Notes of a Web Design Freelancer

22nd of April 2010 5

15 tweets of fame

After relaunching this site and reading Zeldman’s latest blog post, I’m wondering more than ever why we are chasing “mentions” and “followers” by people we look up to. Why are our egos so desperate for being recognised and acknowledged by other designers that have a higher follower count or a fancier reference list?

I assume we all understand the psychological concept of praise and punishment, ingrained into our impressionable minds by authority figures – our parents. It feels good to receive recognition for personal efforts, right? But is every bit of praise always positive?

The day after the relaunch I was eager to search Twitter for feedback on my site. Going through the list of mentions and new followers, the first thing I would look up was the number of followers a person had. How much exposure would I get through this guy?

Similarly, we make use of Dribbble. Was the person liking or commenting on my design a big name in the industry – or should I say a particularly honourable member of the crappy club for jerks?

A few days later, when things had calmed down I reflected on what this “buzz about me and my site” did for my self-esteem as a designer.

After just finishing an essay on Twitter for uni, the potentially negative impacts of tweets as a form of feedback and praise became more clear: the feeling of achievement is short-lived and without substance. Praise received on Twitter by people we don’t know is usually generic in nature and doesn’t tell us anything about the efforts we put in or the skills we possess.

Studies have established that success is largely a matter of effort. Generic praise, in turn, falsely emphasizes intrinsic abilities as responsible for achievement. [...] Such praise can disseminate the false notion that achievement is based on immutable internal parameters; reduce mastery and autonomy in achievements; and promote the internalization of failure and avoidance of challenges.

Marzieh Ghiasi

Seeking approval and praise from people that don’t really know us, can result in feeling on top of the world one minute (when we do receive it) and feeling inadequate and inferior the next (when we are not recognised).

More important as a designer though is the fact, that we end up working simply towards receiving such approval and positive reinforcement, especially from our web design celebrities. Without even knowing it, we are making every effort to become part of the circle of elite designers and forget that design is more about design itself, us and our clients than to be respected in some kind of exclusive community of backpatters.

Ok, maybe I’m reading a little too much into this. Part of Twitter’s success, I guess, is based on the idea of reinforced self-aggrandisement through the mention/follower concept. And I’m part of it – actively using it myself.

What I’m trying to say here is that while collaborating (via Twitter, Dribbble or any other social medium) we should design for the sake of design and to make ourselves and our clients happy not to gain status within an imaginary ranking system of who get’s the most back patting from guys with the most followers. Feedback from a small circle of trusted friends and colleagues can often be a lot more valuable for, both, the quality of your work and your self-esteem.