Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Jacob Ruiz

I studied his career to gain a creative edge, here’s what we can learn as designers.

Rick Rubin is one of the best music producers of all time. He’s worked with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kanye West, Johnny Cash, Jay Z, Metallica, Shakira, Black Sabbath, Neil Diamond, and many more legendary artists.

How could one person be so consistently successful across such a wide variety of genres? There must be something fundamental to his approach that makes him so effective.

Luckily, Rubin’s recent interview with Beats 1’s Zane Lowe gives us insight into his creative process. It’s full of wisdom that can be applied to any creative field.

It’s worth watching the full interview, but here are 3 valuable lessons that can be directly applied to the design field:

Insights From The Interview

Insight #1

“We never judge an idea based on the description of an idea. We always try it musically. It’s a pretty important point.”

In design, we call this prototyping. But we’re often guilty of not letting ideas incubate long enough to make it to the prototyping phase. Of course we can’t prototype every single idea, but I thought Rubin’s commitment to the ideas themselves (rather than the description of ideas) was admirable. There is a certain fearlessness and discipline in this approach, and I think when we work like this as creatives, we ultimately have more fun because it’s more in line with how a child would work. It reminds me of a famous zen quote that “in the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few”.

Insight #2

“The goal is to create a setting where an artist can be completely vulnerable, and feel completely free to be themselves 100%, with no shame, with no feeling of needing to perform a certain way, and no expectation, just really a safe place to be naked, basically. Show their inner-most soul.”

I thought this was a really beautiful thought, and I suspect this is the core of Rick Rubin’s genius. He is kind of like a trusted therapist for these artists. He digs. Artists come to him with concepts and he digs into the soul of those ideas and lets the essence show itself. This is a powerful skill to have, and we can keep this idea in mind when collaborating with other creatives. We have to allow each other to be vulnerable and work fearlessly.

Insight #3

“[Meditation] has played a tremendous role in my life. It’s really formed who I am. It builds the muscle to allow you to focus intently and look very very deeply into something.”

This goes back to the idea of Rubin digging. Meditation helps to cultivate a way of looking at things that is not just surface-level observation. We can dig deep into abstract concepts and pull out insights. We can notice the tiniest subtleties (which often turn out to be not tiny at all). When we practice this mindful way of looking at the world, we develop a skill for talking about abstract concepts in relatable terms.

You can watch the full interview here:

👋 I’m a freelance Product Designer. I help companies improve the design of their products on a contract basis. My expertise is in creating simple experiences from complex requirements.

💼 Previously Tilt (acquired by Airbnb), Samsung.

👀 You can view my portfolio and other thoughts on design at www.jacobruiz.design. Get in touch if you’d like to work together.

Next availability starting June 2017.

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3 Lessons Designers Can Learn From Legendary Music Producer, Rick Rubin was originally published in Prototyping: From UX to Front End on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

3 Lessons Designers Can Learn From Legendary Music Producer, Rick Rubin

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