in my younger years, but I trully wish you were my mentor. Oh, and do you plan on making longer more in depth videos in the future? I would live to watch 'em. Keep up the content!
Thank you so much for what you do. If anyone is interested in a design school style primer covering the basics at a high level for free see below - Beware its very dry... ru-vid.com/group/PLH3tw9J9QyRoA9EfB7YPncAfg4kn5bW44
