identifying amateurism

the usu student chapter of the Society for Technical Communication hosted a workshop this morning on Photoshop. a professional graphic designer came and taught us the basics, most of which we already knew. it wasn't a waste of time, however. having a working professional explain the details of how he uses Photoshop in his work was interesting.

he warned us specifically about filters and fonts. the use of Photoshop filters betray unprofessional, unoriginal work, unless there are good reasons and sound principles of design to back it up. same goes for fonts. using cool fonts for the sake of using cool fonts is not professional.

so that got me thinking about how professionals are able to recognize not-so-professional work. it involves intense familiarity with the tools and practices of your trade. that, i suppose, comes from the normal flow and progression of your working life.

but before very much of that progression has taken place, say for those of us who are still young and inexperienced, how can you develop your professional discernment so far that it can tell the difference between crummy amatuerish work and really classy milliondollar professional work? how do you stop yourself from bestowing cool points on things that only seem cool to you because you don't know? how do you guard against the effect of novelty on the ignorant mind?

educate your mind of course.

education, as anyone who has been to and hated the effort of school knows, is hard work. but always worth it.

of course, not everyone can be a professional expert on everything. so how do you choose?

i don't know. me, i feel an undulating urge to understand everything. it is a curiosity as big and as fickle as the ocean. how i'll tame that, i have no idea.

maybe i won't.