Applying the Cult of Done to Projects: A Blueprint for Graphic Design Skill Development

Graphic design skill development is about continuous learning and refinement. The reality is that getting better at graphic design is about failing and learning, and failing and learning, and repeating that over and over.

For some, this can be a disheartening experience. But something you must remember, when improving your graphic design skills and knowledge, is that this failure is part of the process. Hell, it’s not just a part of graphic design… it’s a part of learning in general.

No great painter picked up a paintbrush and created a masterpiece on their first try. No photographer simply pointed their camera at something, took a shot, and achieved perfect composition. Everyone, regardless of discipline, failed over and over again before they developed the skills that eventually led to mastery.

The quest for continual improvement should be a key part of your graphic design philosophy. And the Cult of Done offers a set of principles that can serve as a powerful blueprint for exactly this. In this article, we'll explore how the Cult of Done principles can be applied to graphic design, providing the backbone for skill development and continuous improvement.

What is the Cult of Done, though?

The Cult of Done manifesto, authored by Bre Pettis and Kio Stark, encapsulates a set of principles that encourage individuals to embrace completion over perfection.

The essence lies in breaking free from the endless cycle of revisions and hesitations, focusing instead on finishing projects and gaining valuable experience through the process. This philosophy aligns with the iterative nature of graphic design, where learning often occurs through hands-on application.

The full rules outlined in the Cult of Done manifesto are…

1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.

2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.

3. There is no editing stage.

4. Pretending you know what you’re doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you’re doing even if you don’t and do it.

5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.

6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.

7. Once you’re done you can throw it away.

8. Laugh at perfection. It’s boring and keeps you from being done.

9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.

10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.

11. Destruction is a variant of done.

12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.

13. Done is the engine of more.

Using the Cult of Done in Graphic Design Skill Development

The rules outlined in the Cult of Done manifesto provide a blueprint for learning through failure, something that’s so important in graphic design. Below, I’ve extrapolated some of the rules to align them with graphic design skill development.

There is No Perfection

How often have you spent hours upon hours moving a handful of pixels back and forth, unsure which layout is best? My guess, if you’re anything like me, is many. So it should come as no surprise that when it comes to graphic design, the pursuit of perfection can be paralyzing.

Accepting that perfection is subjective and often unattainable allows designers to push past self-imposed limitations and explore their creativity freely.

Iteration is Key

Iterative design, a cornerstone of the Cult of Done, encourages continuous refinement. Apply this principle by revisiting and improving past projects, using each iteration as an opportunity to hone skills and experiment with new techniques.

There’s no reason you can’t pick up an old project when you’ve learned something new to improve it. Iterate, iterate, iterate.

Completion Leads to Learning

A selection of posters from the Daily Posters project.

Finishing a project, even if it's not flawless, is a valuable learning experience. Each completed design adds to your skill set and provides insights for future improvement.

It’s for this reason that so many graphic designers will pick up a “daily” project. The idea is that every day, you have to show up and make something. I used this principle during my Daily Posters project, where I made a new poster design every single day.

Take a look through the archive (linked above) to see that some are good, some are bad, and some are catastrophically awful. But each one taught me something. That’s the whole point.

Start Again Tomorrow

This leads on from the above: Not every project will be a masterpiece, and that's okay. Embrace the idea that tomorrow is a new opportunity to learn, grow, and apply fresh insights to your design work.

Not everything you make will be your best work, and that’s fine. If you learned something from the project, then it did its job.

Conclusion

The Cult of Done is a philosophy that can be applied to any creative discipline. The key idea is that to improve, you have to make things. It doesn’t matter if what you make is terrible, or even if it’s never seen by anybody.

All that matters is that what you make teaches you something. Did you learn a new method of cutting out images in Photoshop? Good, the project had a purpose. Did you learn a cool new style to use in another project? Good, the project had a purpose.

So, when focusing on graphic design skill development, remember that perfection isn’t the goal,  iteration is. Remember that completion leads to learning. And when all else fails, you can always try again tomorrow.

And when you’re feeling like giving up, remind yourself of these fifty reasons to keep learning!

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