Wolfgang Weingart said “Electronic equipment replaces neither Eyes, Hands, nor Heart.” One might also say, “Turtlenecks replace neither Eyes, Hands, nor Heart.” You’re spending too much time figuring out how to look like a designer, make work like a designer, and talk like a designer. Instead, you should be using your own eyes, hands, and heart to make good work.

I’ve met dozens of you who think you have a personal design philosophy, but the reality is that you haven’t worked long enough to have a design philosophy. You’ve had one or two jobs as a designer, while also kicking the tires as a freelancer, and you wax on like Jony Fucking Ive about design. How is that even possible? It’s possible because you’re copying Jony Ive. Maybe it’s not a turtleneck, maybe it’s v-neck like Jony, or you have trendy glasses and a DDC cap. It doesn’t matter, you need to face the music. You’re in a cover band.

On top of all the pretending, you don’t produce enough work. Riding that fixie has tricked you into thinking you can get where you want to be in your career by faking it. As a result, you’ve stopped working, and all of your energy is spent keeping up the facade. At some point you knew what designers did, and it’s likely the reason you fell in love with design. So let me remind you what real designers do.

Designers solve problems. They create objects that people can touch, click, build on, admire, and even fall in love with. Designers fix things that are broken, build things that are new, and create systems for people to use.

Instead of working, you’re likely wasting your time surfing the internet. This affects your entire life; sleeping habits, social activity, cleaning your dirty apartment, and of course work habits — 0.27 minutes of work for each minute spent surfing the internet to be exact. That’s a lot of wasted time.

“Wait a minute…” you say, “I’m learning about design, not just playing Facebook games. Hell man, I’m reading YOUR blog post on the trendiest time waster around!” Oh the irony. Just remember, every minute you spend watching conference videos, reading design pattern handbooks, and checking Sidebar is time you’ve NOT been designing.

The Italian Art Historian Giulio Carlo Argan said “Anyone who doesn’t design, accepts to be designed.” At the end of the day if you can’t point to something you’ve made, you’re not designing, you’re being designed. In fact, you should be making stacks and volumes of work (especially if you’re young). Instead you “follow” design trends, but all the dribbling, pinning, and tweeting makes you at best, a person with good taste.