How do I create?

Growing uncreative?

Ken Robinson said in his T.E.D. speech: education conditions students to grow out of rather then into their creativity.

This statement screamed so true to me. I agree completely that many creative people don’t believe that they are creative because their imagination was not valued when growing up through the school system. Emphasis is always on literacy and math. Although these core subjects are important all areas of thinking should be encouraged and embraced within schools. Judgement and grading conventions discourage a lot of people. Placing certain subjects as more important than others causes a hierarchy of worth. Sally is good at math and becomes better then John who is a creative thinker. This system can be damaging and counter productive. The story about the dancer was captivating. I really enjoyed it. I strongly believe every person has something they are really good at. Imagine if everyone was encouraged to pursue the things in life that they naturally excelled in regardless of the subject. Think about it.

Be wrong!

Another aspect of Robinson’s discussion I found thought provoking was his belief that if you’re not prepared to be wrong you will never create anything original. This is great to hear. From as early on in life as possible we are told yes or no and taught right from wrong. A lot is set as either black or white in our society. This is how people think, look, behave, live etc. We are raised to fear failure. We set impossible expectations from the very beginning which we grow into believing our entire lives. Never make a mistake. When hearing the story of the eight year old soccer players all pledging in sync that none of them would make a slip-up I was surprised. Although I know the pressures society has placed on people in general it is somewhat scary to think how early these burdens are falling on children. I would hope that children are still enjoying their childhoods by freely playing sports without focus on perfection or fear of failing. Childhood is a great time to learn. The best way to learn is to make mistakes. I feel sad to think that some children are now growing up with the expectation to never disappoint.
Eventually everyone makes mistakes.

100 Habits

Listening to the 100 habits list made me think that I’m doing something right. I already follow each of the steps on the list naturally. Hurray! Then I thought wow, my creative process must not be that original if it is already outlined in a book somewhere. My favourites are travelling, observing the world around me, and taking in the design and life around me to come up with who I am as a person and as a designer.

Who am I?

In the context of creativity and design I am a collection of ideas, images, culture, media, personality and style. I am a little bit of everything that I see and everything that I experience. I take with me pieces of the people I meet, the lessons I learn, the knowledge I collect, the movies I watch, the books I read and the art I admire. Who we are as designers is built from birth. Our past, our present and our future will shape our minds, our motivations and our inspirations. It will form how we communicate visually and verbally. It will come out in our conceptual process and stay with us till the end of our execution of every graphic piece we will go on to create. I am me.