Dear Klaus,
Quite right. I should have identified these issues myself ... they are certainly implicit in several ways.
First, as Chris notes, commitment is an issue. Whether or not we are in a flow state, we are obliged to do the jobs we agree to take on.
Second, service to stakeholders, clients, and end users means that we must indeed "think things through, make experiments, correct false starts, work something out, argue with stakeholders ..." and all the rest that it takes to get the job done.
Even when we do benefit from flow states, there are long periods where we must simply struggle with the problems we face. Or the problems that face us. Those kinds of struggles and the challenges involved appear in the books I cited as essentially to the creative flow states that eventually reward our hard work.
This is comparable to the thousands of hours of practice or physical training that lead to mastery and flow in any art or discipline.
Design involves both kinds of states. In design, as in most practices, what you write describes it well: "passion or flow states come, i think, only at fortunate moments that nevertheless make the whole process worthwhile."
Warm wishes,
Ken
Klaus Krippendorff wrote:
as i said, i am a passionate designer, so, i do not deny the experience of flow states but in the practice of design, there are many occasions where one has to think things through, make experiments, correct false starts, work something out, argue with stakeholders, which are not flow states.
so, design is not entirely one or the other.
personally, i would not be a designer if i experienced only problems to be solved, obstacles to overcome, and drudgery. in design, passion or flow states come, i think, only at fortunate moments
that nevertheless make the whole process worthwhile.
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