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My Life as a Cartoon #24

Posted 05 Apr 2010 - 2 Gratefully received comments

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The Value and Validity of Talent

Posted 01 Apr 2010 - 12 Gratefully received comments

Originally an ancient word defining currency, it would seem that a ‘talent’ has always been a precious thing. What value does the design industry put on talent now? Is it really worth it’s weight in gold?

I’ll begin with a warning, this article might turn out to be quite a long and rambling piece, this is due to the complex nature of the subject (as I see it), and it’s many effects on the job of a graphic designer.

To tell the truth I hadn’t planned to write on this subject at all. This article is the result of the serendipitous nature of a blog, which over time seems to become an organic life-form of information and exchange. Sometimes this results in posts that are inspired by the input of the readers.
My last post was one of my random question posts, where I ask my readers to supply my content (basically), I asked “How did you become a designer?” The comments section soon turned into a discussion between myself and Doug Cloud on the subject of talent. Feel free to take a look at the post, and the resultant discussion, it will give you a head start on things in this article. Also feel free to add to that previous post and try to put the comments section back on track!

Since Monday and throughout the last few days the chat I’ve been having with Doug has made me think very hard about this intangible thing called ‘talent.’
I’ve found a few definitions from dictionaries and other sources to get a better grasp on the whole thing:

Talent
“A natural ability for being good at a particular activity.”

“A recurring pattern of thought, feeling or behavior that can be productively applied.”
First Break all the Rules (Simon & Schuster, 1999)

“Intellectual ability, natural or acquired; mental endowment or capacity; skill in accomplishing; a special gift, particularly in business, art, or the like.”

Hopefully the idea of talent is still as vague for you as it is for me after reading those quotes. There seems to be plenty of wiggle room in what constitutes a talent. The most interesting part of those quotes for me appears in the last example, where it claims a talent is either “natural or acquired,” This is a huge debate on it’s own, and something that I think I’ll start with.

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