The story of a dropout apprentice becoming a co-founder of Twitter

In my high school years, I realized that it was a great pleasure to create opportunities for myself. I thought my college life would be the same. Who knows it backfired.

University, I found a part-time job as a publisher little, Brown and Company, in an old house in Beacon Hill. I was responsible for moving the boxes full of books from the top floor of the mansion to the lobby.

It was the middle of the 90, and Photoshop was gradually replacing the traditional glue-spraying technology, which was popular in the art and design department of the publishing house. There is always a small darkroom in the publishing house with a large and expensive vintage photocopier-exactly the same as the one currently worth 99 of dollars.

As I moved out, I noticed that there was a Mac in the office and it seemed like a lot of fun to use it to design a wrapper. One day, the whole art department went out to eat, and I snuck up to the computer and found a table with the title, subtitle, author profile, and a brief overview of what kind of cover the editorial department wants. This book is Scott Freeman's midnight Riders:the Story of the Allman Brothers Band ("Midnight Knight: The Story of the Allman Brotherhood)."

I found a design desk and sat down to create a cover for myself. The first is the dark background, and then in the top with a green font to play "Midnight Riders", and finally a band of photos, but also dark color, right under the title. I was satisfied with all this, and I printed it out, tucked it in some other well-designed covers, and sent them to the office in New York for approval by the Sales and editorial department. Then I silently went back to carry my suitcase.

Two days later, the art director came back from his New York office and he took my design and asked, "who designed this cover?" "I admit I did it." He was surprised, "is that you?" The kid who moved the box? "I have to explain that I know the computer," he said. I'm also a student of the art department who takes a scholarship to college. He ado and immediately gave me a full-time offer: come to them as a designer. The book cover I designed was also used directly by the New York office. In retrospect, the cover was not well designed, but they used it.

I have a full time offer. Should I take it? The study of the college has been quite disappointing. And here, I can have the opportunity to work directly with the art director, that is the future of the master-level figures. In my opinion, people go to college simply to qualify for a good job: just like the one I've got right now. I am equal to jump level three: Save three years to work directly. In addition, I think here I can learn more, can do what I want to do, in college with the drift of the day is really enough. So I dropped out of school, and Brown went to work in little, the best decision I've ever made in my life.

I do not advocate dropping out of school. You can choose from the beginning of the study in the first place, you can learn while looking for something to grow experience to dry. But I follow my own intentions and accept this rare job, which is my choice, the way I control my destiny. This, in my opinion, is also an example of my own opportunity to create.

It's like building a hockey team, making a good show, or setting up a company that's much better than simply satisfying other people's expectations, and they're more creative and fulfilling.

Believe in yourself, believe in your talent, which means that you have confidence in your ideas, even if the idea has not yet formed.

Whether it's a vision of the company's future or a vision of its potential, you have to take time to think. I want to play in a team, but now there is no team to me, how can I change the status quo? I hate my job now, but I like this part of the job, so what should I do? No opportunity can be written as a list to let you know, and it's impossible to bounce out of your inbox and tell you this is a good chance. The first step to a dream come true, and the biggest step is to build a dream. Once you realize the truth, the world is right in front of you: a new world full of possibilities.

On Little, Brown's first day at work, and my first day as a designer, I knocked on the art director's office and motioned me to come to his desk. Then his left hand crossed his right shoulder, shoved a book out of the shelf and threw it on the table. He did it, like a Jedi Master in the movie, and his eyes never left me. It was a PANTONE color swatch, and he started flipping it. I can only stand quietly, looking at him, to see his slowly page over the past, one color browsing. At last he stopped at the light brown and tawny there. He found what he wanted, he tore it off the page, he dropped it on his desk, pointed it with a finger, and silently poked the chocolate swatch in front of me. Then, coldly, said, "Here's the coffee I want." ”

Oh, my God. I quit school to do this. I gave up a great scholarship. And now I have to go downstairs to the Dunkin ' Donuts and ask if they can make this cup of coffee. What the hell is this?

Of course, within three seconds, I threw away all these ideas. I started thinking seriously about how to add the right amount of cream to the coffee to bring up the color.

The art director burst into laughter.

"A joke!" Do you think I'm such a jerk? So I started my apprenticeship: He taught me graphic design and introduced me to new ways of thinking. This is Steve Snider, my art director, who worked with me for two years.

Cover design is a very instructive thing: any project will have endless solutions. A good design can have several factors at work at the same time. First it must make the designer feel satisfied, and secondly, it must show the content of the book, please the author and the editorial department. A good cover, to be able to snatch the eye, to be able to position the book properly, to have a marketing role, to increase sales and attract the market.

Sometimes designers feel frustrated because their designs are rejected by other departments. Idiot！ Fool！ "They'll be complaining in the office, or even furious. "It's definitely an excellent design!" "Perhaps it is. However, the sales and Editorial department colleagues also have their work experience, from Steve, I learned to accept, I will endorse their judgment, agree that their fears are justified.

Steve told me one of his stories, and he was in charge of the design of Ralph Lauren biography. He came up with a brilliant idea: let the book have six different versions of the cover, each version has a classic solid color background, and then in the upper left corner with a contrasting color polo logo. Finally, you can put Ralph Lauren photos on the back cover. This was a very representative design, but was rejected by the editors. So it's yellow. Steve was still proud of his idea of originality, but he understood that it was not his own decision, and that his opinion could not represent the end result.

I also designed the total package for Thomas Hine, a book that resolves the world of packaging, and I took a small carton of pudding powder, opened it, ripped the seams, and flattened. I imitated the box and made a cover after the opening, preserving the registered barcode and the little rainbow used to test the color of the ink. I really like this work. However, it has not been adopted. They end up with elegant black and white, with a variety of product shapes as a cover pattern. But I believe my work has not been in vain. I file it in my folder. I still think it's a cool design.

Steve let me know that it doesn't matter if the cover of the design is vetoed. This is still an opportunity. My job is not a pure artist, but a work that pleases myself. It's the perfect design for selling and editing, and that's the real goal. "Your goal cannot be limited to yourself," Steve once said. Only the satisfaction of every department is a truly successful cover design.

When Steve and I meet the bottleneck, we also try to motivate ourselves. We'll take an empty sub-photo frame, hold it, and look everywhere in the office. Will this bookcase's wood grain be a nice background pattern? What about the blue sky outside? (Steve Snider later used the background of blue sky and white clouds to design a cover for David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest.) ）

Sometimes, there are some restrictions to restrict our choices. For example, we were told, "this book, you must use this picture." Because it was made by the editor's sister. This matter is not negotiable. "This kind of thing always feels helpless, the photograph has no esthetic sense to say."

I would say, "Great, give it to me." "Then, drop the photo at your feet and stomp it 800 times." Now, I will be more calm. There's always a way. My creativity is not limited to several designs. A design doesn't work, there's another one waiting. I learned not to care too much, whether the design of hard work is only a white busy. I'm not going to be upset about the rejection of my work. My creativity is limitless. I would suggest another way of thinking. I have 1 million ideas! I can do nothing all day, just think about it! This is a matter of attitude.

Graphic design is a good preparation for any industry, because you can learn from it: Any problem, there will be an unlimited number of solutions.

Most of the time, it's hard to get rid of the original plan or to put aside the part that has been completed. But none of this is necessary to solve the problem. For example, if we still think that fossil fuels are the best and only source of energy, it is doomed to be a tragedy. Design Let me learn: every today must have a new beginning, every day is the same.

Creativity is a renewable resource. Challenge yourself a lot. As long as you like, as long as you want, creativity will never be closed.

Experience and curiosity coexist to help you create unexpected, alternative ideas.

It is these seemingly disorganized details that make a great work in one step.

Steve has become a mentor to me. He drives me to work every day and we play tennis on weekends. He is more than 30 years older than me, but we are the perfect partner: I have no father since I was a child; He has two daughters and always wants a son. Eventually he started taking me to the office in New York to pay for the cover design. On the way, I kept asking him questions, not just design, but life. How do you know when to propose to your wife? How much did you pay for your first job? Ask questions without money. Then ask!

With Steve's encouragement and trust, I left little, Brown, and began to do book design as a freelance designer. At that time in the late 90 's, the general trend, I quickly expanded my business to the website design. Each subsequent business is inseparable from website design. Even if you open a dry cleaner, you have to consider a website for it. Then, my friends graduated from college, they decided to open a network company, and I have been in this line for a long time. Together we set up Xanga, one of the earliest blogging social networking sites.

The teacher from Steve's Apprentice time, took me to design this road, achieved today's me.