Why People Love & Hate Me in the Design Community
This week I thought I’d switch things up from my usual tutorial posts and publish something more along the lines of an opinionated article. This topic in particular is something I’ve had in mind for a while so I’ve eventually got round to jotting down my thoughts. Hopefully this little article will give some insight into my life behind my blogs and maybe even give some inspiration or advice.
The topic in question is an overview of things people both love and hate me for in the design community – Well, some of them aren’t directed at me personally and the terms love and hate might be slightly over exaggerated, but these are things that I do that all have polar opposites in terms of how people perceive me because of them.
I run a design blog
Well, two actually! Since 2007 design blogs have boomed to the point where the community is on the verge of over-saturation. Once upon a time designers acquired their knowledge and latest news from books, magazines and online journals of select high profile designers. Nowadays design blogs litter the design community with hundreds of new posts every day, some of high quality, some of low quality.
Why people hate me for this
Over the past few years the number of design blogs in the community has grown exponentially. Unfortunately the large majority of these blogs were set up with an aim to earn a bit of cash on the side so they were posting more and more link bait articles in order to gain the most traffic. As time went on the quality of the posts decreased which resulted in design blogs getting a bad reputation. Design blogs like mine are now seen as an infection to the design community that constantly spread low-quality content.
Why people love me for this
Many blogs, including my own are the primary source of knowledge, inspiration and creative drive for many designers. I’ve heard from plenty of people who cite my design blogs as their favourite places to visit on the web, as well as those who look forward to checking out every new posts in order to learn something new or receive a boost of creative inspiration.
Why I keep doing it
There’s the obvious advantage that I’ve seen some amazing opportunities from my design blogs, but the reason I started my blogs and the main reason I continue publishing articles is to help people out and share what I know with others. I find it hugely satisfying that my posts, whether they’re tutorials, roundups of resources or creative inspiration provide designers with a drive to continue designing stuff to fulfil their creative passion.
I write design tutorials
As I’m sure most of you who have visited my blogs before know, I write design tutorials that describe the process of building certain types of designs or how to recreate particular effects. These tutorials are commonly for Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop or HTML/CSS web design topics.
Why people hate me for this
It has been mentioned by a good selection of people in the design industry that design tutorials are ruining the community, creating nothing more than an army of zombie designers who are coming into the industry with no skills except being able to follow a step by step guide to create ‘cookie-cutter’ styles and effects.
Why people love me for this
Many designers, including myself have used design tutorials as an insanely valuable resource for getting to grips with the design software we’re required to use in this industry. Students and veteran designers alike have used my tutorials to boost their knowledge and develop their skills in Illustrator, Photoshop and in general web design. They’ve learnt new tips and techniques that they’ve then been able to put into practice in their subsequent design projects.
Why I keep doing it
I receive awesome emails every day from people thanking me for sharing my design knowledge through tutorials. Many have stated that my tutorials have seen them through college/university and a few teachers and lecturers have even explained how their classes have been based on my tutorials. I always post out my guides to explain processes so designers can put these techniques into effect in their own projects. The large majority of designers take the foundations from my tutorials and build on them using their own knowledge. This doesn’t sound like an army of zombie designers at all in my opinion.
I write list posts
List posts is the term that has been given to posts on design blogs that do nothing more than showcase a number of designs purely for visual interest or inspiration. List posts don’t provide any knowledge, facts or opinions but they’re the amongst the most trafficked type of post.
Why people hate me for this
Due to their success in bringing in huge traffic list posts have become over-used to the point where some list posts don’t even have a specific focus on what they are showcasing. Now, list posts and the blogs that post them are seen to be ruining the community by saturating it with content that has no intellectual value.
Why people love me for this
List posts are amongst the most highest trafficked and best performing posts a blog can post. Many people enjoy them because they’re easy to digest and provide useful visual inspiration that can help generate ideas for a designer’s upcoming projects. The list posts I create are usually roundups of resources or a showcase of designs all created with a particular style – All of them are well received by a large portion of my readers and subsequently receive the most traffic, social votes and comments.
Why I keep doing it
List posts don’t particularly take a lot of effort to produce, when compared to design tutorials and thoughtful articles, yet they always receive almost double the attention. I use the roundups and showcases to quickly put together posts when I’m short on time, or to give my blog a boost in traffic if stats are running low. Most importantly I enjoy creating list posts to discover new resources or design trends I can play around with myself, and furthermore share these things with my readers. In my opinion other types of articles are important to develop a blog in the long term, but I’ll always produce the odd list post as long as they receive the traffic, social votes and exposure they do today.
I write catchy titles
Attention grabbing titles aren’t anything new to the blogging world. They’re used extensively in the real world in everything from newspapers to advertising and marketing. A catchy title will usually ‘big up’ its content using exciting adjectives between the key words in the heading.
Why people hate me for this
Some people feel cheated if they follow a link that doesn’t turn out to be as interesting as the title suggested. In some of my titles I’ve been criticised of using the word ‘awesome’, because that particular person only deemed the design worthy of ‘cool’ (true story!). Some of my post titles have provided high expectations as to what the viewer will see, which has resulted in disappointment in the past.
Why people love me for this
In most cases people have followed a link from social websites such as Twitter because the title sounded interesting and have subsequently enjoyed my content. Those people may have missed out if the title used simple or plain wording to describe the post. ‘How To Create a Colorful Abstract Design in Illustrator’ will always perform better than ‘How To Create a Design in Illustrator’.
Why I keep doing it
As long as newspapers and advertising companies use intriguing headlines in their content, I’ll continue to use vibrant adjectives or metaphors in my titles to inject excitement into my posts. People click on interesting, exciting or thought provoking titles while plain or boring wording simply passes them by.
I promote my posts too much
Every week I post a new article and tweet out links to my followers on Twitter. Due to the differences in time zones and the general working of Twitter I post the same link multiple times throughout the week in the morning, afternoon and evenings on different days.
Why people hate me for this
People hate being spammed. Unfortunately some of my repeated tweets catch a select number of people multiple times throughout their day or week. This can be annoying, particularly for those who don’t follow many people as the same link from the same person can quickly fill the whole Twitter stream on third party apps.
Why people love me for this
For every person who is unfortunate enough to be online to see a repeated tweet the second, third and even fourth time throughout a given week there is always a larger proportion of people who are seeing it for the first time. These people would have otherwise missed out on the news. Even on the fourth time a link is posted it receives just as many favourites and retweets.
Why I keep doing it
The obvious reason I keep retweeting is to squeeze out as much attention on my posts as possible as I only post one main topic per week, unlike other blogs who post every day. I’m forever aiming to get feedback from people who are getting annoyed from seeing my tweets multiple times and have recently decreased the number of times I re-post. However I’ll always schedule up multiple tweets in order to catch people across different time zones.
I tweet too much in general
Every now and again I’ll run through my RSS feed and tweet out links to the design articles I found interesting. A year or two ago I posted a link every 15 minutes, nowadays I’ve had to decrease it to one tweet per hour or less.
Why people hate me for this
Even if the content I’m tweeting isn’t my own, if my tweets are too closely timed in that they fill the stream of users who don’t follow many people it quickly becomes annoying. It doesn’t take long for people to label you as a spammer.
Why people love me for this
I’ve managed to build a following of over 40,000 people on Twitter primarily from tweeting useful design links. This has always added value to my profile in that designers receive tips of interesting articles and tutorials as well as general life updates and conversational tweets.
Why I keep doing it
The large majority of my followers enjoy receiving design links, but I’m always aiming to spread out these links in order to avoid ‘spamming’ those who don’t have an active Twitter stream. At the moment I post one design link per hour after picking out topics from my RSS feeds. I’ll stick to this frequency until more complaints are sent my way.
I display ads on my blogs
Over the past four years my blogs have reached a level in terms of visitors, subscribers and search engine rankings that it has become lucrative to earn revenue from selling advertising space. Currently I have a series of 125px ads in the sidebar, and a larger ad above the content on older posts.
Why people hate me for this
Earning money for doing something that isn’t considered ‘hard work’ or ‘skillful’ can often be frowned upon. To some earning money from writing blog posts, tutorials and articles isn’t something you should be doing. The ads on my websites to some people cause too much of a distraction or don’t fit in with their ethical views.
Why people love me for this
Some people find my content hugely beneficial to them and enjoy seeing revenue being generated in return. I’ve also heard from many who have found the story of my blog and how it has changed my life inspirational and has given them the drive to earn money from doing something they love.
Why I keep doing it
Ever since I first introduced an ad spot on my blogs I’ve always aimed to keep them non-intrusive. There are plenty of advertising opportunities I don’t make use of, many of which can be seen on larger design blogs. Earning passive income and more so a living from a website is something everyone wishes for, so it’s a dream come true that I have the opportunity to do so.
I post content that isn’t design related
On my Twitter and Facebook accounts I’ll often post out photos of my dog, general life updates or gameplays from my Black Ops gaming hobby. Generally people follow me because they have an interest in my personally, others only want to receive updates based on the topic of design.
Why people hate me for this
Many people know of me and follow me on social websites for design related knowledge, updates and links. Dog photos, general updates, what music I’m listening to and gaming links aren’t something they want to know about. Anything other than design content can quickly result in the ‘spamming’ of their accounts.
Why people love me for this
It’s awesome that I’ve made so many friends and contact via Twitter and other social networking sites who have an interest in me personally. Most often I’ll find people with similar interests when I post non-design related content and in most cases I find it helps develop these friendships and bonds beyond my blogs.
Why I keep doing it
I’ve always built my blogs and profiles around myself as a person, rather than a company, so general life updates and tweets based on my hobbies and interests will continue. Design is obviously my largest passion so that kind of content will be in the majority but there will always be dog photos and gaming links. Setting up multiple profiles to post different content simply isn’t practical, nor would those updates go out to the people who would otherwise enjoy them.
The moral of the story
So basically what I wanted to point out is that no matter what you do there will always be a selection of people who disagree with what you’re doing. The question is how much notice should you take? If you were to try to please everyone, no one would be happy. I personally try to balance things in order to keep as many people happy as possible, but I’ll always look at the bigger picture and try to figure out what the general consensus is.
It’s also worth noting that usually positive feedback will be much more scarce than negative feedback, but you can often discover how people feel by checking behind the scenes at statistics and trends.
Let’s take list posts for example. You don’t need to look far to see how hated they are by a fairly large portion of people. There’s tweets and blog posts describing how terrible they are so it would be easy to assume they’re worthless. But looking at the traffic statistics and seeing how much more popular these posts are than thought-provoking articles and tutorials just goes to show the larger majority of the audience, although they don’t vocally express their opinion, do actually enjoy them.
Why do you hate/love me?
So to finish off I thought it would be fun to ask for your opinions in terms of what I do online. What do you love/hate about me? What would you change? And what are your thoughts about balancing between negative and positive feedback?
Hopefully this doesn’t end up with me sobbing in the corner ;-)
Keep doing what you do! Your success is obviously working for you so don’t stop :) Its great to see a post like this and it’s really interesting to see someone dissect the way they do things and the reasons why they do it.
ok, wow! information overload!! best textual source ever!
Keep doing whatever you want to do! It’s a shame you feel like you need to justify the way you do things. Isn’t the whole freedom of expression thing what’s so great about the web? If people don’t like it they can stop complaining and go elsewhere.
Good post, and a good summary of the design blog culture, we all know that the web is currently overloaded but many people know which blogs to go to for good resources/inspiration/tutorials, which this is one. Keep up the good work and ignore the negative people, you get that in any walk of life.
The haters will all ways hate, no matter what you do they will all ways find something to pick at and go on about!! Both your blogs make excellent reading, keep up the good work :-D
You’ve pretty much covered everything I’ve thought about the design community. What I like about your posts and writing style is that you’re a human being and not just a brand. Seems to me like you’re being honest and just doing what you do without trying to be someone else. I think that’s commendable in an industry where it’s easy to take criticism personally.
Just wanted to pick up on the bit about ‘tutorials’, if a designer just copies step by step, then yes they’re going to be ‘zombies’. What’s important is the techniques learnt, taking that knowledge and doing new things with it.
Can’t remember who said it but, “It’s not where you take it from, but where you take it to”.
So yes keep posting, it’s valuable stuff in the right hands!
I think i enjoy everything about what you do! even if i dont like black ops i still find it interesting and fun to watch what you do in your spare time !!! :) its great! And your doggy is just so cute, gives it a good mix so its not just always design stuff!
Keep doing what you are doing. I follow because I want to get a good idea of what is possible for the designers I work with – and your blog gives me a good idea (plus I pick up some tricks and tips myself).
Keep doing Chris!! You are one of my inspirations day by day… Thank u!!!
Love your tutorials, keep them up please!
I love your tweets and your blog posts. I get useful tips and inspiration from you all the time. Thank you for doing what you do.
well i love you, man. you’re very helpful. and your design is high quality stuff.
keep going, man. just like what Guy Kawasaki said once, “good product polarize people.”
The best thing I like about your blog Chris, apart from the amazing tutorials which allow me to update and get to grips with bits of software I should know intricately but don’t, is that you do base the blog around yourself.
I don’t want to hear about everything design (although that is the main reason I come here). A little light hearted Black-Ops video and pictures of your dog break up the day which is why this is slowly becoming one of (if not my favourite) design blogs to visit.
Hi, i’m all for your blog! It’s one the first resources I go to if there’s a technique on Photoshop or Illustrator I need help with. Your blog always seems to have the user in mind and isn’t totally full of ads and pop-ups. Why not make some money from these? I would if I could! You’re imparting valuable knowledge which has certainly helped me develop my skills over the years. I studied Illustration but computer software sessions were quite limited for us so I had to rely on blogs such as yours as well as magazines and manuals to learn what I needed to keep up the pace! Perhaps some people will use the techniques in blogs such as yours to become ‘cookie-cutter’ designers but surely these people are in the minority and even if those type of designers are out there, so what! The designers who are genuinely talented and have imagination to bring to the mix as well as a knowledge of a computer program will ultimately get the good commissions. Ignore the negative people out there and carry on doing what you’re passionate about :)
Hi Chris,
for me personally, you have most certainly been an inspiration. Since I discovered your blog, my skills and confidence have grown to the point that I am now advertising my services on a freelance basis too.
Oh by the way, I’m loving your new series on BBC, Wonders of the Universe. LoL.
Cheers Prof.
This is a great (and very brave!) post. Like many others, I’d say keep doing what you do. I find most, if not all, of your posts teach me something new or lead me to a fantastic new resource or piece of design. I am also better at Black Ops, thanks to your videos! :D
At the end of the day, people are subscribing to Chris Spooner, so you should just be yourself, do what makes you happy. #perfectworld
Last but not least, thank you for all of your hard work!
Love your work, Chris. Don’t change a thing.
Your blog has inspired me to crawl out of a major creative rut. Thanks to all the inspiration and knowledge you post here, I feel like my own design ideas can fly once more. Many thanks! :)
The Internet is big enough for everybody, I find easier to unfollow people than to complain about them, and by the way, how can anybody hate the boss of the cutest junior ever?
Love what you’re doing. Keep it up. :)
Man… Chris! People complain a lot. If your practices are that bad, why do they follow you? Just to complain?
Hi Chris!
I think that people is very envious. Nowadays people have option to follow or not your work, this way, nobody have to do nothing for obligation.
I like your blog, your tips and tutorials, and i think you’re someone close and don’t live at clouds seeing the other designers over your shoulder.
Thanks to do this, and I hopefully my blog htt://blog.dashaft.net will have the same media repercusion as yours.
Been a graphic designer since I first met my centris 650 Mac back in 93! Love what you do, always look forward to your latest blog popping up in my inbox. You provide inspiration, humour, education and a whole lot more. If people just want to ‘clone’ that’s up to them, personally I love being inspired, taking what I learn and help me always develop. Which you have to do in an ever changing design led world.
Hurry up with the next blog :-)
I can’t imagine anyone would have a complaint about your blogs. They’re of the highest quality! Oh, wait a minute…now that I think about it… ;)
That’s the awesome thing about the web, no one has to stick around if they don’t find your content to be what they were looking for. I’m not in design, nor do I plan to be, but I find your content/tutorials interesting for my own personal curiosity and point people in your direction if they talk about design. I think it’s a very telling trait that you asked your readers what they think. Just keep doing what you’re doing, you have a great blog. (love the COD stuff too)
As opposed to many of the pretentious, self-proclaimed design elite, you are a genuine human being whose blog I actually read (rather than skim) because you write like most of us talk. Your blog is easily and pleasantly digestible. There’s a reason why lists are so popular: it makes it easy to skim and absorb it all rather than having to read through paragraph after paragraph of filler. Your tutorials are very well done. I themed my first WordPress site thanks to you and also tackled my first photo slider. Promoting, tweeting, using ads… who are these people who don’t realize that 99% of us designers are out here to make money? If only we could all love and practice design simply for the personal satisfaction. And finally, please keep posting/tweeting non-design stuff. It gives your audience a window into who you actually are. As a result, if I passed you on the street, I wouldn’t hesitate to say hello because you come off as a very approachable, personable person. There’s quite a few designers out there who I’d be afraid to approach for the fear that they’d look down upon me through their thick, square-rimmed glasses and scoff.
Keep up the GREAT work!
Chris, I think that you are doing a great job as a designer/blogger. I was impressed to hear that they use your tutorials in schools! Thank you Chris for all the tutorials and articles that you provide for designers such as myself. They have been invaluable for my growth as a graphic designer in México. Keep up the awesome work and don´t listen to all the haters out there. greetings from the design community in México!
Keep up the great work, Chris. I’ve been inspired by your work and enjoy the content you put out. I wouldn’t worry about “zombies”… you have no control over that. Anyone who puts out a “step-by-step” guide or tutorial for any topic or industry (not just design) runs the risk of being copied… but I think the design community is pretty good at policing that and calling it out when it occurs. It will never go away, but unless it causes you lost income, I as a consumer of your content am not worried.
You know, you’re a person representing yourself on your blog. This isn’t a faceless, design magazine or company; you’re name is on the site… you want to put photos of your pup and anything else, you can. Frankly, it’s made you more personable. This is why I enjoy following you, James White, Nick Campbell, and others to name a few.
Plus, I just started playing Black-Ops about 4 weeks ago… where else am I going to get an Illustrator tip and some COD gameplay tips at the same place?
Keep up the great work, Chris! This was the first design blog I fell in love with when I was in school, and a couple years later, I still think it’s a fantastic resource. You’re down to earth, fun to read, and the tutorials are always top notch. They’ve helped me grow and learn new tricks and techniques that you don’t necessarily get in school. There will always be zombie designers creating cloned work, but for every one there are dozens of new designers who you’ve genuinely helped create better work. Thanks on behalf of all of us who have learned from your passion and dedication.
Keep doing what you’re doing. I enjoy the tutorials. It’s too easy to get isolated as a designer. Even if I don’t find the end result engaging, there’s usually a tip or two along the way that I can carry into my own work.
The list posts—you’ve been a reliable filter for interesting stuff out there on the web. And that keeps your blog from being all about you. It’s also about other cool people doing other cool things.
The miscellany—I like dogs. I like video games. I like knowing what other people are listening to. These are the things that help give the site a genuine personality. And you know what, a lot of us live design, we don’t leave it at the office. But it works in reverse, too. We bring our everyday lives into work.
I love you because you and your blog are the exact direction I’m aiming at with myself and my own blog. I hate you because you’ve reminded me that list posts, ads, and tweetspamming is on the hate list, which makes it drat, drat, and double drat for me.
Damn! Don’t know why would people hate a source of knowledge and inspiration and collection of awesomeness! We still dig your blog mate! Keep it going on!
Cheers!
I believe not many people are fond of you because you are a “famous” designer. You’re well-known in the design community, and many famous designers are known for damaging the community with their egos. However, you are much different. You are humble, and helpful to beginners.
While I’m not a fan of list posts for the reasons you stated, I’m not going to bash your blog for it. You do a good job of creating an equal set of list posts and informative articles. If design blogs could do that more often, then that would be optimal.
if 1% of the world is crazy and hate ppl that help other ppl learn design that is still 60 million crazy ppl. The other 99% appreciate it.
I’m amazed at the stream of super kind comments left on this article so far, thanks everyone!
Don’t worry, most of the things I talked about aren’t usually directed at me personally and I don’t take these things to heart, but even if I had a hoard of haters banging down my door these comments alone are enough to make to keep on doing what I do. It’s really humbling so thanks again everyone!
I don’t think any of these, especially posting off-topic content are reasons to hate someone. It’s just a proof that you’re a normal human being.
Also, I agree with David.
No one hates your stuff – if anyone asks for design help, I instantly send them to your site, maybe not because it’s OMG THIS IS INCREDIBLE (which it usually is), but all your stuff is consistent, and just extremely useful.
I’m a subscriber but I do not subscribe to your Premium content. Just want to let you know that I greatly enjoy reading you blog.
Just like you wrote, no matter what you do, it seems like there are always haters.
I’ve always loved your work and blogs. Those ads on your blogs or list posts never bothered me. BTW, I actually love list posts on your blogs.
I hate ads and list posts on blogs only when it’s obvious that the person behind the blog is more interested in making extra cash than writing high-quality posts…choosing quantity over quality.
The exchange of ideas makes the world a better place. Your blog serves a great purpose in sharing and generating ideas. Although I’ve found your blog very useful for some tips and tricks (“oh —that’s how you do that in Illustrator!”), I’ve found it much more useful in giving my brain a “kick-start” (“that’s a good idea… but what if I do it *this* way instead?”).
Thanks for sharing your skills, ideas, and insight with the rest of us.
Wonderfully honest post, Chris. Thank you for laying it out there.
I highly value your blog.
Do what you do best, that is, be awesome. I love reading your blog and dig your Black Ops shinanigans.
Like everyone else here, I find your insights and personal opinions about the industry, design tips, and the plethora of amazing things you bring forth highly valuable.
You’re like a graphic design super hero! Seriously, I think the majority of people love what you do and will stand by you in the choices you make. I’ve recommended your design blogs to designer friends of mine and they always appreciate it. Keep up the great work!
Great post. It had me smiling. Honest without taking yourself too seriously. I have kept following you for years because the quality of posts and that your blogs have a personality behind them. Half of my work is in the church world in the US. Their are a lot of bloggers in that world that could learn from from the humor, humility, and manner of self defense in this post.
Keep doing your thing!
It’s your intentions that say it all: “I started my blogs and the main reason I continue publishing articles is to help people out and share what I know with others”. And you’re doing just that.
So forget the ‘Haters’ and keep doing YOU! If they can not relate to where you coming from, than they have more much serious concern they should focus on (like where there coming from with their intentions) rather than what your about,
So…………Keep the Knowledge Coming.
Peace
Chris, keep on keeping on. I refer my students to your line25.com site all the time. My favorite content is when you design a site in PS, then code it later with HTML/CSS. It’s a great way for anybody to get started with web design.
Hello, Chris!
I am wondering that someone could hate you for something! I am completely satisfied with this blog and we all need to say very big THANKS to all that you are doing! That’s amazing. Thank you very much :)
P.s. Sorry for my English :)
Good luck to you and stay cool! :)
well I am one of many who love you! =D
I want to see more, not less, dog pics please. From one designer / dog owner to another.
I hate you because your site looks way better than mine! Keep doing your thing, I drop in every so often and like what I find here.