Alright, I’ve got a test for you. I want you to open up Google Maps on your phone. Have it open? Great, now here’s your task. I want you to use it to design a poster for your favorite movie. You have five minutes, go!
Alright, time’s up, how’d you do? What do you mean Google Maps didn’t help you? It’s a highly sophisticated, powerful piece of software. It cost billions of dollars to make and maintain. I use it to get to work everyday and it never fails me. If you couldn’t figure out how to make something as simple as a poster there must be something very wrong with you. I can’t even look at you I’m so disappointed.
…Now, obviously that was ridiculous. Google Maps is great for doing what it’s designed for, getting directions and finding places to eat. but it’s not a design program, and it’s not going to help you make a poster, fix your car, or cook your dinner, though it might recommend someone to do that for you. Working harder or smarter wouldn’t have helped you do any better, because you had the wrong tool. If you had the right tool, a design program, or even just a pencil and paper, then how much effort or skill you put into it matters. But you have to have the right tool first.
Zach Kohls 