We are not alone

One of the reasons I wrote this post was because "I'm becoming fascinated by how this thing takes hold of us all and I'd like to share it with you lovely people".

A few weeks later and loads of my fellow designers have said it struck a chord with them. I wanted to list some of the comments people have made.

This my life... I keep telling my design students that they have to join AIGA or they will end up surrounded by people who don't understand them. This article describes why perfectly.
http://tdjohnsn.livejournal.com/77380.html

Yes, I have a mild case of the Designer's Disease as outlined on Noisy Decent Graphics. Yes, I photographed my deoderant because I like how it is designed.
http://pussreboots.livejournal.com/156107.html

THIS explains everything. It is the most truthful and reliable written source of why I am the way I am. Why I think the way I think. Why I see the way I see. Why I look the way I look. Why I live the way I live.
http://thealamoandme.blogspot.com/2006/12/me-in-nutshell.html

sounds very familiar. there was a billboard here not too long ago for a classic rock radio station that featured a tagline in comic sans! i had to take a different route home for the next two weeks to avoid seeing it.
http://joshuablankenship.com/blog/?p=4558#comments

My wife claims that I waited until we were married before revealing that I was a font-spotter but I deny that to this day – I’ve always been one. Noisy Decent Graphics reminded me of the first day of my marriage with his great post about being a graphic designer – the disease with no known cure.
http://30gms.com/permalink/design_disease/

I love it.  I smiled. I nodded my head in agreement.  I said "OMG...I do that too."  (Yeah...I said that more than once.)  All this time I thought maybe I was just "a bit" weird.  Now I know...I'm just a designer.
http://artlook.typepad.com/a_look_at_art_design/2006/12/the_design_dise.html

Although i’m not a trained graphic designer, i’ve grown up and been immersed in art and design since I was born, and hence can really relate to this post by Ben. It’s SO true.
http://hostler.com/2006/12/08/the-design-disease/

This explains so much.
http://beanstalktalk.com/beanblog/?p=267

Have a read, especially if you know exactly what I am talking about. You can't walk anywhere without noticing the signs, postings, flyers, windows, everything.
http://designthat.lifewithchrist.org/permalink/28595

For me it borders on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, everything I do is informed in someway by Design. What I buy, how I think, my habits all stem from Design. I collect things for no (logical) reason, scraps of paper, old books, diagrams, I photograph strange things.
http://www.designbyok.com/blog/2006/12/04/the-design-disease/

My friends, have no fear, we are not alone.

Comments

[andrew kingham]

I can't remember how I found your blog, but I'm grateful I did. It's like coming home after a long day, and as you walk up the path you see the glow from one of the windows. You know someone's home.

[caspian]

This Christmas I photographed the different ß that made up the word 'Straße' on the street signs in a single city in Germany for my blog. The letter has always sat uncomfortably with me, but the experience has helped me understand it's place in typography; an unexpected side-effect.

[Tom Gifford]

Apparently when I was a toddler I used to throw tantrums if my shoelaces weren't exactly the same length once tied (sounds like a good argument for Velcro). Design therefore seemed like an obvious career choice.

I read an article which suggested that Autism is an extreme form of masculinity. That all men are predisposed to be obsessive about ordering, lists, collecting etc. Perhaps all male designers are bordering on the autistic?

[davidthedesigner]

Yeah, that's all very well Ben. They may all have the disease, but I bet they don't all read The Sun and listen to Deacon Blue (or go to George Michael and Steps gigs, for that matter).

You may well be alone after all.

[Rob Mortimer]

I went to Hong Kong last year.

And despite not being able to read a word of Cantonese, I was able to recognise that two particular symbols were in the typeface of the HK Underground system...

[Rob Mortimer]

*6 months later