In Defense of Generalism
Opinion
2018
This essay covers generalists and specialists, and the paradox new designers face as they enter the professional world.
Read the piece at Eye on Design. Excerpt below.
¶ Generalism, I now realize, is in my nature. I’m a generalist not because I think I’m good at everything, but because I think I’m very good at nothing. For now I’m unsatisfied by all that I make (dissatisfaction is inherent to my particular strain of generalism; it is its primary torture). I ask myself, constantly, forever and ever, What is the thing I love to do most? and What am I best at? and What am I? I respond by working in every arena I possibly can. I investigate. How can I know if I do not attempt?