Attention Capitalism

I struggle with this public persona thing. In “real life” I am way too shy and way too self-conscious. One of the big draws to the Internet for me has always been that I could be more “outgoing” than I would be if I was actually having face-to-face conversations.

Having that ability to reach out to individuals who I would never be able to engage with otherwise (either because of geographical limitations or my own inter-personal weaknesses) is huge. But the flip side of that is the lack of forced growth. I should be looking to strengthen my weaknesses and not looking for work-arounds. I’d like to spend more time at least skyping with other designers instead of just tweets. Human interaction is healthy.

Design Weaknesses

I also enjoy doing this ‘web design’ thing. It’s both a career and a hobby but when it comes to improving my skills, I struggle here too.

It’s not a lack of time or effort, I know I have given plenty in both areas. The problem is that I often get caught up in the race for eyeballs. What can I do to get everyone’s attention? How can I get noticed? Answer, by doing good work.

There is a difference though between creating good work and creating work a lot of people will like. The way to get noticed around here is to create the latter. It might not achieve any goals or be useful in any way, but if it’s eye candy, you might just make a name for yourself.

I want you guys to know who I am (which I guess you do somewhat since you’re here, and still reading; thanks!) and I want to create work that people like and want to share with others. But that kind of work doesn’t necessarily translate into skills or growth. I want to be more interested in that than getting likes, but unfortunately likes just feel too good. Hopefully one day I can have both.

Originally published at designernaut.com on March 29, 2013.