How to Limit Information Overload
With all the social networks popping-up here, there and everywhere lately—blogs (now in their multitudes), masses of great tools, tutorials and resources online too—I had began to feel like I was suffering from information overload.
The solution to this problem was actually a simple one: Limit the amount that I read everyday.
I’ve learned that skimming too many inspirational galleries actually depresses me. Why? Well, when the world’s “best of the best” is put side-by side, my owns work looks uninspiring by comparison. I’m sure most designers feel the same way.
Reading too many design blogs just hinders my own workflow. Now, I have started to just scan the titles of blog posts in my RSS reader until I find an article that will benefit me. There are a couple of blogs, though, who’s articles I always read.
Being overly social online simply takes up way too much of my time. For now, Twitter is my tool of choice. I simply don’t have an extra hour a day for another social platform—one is enough.
In the future, I plan to be more productive and proactive by digesting limited, but quality design-related information that benefits me as a professional designer.
Of course, I hope to be of help, assistance and inspiration to other designers and readers, too.
Do you feel like you’ve suffered from information overload recently? Let me know in the comments below, and we’ll discuss…
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8 Comments
How to Limit Information Overload | Andrew Kelsall | Graphic Designer…
With all the social networks popping-up here, there and everywhere lately—blogs, now in their multitudes; masses of great tools, tutorials and resources……
Agree with you 110% that these days we are being overwhelmed by by blogs, social media and sources of inspiration. It is just getting worse too.
I used to have over 100 design blogs in my RSS feed reader, however what I realized after a while is that I was really getting any value out of about 10 of them.
It is really important to regularly ask yourself “what am I getting out of this?”. If you can’t clearly answer that question, then you need to get rid of it.
.-= Logobird Designs´s last blog ..Beyond the Brief – Undertanding a Logo Design Client =-.
21 Mar 2010 12:03 am Logobird Designs
What I meant was that I was only getting value of 10 out of the 100+ blogs I was subscribing to.
Should of proofread….oops
21 Mar 2010 12:03 am Logobird Designs
Good points, especially the one about ‘inspirational’ design galleries. In my experience it’s all to easy for this ‘inspiration’ to suck the uniqueness from your own work, and you find yourself just regurgitating someone else’s. Much better to get inspired by the things around us – like nature.
21 Mar 2010 12:03 am Joshua Hughes (Fifty Digital)
Good thinking! Especially as a designer, a creator, any time wasted on other people’s output is time lost from your own ability to create….
21 Mar 2010 07:03 am Nathan Zeldes
There is so much information out there, it’s hard to choose what to look at and what to ignore. I can spend a whole day on just twitter reading links. So I never get round to writing my blog, trying out that great tutorial I saw and bookmarked.
Yes the inspirational galleries are depressing, I always feel that I have a long way to go to get anywhere near that standard. I prefer to look at the single projects such as yours to see your processes and what you consider important. This is more useful, so you are an inspiration to me.
Probably better to only look at the ones that are relevant to what you are doing right now. I tend to ignore all of the list posts, it’s hard to resist the temptation though.
.-= Rachel´s last blog ..Moochie and Zoe ambigrams =-.
21 Mar 2010 12:03 pm Rachel
@”Logobird Designs” → Yeah, I can see your point there. At the moment, I have a lot less in my RSS feed reader than I used to. There are plenty of good blogs out there, but we can only read a certain amount of info. Although, I DO still subscribe to a fair amount of blogs, but just skim the first paragraph in most posts unless I’m really interested in the content.
Side Note: In future, could you please leave your name rather than “Logobird Designs”? I looked in the “About” section of your site, and couldn’t even find your name their either??
@Joshua → The most dangerous part of so-called “inspirational galleries” is that we could end-up being too heavily influenced by someone else’s style—or even worse, give way to dreaded design-trends. Like you said, nature can be the best source of inspiration!
@Nathan → I agree with you to a point, although I think we all need a little inspiration, but not an overload of it.
@Rachel → I too have spent entire afternoons just checking out Twitter links. It’s like going to the local Pub for a beer, and just when you finish a drink, someone offers you another. With Twitter, one link just leads to 10 more, and before we know it, half the day is gone!
Like you, I really try and ignore list posts for the most part. I don’t mind the odd one with relevant info (I myself made one recently), but endless list posts = endless unproductive time.
I’m glad you find some of my design process’s helpful
Thanks all for your valued contribution to this article…
21 Mar 2010 02:03 pm Andrew Kelsall
I agree. I currently delete almost 30 accounts. It consumed my time & energy.
03 Nov 2010 09:11 am Risa