Project 4: Choose a Quote

Assignment: Choose 3 quotes, state who said it and why you choose it.


"You can't wait for inspiration.  You have to go after it with a club." - Jack London, 1876-1916, writer, journalist, social activist.
I was a bit put off by this quote when I started reading it, because I was not sure where it was going to go.  But by the end of the quote, I had a slight laugh and smile.  I thought it was a clever way to describe how a designer, writer or anyone gets inspired.  I can't tell anyone the last time that I waited for inspiration to come and it was what I wanted and needed; if inspiration does come, it's not the final idea that I run with and it often puts me further behind in my creation process.  It also goes with a philosophy that I've been slowly coming to believe; that if you want something enough and work for it, you will get it.  


"The good thing about bad taste is you don't know if you have it." - Sam Becker, current designer.
This is another humorous quote and is a statement that I never thought about it.  It's a very true statement though, because even though you think you're a successful and good designer, you aren't to everyone else. Often when design initially starts to change, people are often not open to the changes, but slowly it grows on then.  This is something I associate with bad taste, because as you grow, so does your taste in design and everything else.  So I thought it spoke to how open and closed design is, where all designers do not design the same, yet many designers create a following of loyal customers.


"The difference between closing or opening your eyes is the choice between the imagined vs. real.  Blinking is only human." - John Maeda, current designer.
I like this quote because it makes me think.  There is definitely a literal and figurative meaning behind the statement.  The literal is saying that your eyes being closed is the imagined, so basically when you're sleeping.  When your eyes are open, you're seeing what is real.  Figuratively though, this is saying that if you "open your eyes" and look past our already conceived notions, there is the possibility of seeing how others see.  Then if you close your eyes to what everyone else thinks then you'll really be able to let your imagination run.  He then makes the statement connecting all ideas stating this is what makes us human, being able to move back and forth between what is real and what is imagined.