Years ago, after we had finished a huge project, someone asked us why it took so long by saying “I could have done that in a week”. They were correct, but also very mistaken.
The output of most creative work takes a long time to achieve. Logos take many sketches and revisions. Headlines require research and interviews. Layouts require planning and thought. Once it’s done, though, it’s easy for someone else to do it again.
In a recent post, Seth Godin shares a few examples of that such as:
- A novel might take five years to write. Retyping it takes a day.
- A company could easily expend 10,000 hours of effort before launching a new logo. Drawing the logo takes four minutes.
More importantly, he shares the reason why:
The first time, we’re not only wayfaring, we’re asking, arguing, compromising, re-working, re-starting and exploring. The second time, we have a map and we’re ready to go.
This is the danger in tools like Squarespace that let you just pick a layout and go. It can be a good solution in a pinch, but a “pretty design” isn’t likely to be effective without some thought and research behind it.
I could retype your book today, but that doesn’t diminish the years that it took you to write it the first time.
