11/07/2019
FUI (Future Interface Design) - Don’t let perfect be the enemy of done.
(3 min read)
https://www.forcewerk.com/portfolio/playground-07-fui/
FUI (Future Interface Design) is something I am interested in for quite a while already (think of Tony Stark’s HUD [Head Up Display] in Iron Man). Recently, I took the opportunity to work on a 5-minute Sci-Fi clip for LENOVO as a FUI Designer/Animator. (this clip is yet to be released)
Since I want to change the focus of my future work towards this field, you’ll soon find more and more new sketches, styleframes and animations here in the playground section. Because practice makes perfect. And faster.
However, those personal/free projects without a real deadline can be quite a challenge for people. Especially for people who are perfectionists (like me). This leads to the unholy combination of procrastination (no deadline = no pressure = no motivation/drive) and perfectionism (“let’s improve one more thing…“).
"Don’t let perfect be the enemy of done."
This quote really stuck with me since I heard it a few months ago in an inspirational of Motion podcast with the godfather of Everydays – (Mike Winkelman).
This guy is already creating AND posting new content for an unbelievable 4450+ consecutive days and counting.
Every day. For more than 12 years. Straight.
He is doing this with an iron will and a dedicated time frame. Interestingly, he uses embarrassment as a motivator for the effort he puts into his work. And even more interestingly, he sticks to his set deadline even though he might not be happy with his work — or even be embarrassed by it. This kind of self-discipline and not giving a f**k what other people might think, is key to his approach (he barely reads what people comment on his work).
Mike Winkelmann: “Everyday it’s just scrambling, like what’s the least embarrassing thing I can do in the next two hours. I would say that’s much more accurate. Most of it is trying to minimize embarrassment, I would say it’s the overriding driving factor in the Everydays.”
[…]
“Your question of hitting rock bottom, I would say I hit rock bottom every other night, where it’s just like, “Oh god, this is f**king terrible.” Hit post, because I’m f**king out of time, I need to go to bed. There’re many times where it’s like, “Goddamn, this is f**king embarrassing that I’m putting this out, this is f**king trash.” That is the overriding feeling I would say 75% of the time when I hit post.”
[…]
Joey Korenman: “What you just said, it reminded me of one of my favorite sayings. I used to run a studio, and I would have artists underneath me that were perfectionists. I would repeat something that my dad used to tell me, which I don’t know if this is good or bad, but it’s “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of done.” This idea of, you’re not really happy with what you just did, but you know it could be better, but you’ve got tomorrow. Tomorrow’s another chance.”
"Art is never finished, only abandoned."
— Leonardo da Vinci
Probably you heard of the “80/20 rule” or the Pareto Principle which states, that the last 20% of something take up 80% of the time — time we don’t have in our industry — and the fact that “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” — Leonardo da Vinci; or to speak in our industry terms “No work of ‘art’ is ever truly finished. It is only due.” — Thorp.
"No work of ‘art’ is ever truly finished. It is only due."
— Ash Thorp
I will start to post a few new pieces of work every month. Pieces I will then (probably) think are not yet finished (like the “wrong” orientation and the too little opacity/particle-count of the globe in the interface right next to this text). I will use strictly only 80% of the time to overcome my perfectionism and treat avoidance of embarrassment not as a motivator, but as something abstract which doesn’t really exist. Because art is subjective and therefore never finished anyways.
Nobody should hold back on sharing something she/he created, since something you might think is not yet finished, will inspire someone else straight away.
If you’re still not convinced, have a look at this great Apple commercial “Share Your Gifts” about exactly this topic.
Hansen, if you’re stumbling upon this post I’d be humbled to get some feedback for my FUI, like you got feedback from Coleran back in the days. By the way — can’t wait for your next geeky FUI newsletter!
In case you made it till here — thanks for reading! Hope it has been interesting… 🙂
Beeple Everydays:
https://www.beeple-crap.com/everydays
School of Motion interview/podcast with Beeple:
https://www.schoolofmotion.com/podcast/beeple-interview
Apple commercial about sharing your creativity:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dJCroCMBPM
Jayse Hansen interview about FUI/GUI:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3-BiMwY138
