- Perfection, Refreshed. Engraved on August 7, 2007 by Michael Dick; Comments (20)
More often then web designers would like to admit, we find ourselves falling victim to paying close attention to detail in hopes of achieving perfection. Perfection is a never ending illusion we all seek. At times we feel like we have reached our level of satisfaction, but soon find ourselves chasing something new trying to find what we are looking for.
Perfection is subjective.
For example, a professional can look at an amateur and see mediocre work, while the armature can look at a professional and see organized mediocre work. Too often we will tweak a few pixels trying to please everyone, but everyone views perfection differently.
We get so involved in trying to please everyone that we forget that there will be 33% of people who will like you, 33% of people who will not and 33% who will careless. Perfection is being able to ignore the ones who don’t like your work and convince the ones who careless to join the ones who do like it.
Perfection is meeting your goals.
In the past, I never used paperwork to define project goals, most of my projects would find themselves traveling the infinite loop highway to perfection. After I got a little dizzy, the first thing I started to do was define the goals upfront. Without predefined goals it gets too easy to get off focused worrying about new goals thinking they will help make things perfect; when really only offset goals causing the project to go past deadline.
I am just describing some past experiences I have had with personal projects; I get caught up on details more then I would like to admit. On a daily basis I have to remind myself that there is no such thing as a perfect web site and that I need to revisit my defined goals. When it comes time to launch, it doesn’t matter if it won the webby; it only matters if I delivered on time and on goal.
Perfection sets standards.
Perfection is the state which something is flawless; we improve our standards based of this concept. The standards we follow today have been controlled by the idea of having a perfect web, and as we all know there is no such thing. As we chase perfection, web standards help push web designers in the right direction; perfection gives us a purpose to improve.
Perfection to us can mean many things, but in the web design meeting standards is one of the many things that brings perfection closer. We look upon our own standards as a guideline to become more perfect.
What do you think?
I know that everyone has their own thoughts about what perfection is...perfection is subject as I mentioned above.
Do you think that the desire to chase the perfection illusion is what keeps us learning and improving our standards and own talent? Do you think that the there is such a thing as perfection in web design? Do you think that perfection gives progression purpose?
Let’s hear your thoughts.
Comments
- Engraved by cody on 08/07/2007
- Great article man, where can I digg this at?
- Engraved by David Birchmier on 08/07/2007
- Great article, Mike. You captured a lot of the elements of productive project management. Definition is important!
- Engraved by Mike on 08/07/2007
- You can't achieve perfection in web design. Your code can be perfect, but it's impossible to take that clear-cut decisiveness into anything you create artistically.
However, I think the pursuit of your own idea of perfection can drive you into new heights of success.
- Engraved by Brandon on 08/07/2007
- Agreeing with Mike (the above commenter), i also believe perfection is an idea that can make you pursue higher goals and achieve higher standards. On the flip side, trying to be perfect is something that causes many people in this world to go insane.
There should be a limit to your own agenda, as to how perfect you should try and make things when doing a project. Mediocre work, of course, is unacceptable and should not be a target to shoot for. On the other side, where do you draw the line on perfection? When will it ever be perfect enough for you or the clients you are striving to please? This is something that you, as the designer, need to figure out and stick to as you design and develop projects.
This is a very good topic Michael and i think that designers and even clients should read and learn from it.
- Engraved by Matt on 08/08/2007
- 1st off. congrats on finally posting. i think me annoying you all the time pushed you more :D
2nd - you nailed "perfection" right on the head in this article. i seem to spend a lot of time perfecting anything i do and it drives me insane also.
p.s keep up your work. i love your style.
- Engraved by Brad on 08/12/2007
- Good article. I've done work I thought was as close to perfect as something to get, but when I go back to it later I see faults in it. I've settled into the belief that if it looks great and the client is happy then I've reached perfection.
- Engraved by Jared on 08/31/2007
- Hello Michael, I have recently come upon your pure edit cms and I'm wondering when you plan to release it? I really like your simple approach to cms and i plan to use it! Thanks in advance!
- Engraved by Cody on 08/31/2007
- Let me start testing pureedit out for you. You need someone besides you to start testing this baby out.
- Engraved by Jared on 08/31/2007
- Hey Michael, I really appreciate your fast response! I'm glad that you are making good progress on this project and I can't wait to use it! Maybe I could be a beta tester like Cody too..lol..!
- Engraved by Jared on 09/01/2007
- I can tell...lol..!! I sent you an email.
All the Best!
- Engraved by Jared on 09/01/2007
- Sounds Awesome!
- Engraved by mario on 02/22/2008
- Great work but, the oficial web site is down because the Bandwidth Limit Exceeded.
Please help Us.
Thanks.
- Engraved by Mike Brenner on 03/04/2008
- "Perfection is a never ending illusion we all seek. At times we feel like we have reached our level of satisfaction, but soon find ourselves chasing something new trying to find what we are looking for."
This is dead-on. Thank you for your contributions to the web-community. I found you when seeing a blog posting on PureEdit...almost overlooked it until I saw the screencasts. What an amazing product. Thank you for your contributions.
Give your word.
HTML is allowed...line breaks are converted to <br />'s. You need to be somewhat friendly, at least to me or you'll get deleted. Now off, go post!