It’s really very annoying to be competent at something and to have someone on hand all the time who is /good/, to your competency. Salieri to Mozart. Er, to take it to an overblown level.
My friend Kent has a really, really good eye for web design. I have a decent eye for it. I’m working on House of Cards, the Gambit site I was threatening to put up, and Kent looked at it, and to my delight, really liked the basic design.
Then he got picky about the nav bar location and structure, and made some suggestions, and as soon as I’d done it, I could clearly see that /that/ was a superior way to design the page. It’s a question, as he said, of trapped negative (‘white’) space. What he suggested frees up some of that white space, making the design superior.
I swear this wouldn’t be so irritating and frustrating if it weren’t for the fact that I really can see, immediately, why what he suggests is better than what I did. I mean, I’m not upset or anything; it’s just aggravating to have it happen time and again. I /take/ his suggestions, because, well, he’s better at this than I am, and I know it. But jeez, argh!
A while ago I was frustrated by something similar, and I think now that it’s actually the same thing. An ability to see that which is better than what I do, and to be unable to take the step to getting there myself.
Now I have to go figure out why the December month archive thing isn’t working.
One’s imperfections are monumentally frustrating aren’t they?
Just a thought – you’re taking a drawing class. What about a graphic design class? Assuming you haven’t already taken 84259826. It might get you past a little of the block, anyhow.
I love the bobtail.
You’re too close to the subject. Of course you’re annoyed! You’re human. If it was someone elses webpage you may have made the same observations.
It’s how I can improve upon everyone else’s resume, but took 4 months toiling over mine before handing it over to someone else because unemployment was so painful!
I’ve never taken any graphic design classes at all, actually. I, um. Never thought about it. Isn’t Susannah the clever one? (glad you like the bobtail. *giggle*)
Eh, Tracie, I dunno. The /kinds/ of things Kent sees, I don’t usually see. So while that’s a nice thing for you to say, I’m not sure it’s actually true. :)
Well, you know, logic :)