If at first you don’t succeed…

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Does effort solve all problems?

The third post in my ongoing series on conventional wisdom.

We’ve all heard the classic saying “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Don’t give up! Determination will win the day! Increased effort is the solution to all problems.

The saying was popularized by William Hickson, a British education writer in the mid-1800s. The full phase is:

'Tis a lesson you should heed:
Try, try, try again.
If at first you don't succeed,
Try, try, try again.

The rhyme was obviously intended for to encourage school children to keep up their studies until they mastered a concept. But this simple message has grown into so much more than that.

The message that “effort solves everything” is ingrained in the American psyche. I’ve seen this phrase used by parents, managers, teachers, pastors and coaches. I’ve even used this phrase with my kids and my students. It’s intended to be inspirational, right? Just try harder and you, too, can succeed.

Often, it’s shortened to just be “Well, if at first you don’t succeed…” and endless and continuous effort is simply implied as an obvious next step.

Is this good advice for kindergarteners learning to ride a bike? Sure. Is this good advice for business? Not really.

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” implies that no matter what, you need to stay the course. If you try harder, you’ll eventually get it. And if you fail, it’s your fault for not trying harder. 

You’ll pass the test.

You’ll make the sale.

You’ll solve the problem.

But all this focus on effort ignores one significant fact: Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you fail. 

Repeating the same approach over and over might not get you closer to a solution. It only wastes time and resources. Effort is only part of the solution.

So how about an adjustment to the classic saying:

If at first you don’t succeed, ask why.

Once you understand why you failed, it’s easier to figure out a path forward. If you are headed the wrong way, continuing ahead blindly only gets you further from your goal.

Effort alone can’t always solve the problem. If you don’t know how to study for a test, studying more won’t help. Working harder won’t help your sales staff sell a flawed product. When you evaluate what went wrong, you’ll often find an better solution.

Every so often, you’ll find the goals that you’ve set are unachievable. I’m not advocating quitting, but there are times and situations where no amount of effort is going to help you reach an impossible goal. That’s okay. Reevaluate your priorities and figure out the next step. 

Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. In his spare time, he is annoying his kindergarten-teacher wife with this post. Follow Bob on Twitter and Instagram.

What message does a design competition send?

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A design competition has nothing to do with “design.”

The fourth part in my continuing series about design competitions and spec work.

Designers look at design competitions and know that it’s a terrible way to design anything. Design is about solving problems and there are proven processes that produce results. Look at the history of government design contests and you have to go back to the design of the Alaska State Flag in 1927 to find a successful one.

So if every serious designer knows it’s a bad way to create a design, why do we keep having contests? Two reasons:

  1. It’s inexpensive. It’s obviously less expensive to have a contest than to hire a firm to design it. Some not-for-profits or governments don’t have the money to embark on a redesign. And others don’t see any value in design and would never spend a dime on professional design services.
  2. The design isn’t the reason for the design contest. The point of a design contest isn’t about creating quality design, it’s about public relations. Drumming up support for your cause. Getting people to talk or tweet about your project, company or organization. The final design isn’t important. The attention is…

Why do most designers feel insulted by a design contest?

Many people act surprised when designers react negatively to design contests, but it really shouldn’t be surprising. When you hold a design contest, you are telling your local design community that you aren’t willing to invest time and energy into a proper design process, and that the public relations value is more important than the quality of design. A design competition sends a very clear message that an organization — or city — doesn’t value design.

Let’s talk about the Columbia Flag design competition for a minute.

Several people have asked me why I’m so concerned about the Columbia Flag design competition. It’s very clearly a public relations campaign to get people interested in a new flag. Predictably, yes, I’m insulted by the fact that my city and the arts organizations in Columbia appear to have no respect for the design community, but it’s deeper than that.

I teach a senior portfolio class at the University of South Carolina. On the first day of class, I ask students what type of job they want and where they want to work. Most of the students want to leave Columbia. After spending four years in Columbia at USC, my students are convinced that they can’t do good work in Columbia. I assure them that it’s not the case, but they leave any way. I’ve seen students go to Charleston, Greenville, Charlotte, Raleigh, New York, Austin, Houston, Knoxville, Atlanta and Chicago. Very few of our young, talented designers choose to stay here.

I hear time and again that the biggest challenge facing Columbia is attracting talent to the community and encouraging them to be part of a growing and vibrant Columbia. The recent Engenuity SC Competitiveness Report ranked Columbia 8th among 10 comparable cities in talent recruitment and retention. We constantly talk about ways to attract talent, while tangibly showing creative professionals that our city doesn’t respect what they do.

I fear that the City of Columbia, One Columbia and the Columbia Design League are solving for the wrong problem. They are concerned about our ugly flag. I’m concerned about building up our creative community.

At the end of the day, the design competition will end with an average flag that is better than the terrible one that we have now. But that banner will signal loud and clear that Columbia doesn’t believe in design.

Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. In his spare time, he's still writing more blog posts. Follow Bob on Twitter and Instagram.

Kill two birds...

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Two things at once? No problem, right?

The second post in my series on convention wisdom. Check out the introduction to the series...

 

When was the last time you killed a bird with a stone? Yeah, me neither. The idea of “killing two birds with one stone” is old, dating back to the 1600s. So what’s the story with this 400 year old piece of wisdom?

It seems pretty straightforward: accomplish two goals with one effort. People use the phrase at home and in business all the time. But if you dig down into the metaphor, it’s anything but simple.

Accidentally killing two birds with one stone is a lucky bit of good fortune, but trying to kill two birds with one stone is a trick shot. The degree of difficulty is high. The birds need to be aligned perfectly. You’ve got to pick the right angle. You need to be a little lucky. You might only get one bird and you might miss both all together.

Planning to kill two birds with one stone only makes sense if you must kill two birds and you have only one stone. If you only need one bird, target that bird and make sure you don’t miss. And if you have more than one stone, use them.

Let me translate that into modern terms.

If you happen to accidentally solve two problems with one solution, that’s awesome.

If you plan to solve two problems with one solution, be prepared that you might not solve either problem. If you really care about solving a problem, develop a solution for that issue specifically. In other words:

Kill one bird with one stone.

And if the “bird” is big enough, you may need to develop multiple tactics to address the issue:

Kill one bird with two stones.

Most people try to kill “two birds with one stone” because they lack the resources, time or energy to fully attack both issues. But it’s a strategic flaw. A lack of focus. More often than not, this approach results in bad solutions.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen organizations shortcut good strategic thinking and try to quickly solve multiple problems with one solution. It almost always ends up as a mess, takes longer and costs more. In the end, no issues are adequately solved.

If you are serious about solving problems, take aim and focus directly on the issues at hand. You’ll be much more successful in the long run.

Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. In his spare time, he is thinking about taking up bird watching. Follow Bob on Twitter and Instagram.

Challenging convention

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How do 400 year old sayings guide our lives today?

The first post in an ongoing series on conventional wisdom.

 

Years ago, my oldest daughter Norah was struggling to tie her shoes. We tried everything and pushed her to keep trying. If only she tried harder, she'd figure it out. It was frustrating for her. It was frustrating for my wife and I.

Eventually, my wife found a video of a different way to tie shoes* and our daughter got it instantly. It never occurred to me that there was another way to tie shoes other than the way I'd been taught.

As a parent, I’d bought into the conventional wisdom that "If at first you don't succeed, try again." Increased effort solves everything.

At home and at work, we often buy into conventional wisdom. Idioms, sayings, parables, proverbs and fables form a network of beliefs that we apply in our daily life. This conventional wisdom is the unspoken foundation of our belief system. 

Many of these sayings were written for a more simple time. We don't remember — or maybe we never even knew — the details of the original saying. Maybe we've lost touch with the agrarian roots of the stories. Quite honestly, many of them are just bad advice for a complex, modern world.

I want to delve into conventional wisdom and ask what these foundation concepts really teach us. How they guide us and how they mislead us.

These ideas and stories are so ingrained in our psyche, that we are resistant to challenging them. I mentioned to several people that I wanted to reevaluate this conventional wisdom and they all reacted negatively. My wife -- a kindergarten teacher -- complained that I wanted to teach kids to quit. A former colleague argued that no one really takes conventional wisdom seriously. Others fought for their favorite idiom.

But I think that looking closely at these foundation beliefs is key to understanding why we behave the way we do.

I've selected a few pieces of conventional wisdom that are prime to be reevaluated. I’m going to pick them apart, look at the root of the saying and try to figure out how to translate them for the modern world.

This post is the first in my series about challenging convention. I went ahead and published the second post in the series, Kill two birds... If you’ve got a favorite bit of conventional wisdom you want me to explore, let me know on Twitter.

* Seriously… check out this way of tying shoes. It’s amazing.

Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. In his spare time, he is collecting little bits of conventional wisdom to rip apart in future blog posts. Follow Bob on Twitter and Instagram.

How should designers respond to design contests?

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Be respectful, but be direct.

The third post in my ongoing series on spec work and design contests.

So when faced with a design contest, how should designers respond. I’ve been thinking about this recently as I watch the slow unveiling of the horribly misguided Columbia Flag Design Competition. So here’s what I think...

Be an advocate. When you see a design competition, speak up. Every design competition is an opportunity to educate the community about how powerful the design process can be when it’s done properly. Share the AIGA position on spec work. Remind the organizers that a contest very rarely results in a successful design. Use our voices on social media to let the organizers know design has value. Be respectful, but be direct: Design competitions are never a good idea.

It’s not about the money. Remember that the primary objection to design contests is about respecting the creative process. That doesn’t always involve spending big bucks on a design firm. Designers and agencies will often donate services or discount their rate for something they believe in. But even if these firms work for free, they will still follow a creative process that involves identifying — and solving — creative problems.

Talk to young designers. Design competitions often prey on young designers (and students) who don’t understand that they aren’t being fairly compensated for their work. They’ll be told that it will be great for their portfolios. Or it will open doors for them. It’s up to us to teach young designers about their creative rights and educate them about spec work.

Don’t participate. This seems pretty straightforward, but one way to stop design competitions is not to participate. And encourage other designers to avoid competitions, too. A design competition relies on participation. And sadly, many designers don’t realize that they are being manipulated to work for free.

Respect other creative professions. One way designers can fight spec work is to support the rights of creatives in other professions. Designers need to support the rights of photographers, illustrators and writers whenever they can. Design competitions aren’t the only place that businesses and organizations are undermining the value of creative work.

Don’t be counter productive. As tempting as it is to flood the contest with joke entries, don’t. Don’t harass people on social media or in person. No need to boycott anything. Remember that you can stand for something without putting other people down. A design competition is an opportunity to educate the community on what design can be. It's our job to take advantage of that opportunity.

Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. In his spare time, he is writing more blog posts. Follow Bob on Twitter and Instagram.

How is a design contest different than other types of creative contests?

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It's all about rights.

After my post last week about the flag design contest in Columbia, one question came up from some local artists and writers: How is a design contest different than other types of creative contests? What makes a design contest spec work? The answer has to do (partially) with the rights to the work created.

  • If you enter a short story contest and you win, your story might be printed in an anthology. But you retain the rights to the story you wrote.
  • If you enter a battle of the bands competition, should you win, you retain the rights to the music you performed.
  • If you enter a photo or art competition, your winning entry might be displayed in a gallery or show. When the exhibition is over, you retain the rights to the artwork you entered.
  • If you enter a design competition, you may win a prize, but the artwork you created becomes the property of the organizer.

In fact, in most cases, design competitions stipulate that ALL entries — even the ones that are not winners — become the property of the organizer.

Would you enter a short story contest where you lost the rights to anything you wrote, even if you didn’t win? Would you enter a battle of the bands if every song that was performed by any band became the property of the event organizer? Would you enter an art contest where you forfeited any future rights to your creation? Of course not...

But that’s exactly what happens in a design contest. Designers are expected to forfeit any future rights to their entries.

Why? It’s pretty simple actually. Entires can be similar. Selecting one winner can be complicated. Selection committees in design competitions tend to take bits and pieces of multiple designs to create the final piece. And it’s less messy if the organizer owns all the rights to all the entries. But just because that’s the least legally complex way for the organizer to handle things doesn’t mean it’s the most equitable thing for the designers.

No guidelines or rules have been posted for the Columbia flag design competition so I’m not sure what the rights situation is.* 

As I mentioned in the last post, allowing everyone including the winner to keep the rights to their creation is the only acceptable option if the Columbia Design League, One Columbia and the City of Columbia insist on holding this competition.

A design competition is always a bad idea, though, especially for something like a flag or a logo. I’ll deal with those issues in a future post.** But if you are going to crowdsource design, at least respect the designer’s rights and allow them to retain rights to everything they create.

Got thoughts about spec work? Let's talk about them on Twitter.

* As I've mentioned before, I have complete respect for the three organizations involved, so until I see the rules for the contest, I'll withhold judgement.

** The deadline for the contest is some time in April. So I will continue to spark conversation about spec work and design contests for at least the next few months.

Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. In his spare time, he defends the design industry. Follow Bob on Twitter and Instagram.

Time is running out to support Indie Microblogging

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Help Manton reach his $80,000 stretch goal on Kickstarter.

I've posted before about Manton Reece's Indie Microblogging Kickstarter. It's fully funded and is going to happen, but with three days to go, he's about $9,000 short of his stretch goal. If he hits $80,000, he'll hire a community manager to help shape the service, trying to proactively address issues like harassment that have derailed Twitter.

And one more reason to support Micro.blog... It just occurred to me that if I host my own Micro.Blog site, when I make a typo in a Micro.Blog post, I can go back and fix it!

If you are concerned about the future of social media, I encourage you to back Indie Microblogging on Kickstarter before Wednesday morning. Every little bit helps... I just increased my backer level.

Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. In his spare time, he wishes he could fix typos on Twitter. Follow Bob on Twitter and Instagram.

A simple feature request for Ulysses on Mac

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We need a Share Menu extension.

Ulysses is my favorite app. I use it every day for everything I write and it’s the only non-Adobe app I consider essential.

But there is one, tiny little feature I’d like to request: We need a Share Menu extension for the Mac.

When I’m in Safari on my iPhone or iPad, I use the share sheet to send links to Ulysses. If I’m working on a story for one of my blogs and find a link I want to use in a post, I send it to Ulysses and it appears in a new sheet. It makes research just a little bit easier and when I’m ready to write the article, the link is right there. And on iOS, it works perfectly.

But on the Mac, if I’m browsing in Safari and I want to send a link to Ulysses, there is no Share Menu extension for Ulysses. I end up manually copy and pasting the link. Or if I don’t have Ulysses open, I might add it to Read Later and then move it over later. Other apps like Day One and Evernote have Share Menu extensions and I’d like to see one for Ulysses.

I really love Ulysses. The absence of a Share Menu extension is only a minor inconvenience and really isn't that big of a deal. I may be the only person that would use it, but it sure would make my workflow a little more fluid. Hopefully, it's something they will consider.

Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. In his spare time, he looks for new ways to incorporate Ulysses into his workflow. Follow Bob on Twitter and Instagram.

Remembering Judy Davis

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Columbia loses a great philanthropist, executive and role model

 

I’ve worked with lots of senior executives through the years, but without any doubt, the most amazing executive I’ve ever worked with was Judy Davis.

She passed away on Thursday.

Corporate communications at BlueCross was under Judy for most of my eight-year tenure. People often asked why our team reported to the chief legal counsel, but we didn’t mind. Judy was awesome to work for.

My most fond memory of Judy was when she approached me to help with a presentation for Enginuity SC Ignite, a Pecha Kucha style event here in Columbia. She was a masterful presenter*, but I had no idea what to expect. Most executive Powerpoints are dreadfully boring, and I wasn’t sure what she wanted.

She came to my office and we discussed pacing and style. She wanted all images and no words. She scripted a clean, easy to understand presentation. She wanted to take a complex business model and make it easy for anyone to understand. And I built exactly what she asked for. 

I couldn’t make it to the presentation, but everyone told me she hit a home run. She later thanked me for building her presentation, but the truth was that I learned more from her about presenting than I contributed to the project.

I’ve told many people that Judy Davis was my executive role model. She was intelligent, savvy, thoughtful, supportive and kind. Judy influenced the way I think about business, management and the role of design in a large organization.

She’ll be missed.

UPDATE: Cathy Monetti over at Riggs Partners wrote an amazing post that summarizes everything I wish I had written. Go read it now...

* She was a lawyer, after all.

Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. Follow Bob on Twitter and Instagram.

Twitterless

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What would happen if Twitter disappeared tomorrow?

I’ve been on Twitter since 2007. It’s part of my daily routine and probably my most vital social media channel for finding and sharing news. But Twitter has had some lingering financial issues and when they recently tried to sell the company, no one stepped up to make an appropriate offer.*

Also, a couple of social media experiments have crashed and burned lately. Twitter announced that they were closing Vine.** Talkshow had a bunch of potential but didn’t make it six months. And while Twitter is much larger, it’s not immune from financial reality.

Which got me thinking, what if we woke up one morning and Twitter was gone. Or more likely, what if Twitter changed so radically, that it was unusable? How would that change the way I get things done?

I’d lose a bunch of contacts. I follow a large number of designers, brands and local experts on Twitter — and no where else. If Twitter disappeared, I’d lose all those contacts and have to try and reconstruct the network on another channel. Not an easy task.

I’d change how I watch live events. During the World Series, I kept an eye on Twitter. During the presidential debates, I followed along on Twitter. During the University of South Carolina's football game last weekend, I kept up with the score on Twitter. During election night coverage, sigh. Twitter is the perfect companion to a live event and I’d miss seeing what my friends and family think in real time.

I’d have to rethink how I find articles and stories. I find lots of inspirational links and content on Twitter. If Twitter goes away, I’m using RSS and Feedly much more aggressively.

I’d have to rethink how I share content. I share most of my blog posts through Twitter. If Twitter were gone, I’d have to share them somewhere else like Facebook or Medium.

I’d change the way I use Facebook. I use Facebook for family pictures and connecting with people I know and have met. If Twitter disappeared, I’d probably use Facebook more to connect with a wider audience. Maybe I’d invest more time into building the Sketchbook B page on Facebook. Post more links to articles on my Facebook feed. If Twitter goes away, my Facebook experience changes radically.

I’d spend more time on Instagram. Because I love Instagram, almost as much as I love Twitter. And I’m going to have some free time if there is no Twitter.

I’d try to find a replacement. If Twitter disappeared, I imagine several companies would rush to unveil a replacement. Or modify their social product to attract Twitter refugees. You know Google would retool and rebrand Google Plus, Linked In might try to be less of a train wreck. Even Snapchat might try to appeal to former Twitter users. Startups would start, and fail. Someone would try to resurrect App.net. I’d try them all, but I’m not sure there can truly be a replacement for Twitter.

 

But… reality.

So I don’t think Twitter will just shut down. At some point, the price to purchase the company gets so low, that someone will take a chance on them. I’m more concerned that Twitter, or a company that buys Twitter, will change it so completely, that it becomes useless.

This exercise had forced me, though, to start evaluating areas where I am too reliant on Twitter. I'm going to start connecting to designers and thought leaders on other channels. I'm looking for new avenues to find and share content. I'll evaluate how I use channels like Facebook, Instagram, Dribbble, YouTube and Medium.

Twitter might not disappear, but it's still best not to keep your eggs in one basket.

* This was compounded but the fact that few established companies — like Disney — wanted to take on Twitter while abusive rhetoric is rampant. Let’s face it, Twitter has been a dumpster fire during this election season.

** Although maybe Vine is getting a reprieve.

Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. In his spare time, he ponders the future of social media. Follow Bob on Twitter and Instagram.

Martin Luther, content strategist

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95 reasons to reform the church!
(#15 changes everything!)

Almost 500 years ago today, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of a church in Wittenburg in Germany. This act, intended to provoke discussion and debate, sparked the Reformation and fragmented the Christian church.

Over the next few decades, Luther spread his message through a variety of methods, taking advantage of the latest technology, the printing press. He wrote letters, books and sermons. He translated the bible into German to better reach his target audience. He created devotional materials for families. He composed hymns to reach the masses. He gathered his followers together to have discussions which they then shared with other Protestant reformers. His message of reform spread though Europe, inspired followers and provoked discussion.

Martin Luther was the first content strategist.

It’s not hard to imagine Luther using today’s technology to spread his carefully crafted content. Tweeting to his followers.* Retweeting fellow reformers. People live tweeting his sermons. Blogging on the latest topics. Sharing posts on Facebook — “95 reasons to reform the church! #15 changes everything!” Putting music and videos on YouTube. Authoring free ebooks. Sending email newsletters. Podcasting.

Martin Luther used content to change the world — almost five centuries before the creation of the internet. And his lasting impact, 499 years later, is a testament to the power and longevity of powerful and effective messaging.

* I can imagine Martin Luther complaining about how hard it is to get verified on Twitter. 

Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. In his spare time, he geeks out about all things historical. Follow Bob on Twitter and Instagram.

Error 1001

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Sometimes using Creative Cloud is anything be seamless.

 

I really like Creative Cloud. And I think that Adobe’s subscription approach is the right way to go. But one thing that has to improve is the reliablity of the Creative Cloud desktop app that acts as app installer, sync engine and type installer.

When I went to export my files for this week’s “On Typekit,” none of my Typekit fonts were activated. The Creative Cloud desktop app was prompting me for an update to itself. I clicked the button for it to update, since I wasn’t getting anything done without updating. The update process started and then failed, giving me an error code, 1001. 

A link with the error code took me to an Adobe help document with a list of error codes, which led me to another page that presented three solutions to try in order:

  1. Uninstall the Adobe Creative Cloud app and reinstall it.
  2. Run the Adobe CC Cleaner Tool.
  3. Reinstall the Creative Cloud desktop app using an administrator account.

Restarting the app yielded a blank panel with a spinning wheel of doom.*

The Creative Cloud desktop app isn't exactly reliable.

The Creative Cloud desktop app isn't exactly reliable.

This isn’t the first time the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop app has flaked out on me. It seems to happen a few times a year. And each time, I reinstall the desktop app and it will be fixed. It’s not hard to manually reinstall the desktop app, but it is annoying.

There are a couple of things that are frustrating with this. First of all, an error code? That I have to look up on a list of error codes? Reminds me of Mac OS 7. Adobe could have easily linked me directly to the solution.

The bigger issue is that if one of the big selling points of the Creative Cloud subscription is auto installation, syncing and access to services like Typekit, then the desktop app has to work seamlessly. And right now it doesn’t at all.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a huge Cubs fan and with the Cubs in the World Series, I don’t have time to deal with this in time to get this week’s “On Typekit” post up. So I’ll get back to it next week.

Hopefully, I’ll have Creative Cloud fixed by then.

* Or whatever. That's what I call it.

Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. In his spare time, he reinstalls the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop app for fun. Follow Bob on Twitter and Instagram.

My most influential classes

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Some classes just stick with you.

I was talking with a friend a couple of weeks ago about influential classes that I took in college – classes that helped shape my world view and approach to life. I noted that it was interesting to look back and see what has stuck with me after two decades.

The more I started to think about it, I realized the same was true for high school and even middle school classes. Some classes just stick with you long after you take them. And decades later, it's sometimes surprising which classes and teachers shape how you look at the world decades later. 

I'm lucky to have had a whole range of amazing teachers at all levels. But a handful stick out in my mind today:

  • Speech Arts, 8th Grade, Batavia Junior High. I took a speech arts class in eighth grade and was forced to get comfortable with prepared and impromptu speeches in front of crowds. To this day, I think of Mr. McCloud's class before I make a big presentation.
  • German, 9th-12th Grade, Aiken High School. I don't use German as part of my job. I can read German without too much difficulty, but my spoken German is embarrassing because I haven't really spoken German conversationally in a couple of decades. So if I don't use German in my career, why was German so influential? Because Herr Lader and Frau Lader* taught me about another culture and helped me understand things from a more global perspective. And as a bonus, it provided me with an opportunity to spend six weeks in Germany one summer and experience life from a different point of view. Randomly, German class is also where I learned about Bauhaus and Walter Gropius, a couple of my favorite influences from art history. I enjoyed it so much, that I went on to take three more years of German in college and my cognate** is German.
  • Media Law, Freshman, University of South Carolina. After spending a semester with Dr. Collins, you look at the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and our legal system in a different way — understanding the balancing act of personal freedoms and necessary governance. A tough class, especially for a freshman.***
  • Political Psychology, Junior, University of South Carolina. This was an odd little Honors College seminar. A small class with lots of readings and lots of discussions. I learned about why we make the decisions we make and the factors that influence our government and our leaders. I come back to those discussions frequently, especially in today's political climate.

There are many others, too. A middle school shop class introduced me to woodworking and drafting. High school and college history classes fostered a love of the past. An intro to art class equipped me with many of the tools that I still use today. A class on mysticism in Eastern Orthodox Christianity whose lessons seem to come up at the most random times.

Looking back, many of the classes that I loved and enjoyed were outside my major and outside my career needs. But they are undoubtedly a significant part of who I am.

We force kids to decide on career paths earlier and earlier. I see many students today rushing though school, laser-focused on taking classes that will advanced their specific career needs. And while we want them to be focused, I worry that many of them are missing out on those random classes that might not help them in their chosen career, but might help them become a more well-rounded person.

* Yes. I know I should call you Art and Lisa. It’s just so hard.

** A cognate is kind of like a minor, but isn't.

*** I know why I took the class as a freshman. But wow! What a crazy class to take your first semester of college.

Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. In his spare time, he tries to find the time to go back to school. Follow Bob on Twitter and Instagram.