To generalise or specialise?
Now this is something which myself and many other design friends have deliberated over in the past.
Everyone seems to have a different opinion, and usually each with a plausible reasoning for their perspective. This is why, you guessed it, there is no clear cut answer. However, I have found that it just depends on who's asking the question...But first let's get on the same page.
To generalise
DEFINITION:
“If you generalise, your skills and knowledge are more laterally tuned. Meaning you have the ability to capably work across multiple genres within the design industry (or any industry for that matter 🤷🏻♂️). For instance a designer may generalise across a multitude of different skills and be more than adept in each of them. But generally speaking (😉), your skill level is the same across the board.”
- Rob McCrorie, one evening.
Pros:
You are more adaptable! By generalising your skill-set and knowledge you’ll be familiar with being thrown into unknown territory, therefore...
Confidence! You are more confident in new situations, meaning you can hit the ground running on projects that are new to you.
Your ability to develop yourself with speed increases. The contrast to specialising is that you are no stranger to learning something new. You’ll know what works for you and what doesn't. As a result you’ll become a quicker learner.
You guessed it. You will become a well rounded member of the team (feels like jargon, probably is). However the more you know about all aspects of your industry, (yes that includes the roles that aren't necessarily creative) the more you understand ‘the bigger picture’ of what's going on around you.
Your creative output increases exponentially and so does your ability to generate new ideas. By gathering inspiration and influences from more than one area the more background knowledge you have to tackle a problem, Makes sense right?
Jack of all trades…
CONS:
… Master of none.
When speaking to someone who has specialised into a certain area the feeling of imposter syndrome may slowly creep up on you. Speaking to someone who knows everything about something is always daunting so feeling apprehensive about your own abilities is common, but also, sooo wrong!
Your work may lack the ‘finesse’ of someone who's done what you're doing a hundred times over, but practice really does make perfect.
To specialise
DEFINITION:
“If you specialise, your skill and knowledge are focused down one channel. Meaning you have researched deep into a subject and are aware/can predict latest trends making you the expert of this one area”
- Rob McCrorie, later that evening.
Pros:
The pro is you, you literally are the pro.
You are THE person to go to. Your words will have weight behind them. I wouldn't go as far to say your word is law as you still need to back your points up. Nonetheless, your opinion will be held in high reverence…
The Halo Effect 😇. The Halo Effect is a physiological effect you’ll have on others, garnered from being a specialist in something. It is when people perceive you to be good at everything because you are very good at one particular thing.
Having your own unique specialism makes you an even more valuable member of the team, you’ll be the ‘go too guy/gal’.
You’ll be at the forefront of design in your area, able to see trends coming before they’ve hit the main stage. Meaning, you can use this to both your own, and to your clients advantage. Hell, you might even start a trend, or better, something timeless.
You won’t only know all there is to know about your subject, you’ll be discovering new knowledge.
Cons:
Spending a prolonged amount of time going deep into a subject has the ability to make you tunnel visioned. It's important to check what's going on in the periphery. Remember something ‘over there’ can help you ‘over here’.
You have to be sure it’s right for you. The tricky situation with specialising is making sure it is something you are really passionate about. The consequence of mistaking vague interest for passion can result in becoming bored, jaded and overall burnt out.
Complacency and stubbornness can go hand in hand with large amounts of time and knowledge on one subject. Be careful to remain open minded.
Tall Poppy Syndrome. In a sense this forms a dichotomy between itself and the Halo effect as its positive qualities are adversely affected if one brings out this syndrome in others. This is when others around you discredit or ‘chat sh*t’ about you as a defence mechanism for their own inadequacy. Not a very nice thought but it's important to be aware of it, and not something you’ll ever have to worry about if surrounded by the right people.
“So Rob, what should I do, generalise or specialise?” - Hypothetical audience member
Great question hypothetical audience member! Well like I said before it depends who's asking the question as it ultimately depends on why you got into the creative industry. To design cool stuff, to get recognition for your great work, to make a positive impact on the world, because you simply have an eye for this stuff, again the lists are endless. Your ‘why’ might be pretty general or it might be really specific.
For instance someone who only wants to work on projects that fight against climate change will become a specialist in how to do this. However, their approach to doing so may be pretty general as they might achieve this through branding, ad campaigns, cinematography etc. This persons ‘why’ is specific but their approach is general.
On the flip side to this is someone who’s ‘why’ is because they just love designing apps and websites. You can expect that this person will then specialise in UI/UX design. But then the rabbit hole can get even deeper when this person wants to design apps and websites with a focus on accessibility. Now that this character is established as our ‘technical specialist’ we can look into ‘what’ this person works on. That's right! You guessed it again you clever reader, what this person works on will be a wide range of companies, from banks, telecoms, eCommerce to product landing pages, digital tools and portfolio websites.
These two characters are pretty polarised and most people will probably sit within the grey in the middle. That is in the beginning of someone's creative journey I suspect. I’ve noticed as people get further into their career their niche(s) begins to develop making them somewhat of a hybrid between the two. A circumstance I've heard at the 2020 New Blood Academy and from Chris Do is referred to as being ‘T-Shaped’. Both argue that one should “externally specialise and internally generalise” (Chris Do) so that you are able to reap the rewards from both approaches.
To conclude…
Jordan Peterson, a Canadian psychologist who has recently come into prominence, has some… interesting ideas, however, he does provide some great insights into creative people. He argues that all creative people are usually very high in openness, and typically open people are into both ideas and aesthetics. The worst thing with creative people is not to be creative. He even goes as far to say open people die when not being creative, speaking metaphorically I'm sure 👀. However, the point of this is that whatever road you go down, be it generalising, specialising or both, make sure it is something you find creatively stimulating and resonates with Why you got into the creative industry.
Writers disclaimer:
I honestly found this very hard to write, maybe because it's a discussion that's been going on since the term 'commercial artist’ came about. Maybe because there are so many variants of people's reasons for having pretty general knowledge and skills in areas and then very specialised in others. My device of using ‘why’ and ‘what’ can also be extended to ‘who’, ‘when’ and ‘where’, but that would make this even longer than I had expected.
I’ll leave you with this. If creativity is a bug, then it's the common cold, different in every single one of us and not going away anytime soon. Therefore if the question is, to Generalise or Specialise? Then the answer is it’s unique to your situation. What will satiate your creative bug is completely different to the rest of us.
About the author
Robert McCrorie graduated from the University of Leeds in 2020 and has since gone on to win a Graphite Pencil from D&AD New Blood and land his first junior design role at Tall. During his year in industry at Bolser, he also helped to deliver high-quality creative solutions to clients such as Microsoft, Battersea Power Station, KFC and many more global brands. His key skillset includes UI/UX, branding, animation, photography and illustration.
To see more of Rob’s work, visit robertmccrorie.co.uk or follow @robmccrorie on Instagram.
