I have learned so much in the Graphic Design Program, and I am excited about the projects we will be doing in this Graphic Design III course. One of the concerns I have, however, is that we are at the point in the program where the expectation is to be able to work faster—there are five projects! It's preparing us for the real world, and that's rather daunting to me, partly because my process isn't particularly fast.
My creative process is based on what I've learned in school. Once the project is assigned (or once I have a freelance client project and have had the initial client interview), I research examples of similar projects for inspiration as well as researching the client, company, or anything else that is important to really understand before I begin working on concepts. Once I've done the research, I write the creative brief to the client to outline the objectives of the project and make sure I have understood the client's needs/class assignment. This gives the client a chance to come back and clarify things if needed. Now comes the sketch work. I really try to come up with as many ideas in the form of simple sketches as possible. From those ideas, I choose the best three and sketch them larger with more detail. In class we have critiques at each stage of the process. There is a critique of the concepts which usually narrows the three ideas down to the best one. Then it's time to go to the computer to execute that idea, hopefully with at least two variations. Back to critique, then editing based on that critique, and last, the final critique. In school, this works. In the few freelance projects I've done, the process varies depending on timeframe, the type of project, the client, and other variables.
I have to say that in the creative process, I often have trouble thinking of ideas—original ideas. Ideas that I like. Ideas that the client or my instructor and other students like. Ideas that are witty, clever, funny, etc. I see inspiring examples and think to myself, "I wish I could think of things like that!" I've been pretty happy with some of my projects in the end, and I work really hard and spend a lot of time on them, but I worry about having to come up with ideas fast in the real world at a real job.
I get my inspiration from a lot of places. I'm inspired by some of the amazing work I've found in Communication Arts, Print Magazine, and other professional magazines/periodicals. I have a good collection of bookmarks on my computer to great websites for inspiration, such as B, P & O (Branding, Packaging, and Opinion), The Dieline, Lurzers Archive, SwissMiss, and others. I love Pinterest and find it wonderful for finding inspiring work in all areas of art, design, typography, photography...just about anything. I'm inspired by many amazing artists, designers, musicians, dancers, writers, and other creative people.
Our culture doesn't value creative people enough, in my humble opinion. This is reflected in the compensation, financial and otherwise, that artists and other creative people receive for their work. Artists, musicians, dancers, writers—so many of them struggle because they are seen by much of society as outsiders, as people who just have fun and don't necessarily work hard, people who don't conform to the norms of society. Art and music programs are the first to be cut from schools when funds are low. They are seen as "extra," not "necessary" in education like reading, math, science, or history. I believe creativity—in the arts and in everything else—is crucial for children, for people to cultivate. Creative people are problem solvers. Creative people tend to be optimistic. Creative people are able to let go of themselves and let creativity flow through them. Creative people bring positive things to the world. Creative people aren't afraid to be who they are. Creative people make people feel things. I could go on. The point is that to be human, to really live, is to create in some manner or form. It's in everyone, but sometimes that seed needs to be watered and given sunshine, and too often this doesn't happen. Creativity is a necessity for our world and for humans to move forward in their evolution.
Creativity needs to be fully nurtured in the graphic designer. It's paramount! Being creative doesn't mean thinking of completely new ideas all the time. I have started to read the textbook for this course, Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon, and I really love the author's way of explaining that emulating the work of others that you love is a good thing. It's being creative! It's a step beyond imitation which allows you to "break through into your own thing." (p. 38) I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book.
I'll end by posting an example of a piece of my work that I consider to be creative. This is a poster I designed for CUDO for the abCU Exhibition 2014. They used it as the primary promotional/ advertising design that I also modified for all web applications they needed. Regarding creativity/uniqueness of this design, have I ever seen an owl in a tree in art? Of course I have. Have I seen an alphabet tree before? Yes, especially as a teacher of young children (which I was for 10 years). Have I seen posters with art on the top and information/type on the bottom? Sure, it's fairly common. Still, this piece is creative to me because I chose the combinations of colors, typefaces, shapes, and other elements, along with my own artistic style, certain textures and layering, and typographic elements that would catch people's eyes and get the message across in a colorful and fun way, bringing people to the show. I believe it's creative, and even though I've emulated the work of many others who came before me, it is my own design—nobody else's.
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