I’m a busy designer. I’m fortunate to be booked out months in advance. My freelance career has proven more stable than other’s “jobs”. I don’t wear busy as a badge of honour. I don’t condone hustle culture or compare how hard or long I work to others. But I know that a constant pipeline of new clients and a packed schedule of design projects is the oil that keeps the business ticking and the paychecks flowing. I keep my schedule tight, I stay laser-focused, and I deliver a shit-ton of great client work week-after-week-after-week. The business of design is good for me, except for one thing I lament.

我是一个忙碌的设计师。 我很幸运能提前几个月预订。 我的自由职业者比其他人的“工作”更稳定。 我不忙于作为荣誉徽章。 我不会纵容喧嚣的文化，也不会将自己与他人的辛勤工作相提并论。 但是我知道， 不断吸引新客户和设计项目的时间表是保持业务运转和薪水增长的动力。 我的行程安排很紧，我始终专注于激光工作，并且一周又一周地交付大量出色的客户服务。 设计工作对我有好处，除了我感叹的一件事。

我希望我有更多的时间去探索和玩耍。 (I wish I had more time to explore and play.)

I crave the freedom and safety to try new things and fail, but sometimes learn a lot and add new tricks to my design toolbox along the way. I want more opportunities to experiment.

我渴望尝试新事物和失败的自由和安全性，但有时会学到很多东西，并在设计工具箱中添加新的技巧。 我想要更多的实验机会。

In a recent episode of Abstract: The Art of Design, toy designer Cas Holman explains how the best education comes from open-ended play — times to explore when there’s no right or wrong. No instructions that lead to a pre-determined outcome or goal. Instead of trying to learn a specific skill in a standardised way, we should follow what makes us curious. In this way, children grow agency and confidence. Creative adults need a dose of this same growth through play.

在最近的《 摘要：设计的艺术》一集中，玩具设计师Cas Holman解释了最佳的教育是如何从开放式游戏中获得的-探究什么时候是非对错的时间。 没有可导致预定结果或目标的说明。 与其尝试以标准化的方式学习特定技能，不如遵循使我们感到好奇的方法。 这样，孩子们就可以增强代理能力和自信心。 有创造力的成年人需要通过游戏获得同样的成长。

The best education comes from open-ended play — times to explore when there’s no right or wrong.

最好的教育来自不限成员名额的比赛—在没有对与错的情况下进行探索的时间。

But the busyness of success gets in the way. Budgets, deadlines, and agile sprints rarely allow the opportunity for extraneous design exercises that help us stumble upon unexpectedly better solutions. It’s all too easy to get lazy and reuse proven design patterns or fallback to your comfort zone when deadlines are looming; to follow the data and shut out the chance for risk-free play and unique expression. You have to pick and choose your battles for when to push for innovation or stretch your boundaries of style, because rarely does a perfect project come along that has the time and budget to afford the luxury of open-ended experimentation. The rigour of the modern product design landscape is extinguishing chances for play.

但是成功的繁忙阻碍了人们的发展。 预算，截止日期和敏捷的冲刺很少有机会进行无关的设计练习，这些练习有助于我们偶然发现更好的解决方案。 当最后期限迫在眉睫时， 变得很容易变得懒惰并重复使用经过验证的设计模式，或者退回到舒适区域。 跟踪数据并排除无风险游戏和独特表达的机会。 您必须为何时进行创新或扩展风格界限选择和选择自己的战斗，因为很少有完美的项目能够花时间和预算来承担开放式试验的费用。 现代产品设计环境的严格性正在消除游戏的机会。

这是一个悖论。 (This is a paradox.)

The greatest among us get there because they’re not afraid to innovate. They’re the avant-garde. They’re seen as industry leaders because they drag all the rest of us through their wake of new ideas, trendsetting styles, better functionality, or more efficient processes. It takes fearless, free experimentation to be that cutting edge.

我们当中最伟大的人之所以到达那里，是因为他们不惧怕创新。 他们是前卫的 。 他们之所以被视为行业领导者，是因为他们将新想法，引领潮流的风格，更好的功能或更高效的流程拖入了我们所有人的行列。 要做到这一点，就需要进行无所畏惧的免费实验。

But the best of us are also busy. Success leads to high-demand. And the resulting full schedule eats into our opportunity for play. The busyness of good business could end up killing what makes us special in the first place.

但是我们最好的人也很忙。 成功导致高需求。 由此产生的全部日程占用了我们的比赛机会。 好的生意的忙碌最终可能扼杀了使我们与众不同的原因。

Time taken away from “real” design work for more playful pursuits is met with guilt, and continuously put off until some mystical time when things aren’t quite so busy.

出于内play，从“真实”设计工作中抽出的时间会让人感到内gui，并且会持续拖延直到一些事情变得不太忙的神秘时期。

So how do we balance freedom for play and time for experimentation with the desire to stay busy with client work and maximise profits?

那么，我们如何在玩耍的自由和实验的时间与保持忙于客户工作并最大化利润的愿望之间取得平衡呢？

It’s a dilemma I admit I haven’t solved. It’s hard to justify uncompensated experimentation when there’s client work to be done. Time taken away from that “real” design work for more playful pursuits is met with guilt, and continuously put off until some mystical time when things aren’t quite so busy. That future never comes, so play never happens when curiosity strikes, and the “ah-ha” moment of growth is lost.

我承认我还没有解决这个难题。 当要完成客户工作时，很难证明无偿实验是合理的。 从“真实”设计工作中抽出时间进行更有趣的追求时，会感到内，并持续拖延时间，直到事情变得不太忙碌的某个神秘时期。 未来永远不会来临，因此好奇心袭来时，游戏就永远不会发生，增长的“啊哈”时刻就消失了。

Side projects or in-house products can be an outlet for playful design experimentation. If there’s no client to answer to, it’s easier to accommodate risk-free exploration. But those projects still need time and attention, and if you’re not pulling that time from your clients you’re taking it from your family instead, which is something I refuse to sacrifice.

附带项目或内部产品可以成为进行有趣的设计实验的渠道。 如果没有客户要回答，则更容易进行无风险的探索。 但是这些项目仍然需要时间和精力，如果您不从客户那里抽出时间，那是从家人那里获取的，这是我拒绝牺牲的事情。

The ideal scenario for any designer would be working with employers or clients who understand the value of experimentation and have the budget to appease that need for open-ended exploration. Who wouldn’t want to get paid to play? Those clients do exist. As we grow our skills and reputation we reach for them and snag one every so often. But they’ll never all be that way, no matter how brilliant we get.

对于任何设计师而言，理想的方案都是与了解实验价值并有预算来满足开放式探索需求的雇主或客户合作。 谁不想获得报酬参加比赛？ 这些客户确实存在。 随着我们技能和声誉的提高，我们会不断争取并经常抓住他们。 但是，无论我们多么出色，他们永远都不会那样。

We need to consciously create chances for playful experimentation to enter our schedules. If we don’t, we die.

我们需要有意识地创造机会进行有趣的实验，以输入时间表。 如果我们不这样做，我们就会死。

设计师是未来主义者 (Designers are futurists)

We look ahead at what can be improved and then try to build that better future now. Designing the future requires constant learning, flexing to new skills and technologies, and finding new solutions for evolving problems. We can’t get there without growth, and we can’t grow without play.

我们展望可以改进的地方，然后尝试建立更美好的未来。 设计未来需要不断学习，适应新技能和新技术，并为不断发展的问题找到新的解决方案。 没有增长，我们就无法到达那里，没有游戏，我们就无法增长。

I’d like to hear how you’ve made time for experimentation in your organization and design routine. How do you put a value on play so you can justify attention spent on it? Or do you value it at all?

我想听听您如何花时间在组织和设计程序中进行实验。 您如何在游戏中发挥价值，以便证明花在游戏上的注意力是合理的？ 还是您完全看重它？

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