Designer Sheep And Invisible Platypus

I remember my first day of High School. I was nervous. I was pumped. I was shy. I was loud. I was polar opposites all mixed into one. I wanted to do what I wanted to do, but I also wanted to fit in. I could find what the other cool and popular kids were doing or I could try to forge my own path.

That is how designers seem to enter the community. They need to stand on the shoulders of the great designers before them and learn a thing or two, but they also have to find their own path. It almost seems like a conflict of interests, but that certainly isn't the case.

Sooner or later you have to decide if you are going to be a designer sheep or an invisible platypus. The designer sheep gets to run with the flock and feeds off their energy and platitudes while the invisible platypus stands out from the crowd when it can be seen. It's easier living with the flock and doing what they do than it is to try and scruff it up on your own as a platypus.

Neither type of living is a bad living, it's just that they are completely different and you have to choose one sooner or later. The types of satisfaction you will receive from each is different. An invisible platypus might not get the recognition that they deserve, but since they are able to do things their way the intrinsic value they get from their way of life has no price. The sheep on the other hand get the fame and accolades, but might find they feel as though they are missing a piece of satisfaction that they can never achieve.

No graphics

A couple years back I decided that any website that I created wouldn't use any graphics. This was before we got these new fangled web fonts to use so I really had to get creative with what I was doing. It was an interesting challenge and none of the sites blew up and garnered me any fame, it was a great learning experience though. I was an invisible platypus and my sites were even more invisible.

Before that I would copy the great designers out there. I wouldn't try to hide the fact that I copied them because I was learning. I went wherever the flock went and I also learned a lot during that time as well.

A community animal

You could say Drawar is a hybrid animal. It followed the gallery flock, but tries to be its own platypus when it comes to articles. There are other sites that write better articles that follow along the same topics and they are just as popular as Drawar (that's not a good thing) so we are all invisible platypuses (pusi?) living alone, but in the same ecosystem.

The more popular design sites out there are sheep. They make a great living, help the community and are very popular. Moving with the flock has worked out well for them.

Drawar is one ugly platypusheep.

As for me personally what type of animal am I? You think I'm dumb enough to compare myself to some animal? This isn't some kid's fantasy and besides unicorns don't exist and they are the only creature worthy of comparison to me.

If you think this article has no meaning then you are missing the point. Everything that we do professionally doesn't have to be taken so seriously that we lose the essence of why we are doing it. If we can't have fun then do you really think it is going to be our best work? If you can't have fun then how can you find your own design identity?

Both platypus and sheep do well in the world because they have their own way of living. You need to find how you wish to live your design life and once you do that you can settle in and the real fun can begin. That is when you can finally start answering the tough questions like where's <blink>? Choose your animal and have fun.