Deadlines aren’t the enemy, your perfectionism is, the Portfolio conversation we are having this week.
No matter what design work you have going on, it seems the thing that ties it all together is the deadline. Some of us are great at time management and others not so much. When it comes to design work there is a different we tend to view the creative process. No matter what the design task is, it never really feels like it is completely done. You want your submissions and designs to end on high but sometimes that can come at a cost when you aren’t ready to submit your work because it doesn’t feel complete.
Currently reworking a portfolio where there isn’t a physical deadline to adhere to I’m slowly starting to see that deadlines aren’t as bad as you might think during your studies. Think of your submissions as a snapshot of your current ideas and skill set, and especially not your worth as a designer.
You see the barrier of perfection is not realising that as you grow and progress in your architectural journey your idea perfect will shift. You’ll be doing more harm than good putting yourself down and underestimating the work that you are doing right now. You don’t see the bigger picture when you are too focused on the miniature details.
To expect that you’ll have a perfect portfolio for your deadlines is a harsh expectation to give to yourself, especially when everything is still new to you. This is not to say, don’t put in the time to produce a quality portfolio, that goes without saying but, you need to start somewhere and be open to the possibility that not only with not all of your work will be perfect but that you will make mistakes, and learn from them. Deadlines aren’t there to stress you out (even when they do) they have a purpose, and when you understand how they are in fact there to help you out.
Deadlines give you structure – it will force you to be disciplined enough to see what is really important in any given task. You are constantly learning, and you only learn when you make a mistake. In the long run, it will be insignificant to you when you use it to your advantage, and see that it is just part of becoming better.
If you are constantly fixated on making everything perfect, you will never give yourself space and the time to learn. It is mentally draining to try to be perfect in everything that you. You’ll get to a standard that is reflective of your efforts and time over the years, just worry about getting in as much learning as you can at the moment. You are your biggest project after all, and your portfolio is just a projection of all the collaborations you brain makes with fingertips.
It is not to say that you shouldn’t strive to be the best that you can be, that goes without saying, architectural studies will always demand that of you. Perfectionism turns into the excuse procrastination gives when they don’t feel ready to be vulnerable to criticism and capturing this moment in time of your ability to design. You aren’t doing yourself any favours by being limited what you currently see as being perfect. It can cut off your ability to ever be creative, the process of learning is a messy one but one that is treasured nonetheless. Be afraid of not having a portfolio of all the work you have done, not one that is perfect, when that doesn’t really exist.