A Brief Message

I just discovered A Brief Message, via Subtraction.com. A Brief Message is a site that -according to its masthead- 'features design opinions in short form—200 words or less'. This is a great concept, and I've enjoyed trawling through previous entries over the past hour or so. Of note is this entry by Clay Shirky, on arrogance and humility in the life of a designer:

Arrogance without humility is a recipe for high-concept irrelevance; humility without arrogance guarantees unending mediocrity. Figuring out how to be arrogant and humble at once, figuring out when to watch users and when to ignore them for this particular problem, for these users, today, is the problem of the designer.

As someone who has alternately been accused of being impossibly arrogant and amazingly humble all throughout my adult life, I take this as some sort of strange vindication—apparently I'm doing something right. . . .