“Trying too hard”
Anyone else often see the critique ‘trying too hard’ here and there?
‘Trying too hard’ is a terrible comment and sentiment. The implications are that people should only try a little bit. People should be lazier. Things should only be ‘good enough.’
I severely dislike this comment because it is an excuse for lazy people to keep being lazy. It is a way of suppressing something different, challenging, or unique. Those things that, by comparison, show the lazy person for what they are. If everyone ‘tried harder’ it would be more difficult for lazy, unthoughtful people to keep up. Lazy, disinterested people need a standard to adhere to, a uniform. To deviate from it takes extra thought and confidence and ‘unnecessary’ effort. It is work. And lazy people hate work.I realize that it is often said to mean that a look might carry an abundance of affectation, or that a look might not be traditional for a venue, ‘overdressed,’ etc. But if those things are what is meant to be said, those things should be said. The very comment itself shows a laziness of thought in the critique, and is useless.
OK, please forgive me for this little jeremiad, more designs soon!
I must disagree. The usual implication — as I see it, when I use it — is that the transgressor is ‘trying too hard’ at the wrong thing. Usually, they are trying to look unique. Or more rather, they are trying to be ‘cool’. Now, we can argue over the merits of these different things, but a ‘cool person’ is someone that finds their ‘coolness’ effortless. The transgressor is trying very hard to be taken notice of, and be accepted by, the ‘cool’ folk. And they are trying way too hard. It is pretty obvious.
