This week in Topic of Graphic Design we discussed the creative process. How we get ideas flushed out into full blown campaigns. We looked at two different TED Talks from Stefan Sagmeister and Elizabeth Gilbert where they shared their ideas on rules happiness as a designer and how to create seperation from the creative work and the anxiety around it. I found both of the videos very interesting and insightful.

 From Sagmeister’s video, he shared a lot on his rules on finding happiness as a designer. Two of the pieces of advice I found most interesting was to think freely and work on content you’re close to. The idea of thinking freely seems simple but it seems very profound. We live in a society where we have access to everything, which means it’s easier to get influenced design wise by the things we are exposed to. I think the only way we can free ourselves to think freely is to stay offline for awhile and jump to our own conclusions that way.

 The other piece of advice is working on content you’re close to. I think this is something that can really only apply to freelancers because if you work for a firm, you won’t have control over what clients you have. As an independent contractor, you’ll have more influence on who you work for or with.

 The next video from Elizabeth Gilbert, writer of Eat Pray Love shared how she created some distance between her work and the anxiety from the reaction to her work. She shared some background from Roman times where the concept of a ‘genius’ wasn’t necessarily a human trait. This is a concept that can seem very far fetched yet I understood it fully. I know what it’s like to exhaust an idea and think you have nowhere else to go, yet out of thin air, the idea comes in.

 To conclude, there are a lot of methods thats creatives have in regards to being a success, but we all have to discover our own process to execute our creative vision.