I Am Trying To Break Your Design

Over the weekend, I watched the documentary I am Trying to Break Your Heart which is about the band Wilco while they were recording Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, which I think is just a great album. I really enjoy seeing how artists and designers work, what their processes are.

Jeff Tweedy, the singer/songwriter of Wilco, was explaining their songwriting process and noted that, at first, the band rehearses and plays a song in the most straightforward manner it can. Then they go back and try to break the song into bits, to deconstruct it and see if they can't get more musical juice out of it. It's an interesting way to work, and I wonder how well it would work with design (if it doesn't for some designers already).

Personally, I tend to focus on the bits as I work. I have a vision for the product as a whole, but I refine and tinker with each bit as I create it. Perhaps I should try the Wilco method: build things in the simplest way possible and only then go back and deconstruct the parts, making them richer. Something to think about.

Originally posted at Monday, October 4, 2004 | Comments (2) | Trackback (0)