A Higher Calling
In a perfect world all creatives would be born with an inherent knowledge of what they need to do and what they need to achieve. In a perfect world, all clients would concede have free reign on our illustrations, page layouts, color choices, interior wall colors, our cropping or what we wear to their meetings. In a perfect world, all new creatives would skip the learning stages and move straight on-to a mastery of their field.
But, we don’t live in that perfect world. There’s more information produced online every second that clouds the genuine, pure, core fundamentals of creativity. There’s more bad communication on how to educate clients, how to achieve the perfect working relationship, how to design effectively than there is valuable resources.
Since we are flooded with information and have the ability to regurgitate creative processes and creative ideas, let’s challenge ourselves as creatives, as a community, as individuals: to a higher end goal. Give constructive criticism and allow people to grow from your knowledge. Educate clients on what good design is and what it does for them, their brand and our world. Above all else, show them the undying passion that we creatives have to achieve something great.
Some of the biggest design movements in history have happened because the community at large got behind it and propelled it to the masses. We’ve hit a boiling point and it’s time to progress. Let’s hold each other to a higher standard. Shall we?
Chad Engle is currently slaying pixels @BoomtownROI. He abides in coastal Charleston, SC and enjoys living on an island. You should follow, harass or chat to him on twitter @chadengle and @fuelcreativity .
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I would add – in a perfect world Change is only the permanent thing. In our everyday struggle in life we always encounter changes. Just like design what is best now might no longer be best for tomorrow. So in order for us to be successful and be parallel with the changes we should never stop studying and learning. ;)
Nice post.
Very zen.
This post completely took me away like some wake-up call. There’s just too much going on in the creative world that one can only wonder what’s real and what’s not. Alexander McQueen created a buzz with those weird-looking shoes worn by Lady Gaga on her music video “Bad Romance.” Some people say it’s avant-garde, some hate it. So, how does one define creativity? I’d say if there’s really a tool that can measure a person’s imagination, then one can say a work is creative or not. Until that time comes, I think we can just respect what people have created. Besides, to create something out of nothing… is divine.
I couldn’t agree more. We must remember that everyone has a different eye and opinion of what is “good”. My mom, I love her, but, her idea of tasteful colors…oy vey!
We are hit with thousands of ads/design work every day. What do you notice? What rises to the top for you? For me its beauty, or an evocative image, or a clever idea, maybe something funny. For my mom, it might be something completely different.
I think we just need to keep molding, shaping and pushing ourselves to be the best we can be. That way we wake up in the morning proud of what we did yesterday and eager to do it again tomorrow.
Constructive criticism is definitely the most helpful thing for me, getting someones thoughts on what could be improved from their own point of view helps to get a more informed view on a particular design. Opinions are scattered around every industry and it’s up to each of us who we listen to and who we don’t, especially when design itself is so subjective.
Great Post.
Cheers! To a higher standard!