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Thoughts around Eli, criticism, and the current conversation(medium.com)

almost 7 years ago from Benjamin Kowalski, Senior Product Designer @DoorDash

  • Jim SilvermanJim Silverman, almost 7 years ago

    The amount of times people choose to insult/mock him personally is disgusting.

    that's the thing though. he makes it personal. he's not merely critiquing design, he is critiquing designers and how he perceives their opinions. taking just part 3 of his essay on the Instagram logo as an example, he chastises grossly out-of-context statements from Ian Spalter, Robert Padbury, Chappell Ellison, Jared Spool, and the writers at The Verge. by doing so, he is looking to elicit a reaction and spark notoriety.

    most memorably, he literally took specific phrases and words out of sentences of Cap Watkins' "The Boring Designer" to twist their meaning to his own use:

    Cap Watkins and 3000 of his supporters who advocate for an ideal "lazy" and "boring" designer who never experiments and "Chooses obvious over clever every time." A perfect designer who compromises their vision to fit what is easiest to produce, not what is best to produce. Most of all, as a manager, Watkins reveres supplicatory designers who "rarely stand their ground." source

    when "critiques" lash out in every direction, there's bound to be some blowback.

    5 points
    • Michael CookMichael Cook, almost 7 years ago

      when "critiques" lash out in every direction, there's bound to be some blowback.

      And the blowback should be dismissal at worst and responses that attempt to provide a more insightful, more accurate understanding of the situation presented in an even more eloquent way than Eli, at best.

      Eli cannot make responses towards him personal. To say that something we think is mean or unacceptable deserves meanness retaliated is an unsustainable approach to community. I think that the only healthy response is to be better, more patient, more thoughtful, and more articulate.

      2 points
      • Jim SilvermanJim Silverman, almost 7 years ago

        To say that something we think is mean or unacceptable deserves meanness retaliated is an unsustainable approach to community.

        fair point, but we shouldn't be surprised when such writing lowers the standard of discourse.

        1 point
    • Art VandelayArt Vandelay, almost 7 years ago

      This is what 90% of the general media does, why is it only shocking here?

      1 point