Why it's important to be creative

article written by Burtea Eugen-Cristian-Fabian

I have always assumed that creativity and more exactly, being creative, is something that will bring you joy even in the darkest days. Something that will calm you down and get you in a meditative state and clear your thoughts. This is why, I think, as a graphic designer, you should also have personal creative projects. They could be design related, mixed media or drawing or sculpting, what’s important is that you create.

I believe that having a well structured creative process, outside of your work with clients and corporate, serious designs, will help you avoid getting into a rut or feeling burnt out. It will make you understand yourself better, it will calm you down and it will make you feel like you changed something. It will help you discover things as you experiment more and you will have a wider belt of creative solutions when you come back to your professional work. It might also help you with problem solving situations, with thinking outside of the box. And, most importantly, it will help you unwind after a hard day.

I’ve been experimenting with graphic design for almost 5 years now. I still have a lot more to learn, but the most important lesson that I have learned since starting this journey was that creativity is not something that you have. It’s something that you probably achieve or even steal from others, until you actually obtain (or not - which is totally fine) your own style. It’s something that you practice. You can get inspired from other different pieces of art and from life situations and feelings and love and everything that is around you.?

Everything around you is the creation of someone or something. In a more philosophical manner, creating and being creative is likened to the idea of living itself. Being creative feels like living and being alive. Now, I don’t consider that if you don’t create you are not a living person, because everyone has their own pleasures and everyone is free to do whatever they want, as long as it’s legal and nobody gets hurt. But I do feel like being creative can drive you through life in a more pleasant way.?

Being creative outside of your work means learning and growing. It means getting out of one world and moving into another, which might actually reshape your life, help you find purpose and meaning. Maybe you find out that you want to actually be a full time artist and end the 9 to 5 grind you’ve been pursuing. Or, maybe, you get to find a solution to that project that is giving you a headache, because you start thinking outside the box. Being creative might offer you new ideas and new reasons to do what you like to do. It might offer you other perspectives and develop your critical thinking. Most importantly, being creative can actually help you understand yourself better.