TV shows have been amazingly good these days. With shows like Boston Legal, Prison Break and Project Runway, I wonder who needs to go to the cinema.

I have been a fan of Project Runway from its first season, and the third season has just started last night.

What I like about Project Runway is, it shows a very humane side of fashion industry, which I think very applicable to all other industries including web development and design. And for one simple reason also, Heidi Klum is HOT.

Last night’s first episode of the third season is very interesting, I thought there are some lessons that we all can learn from this show, as I am writing this, I am reminding myself too:

What you don’t learn in school, does not stop you.
Many of the participants did not study in a fashion-design school, yet the love for fashion-design has made them rise above thousands of applicants for the runway show. Laura Bennet is an architect and mother of five, Allison Kelly is a snowboarding instructor, and Angela Keslar is an organic farmer.

My client once asked me where did I learn my design skills from, afterall I was trained as a business analyst in school.

Be creative with constraints and you can create good stuff out of simple things.
The designers were asked to rip off the materials that they can find from their apartment, from bed cover, curtain, to lamp cover. With such simple materials, they can still create great pieces such as the one shown in the picture above. After the show, I felt like ripping off our curtain and pillow case and make a good dress for my wife, but too bad I am not into sewing.

For every web development/design project, we usually have constraints, be it technical, colour, or time constraints, and the list goes on. But what makes a good developer/designer stands out from the rest is the ability to deliver good results out of these constraints. Many can deliver good results, not many can do that with great constraints.

Know your tools well.
One of the reasons why Stacey Estrella was voted out last night was because his dress was not complete. She faced some problems operating her sewing machine, so she ended up with hand sewing. Her concept was good, but her execution was weak.

As a web developer/designer, we too have to know our tools well to stand out from the rest. If you are a web developer, be good at XHTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP/Ruby/Java/.Net/Phyton (whatever language you are using).

Time is always very limited.
The designers were only given half a day to make their clothes, and the next half a day to do some alteration to fit their model. And even with such a short time, all the designers completed their pieces within the time limit.

Time management is the essence, even if you have great idea, make sure that the idea can be executed within the time constraint. We all face this problem, don’t we? One way to work around this is to keep things simple and focus on the main needs of your clients.

Dont’ be over confident. Even if you are good, you can be wrong sometimes.
All of the participants are great designers. But Jeffery thought his design is the best, a very confident chap, he looked down on others’ designs. He designed a very intricate dress and a jacket, but the judge thought they were too complicated and the jacket hides the the beauty of the dress. He was one of the last two standing to be voted out last night.

Over-confidence blinds us from our weaknesses and our mistakes.

“Make it work!”

- Tim Gun, The designers’ guide