The Full Side of the Glass

We have always been told to look for the flaws. To seek better, to never be satisfied, and to be "fault hunters" in pursuit of perfection... Yet, in this process, a vital detail was overlooked: we didn't start this journey to weed out deficiencies.

We started to bring something into existence. What moved us was the excitement of a vision turning into reality, the moment that first line on a blank paper gained meaning, and a design touched someone else's soul. Our starting point—the main source of our motivation—was the "full" side of the glass.

Baggio’s Penalty and the Designer’s Fate Over time, we were taught a completely different perspective: focusing exclusively on what is missing. This view became so dominant that, as designers, we found ourselves forced to defend our own existence. It is much like one of the most unjust moments in football history: Roberto Baggio’s famous penalty in the 1994 World Cup final.

Today, everyone talks about Baggio’s final shot that went into the clouds—his "mistake." But if we look at the full side of the glass, it was he who carried Italy to the final on his shoulders, reaching that point with impossible goals. Without those goals, Italy wouldn't have even stepped onto that final pitch. But the world loves looking at the empty side of the glass so much that it can erase thousands of efforts with a single second of error.

The fate of designers today is no different from Baggio’s. You create hundreds of successful works, elevate a brand, and build an identity; yet at the end of the day, your entire shift is spent trying to explain yourself to minds that only see a small "missing" detail or the "empty side."

Closed Rooms, Restricted Minds When we look at the industry today, we are faced with unemployment, pressure, and a process we can call "silent bullying." Designers, who keep companies afloat, are virtually locked in a room and expected to create a miracle.

How can a mind expand while looking at the same four walls, at the same desk, five days a week in the same loop? Design is not just a production process; it is a nutritional process. Seeing, traveling, touching, breathing... These are not luxuries; they are the raw materials of design.

Expectation of Efficiency Without Investment The truth is, while firms expect maximum efficiency from the designer, they avoid investing in them. Producing "better" with the same environment, the same limits, and the same perspectives is an impossible equation.

A designer is not just an employee; they are the brand's window to the world. And perspectives develop not by being closed, but by being opened. The free talent that brought Baggio to the final only shone when it found space. Confining a designer to a room is the same as confining them to the penalty spot.

Time to Change Direction Perhaps it is time to change direction. We must stop obsessively searching for flaws on the empty side and remember the full side. To see what works, to accept what creates value, and most importantly: to give the person producing this value the space they deserve.

Because the full side of the glass is not just an optimistic outlook; it is the sacred point where creativity begins. If we lose that, nothing else matters. If you see a designer only as a "mistake-prone machine" or an "operator rushing orders," tomorrow we won't find a single drop of water to defend in that glass. Because what fills the glass is not technical skill, but that person's desire to create.

Now we must decide: Will we drown in flaws, or will we see the jewel that transcends those flaws and make room for it?

Remember; the world turns not with those who only judge results, but with the courage of those who run tirelessly to that penalty spot. Let designers open up to the world instead of being trapped in a room. Because only a free mind can make the glass overflow without needing to explain why it is full.