“DesignWrite” was created by Thomas Anstadt to explore design and business-related topics.

Finding Intellectual Courage

In all honesty, it can be a humbling experience to observe some of our peers’ limitless ingenuity. They seem to have no boundaries to where their learning and imagination can take them. They have found a way to seek intellectual courage from within and combat the urge to substitute quick fixes for deeper meaning. Questioning has become an essential feature in all of their design investigations.

Originality or creative thinking refers to the ability to question traditional ways of doing things and form new ideas or methods to solve a problem or meet a need. It involves a higher level of brain functioning that includes intuition, making unusual connections or associations, imagination, objectivity, and the willingness to change. In design, this should mean creativity is not determined by that which has already been made, but derived from deeper questioning, learning, and imagination.

Creative pioneers consistently strive to think outside accepted principles and habitual perspectives, such as; “always done it this way.” According to Milton Glaser, designers of all ages must continually “stimulate their sense of awe and wonderment in the mundane things they do every day, including learning new techniques.” On a walk one day, focus on leaves; the next day, focus on your amazing legs and how they propel you forward; and on another, admire the texture of a sidewalk. Learn to fall in love with the simple things in life. Then apply that same sense of learned curiosity to a design problem that requires an unfamiliar technique, such as analog collage or film. Inquisitive thinking ultimately leads designers to develop creative solutions vs. repeating images of popular culture. goes here

The Questioning Approach

An unquestioning mind may have little defense against the overabundance of poorly conceived solutions freely distributed by the Internet. The Internet streams images of popular culture to designers at a rapid pace that forces even the best designers to work overtime to wrap their minds around the essential issues of a problem. Making meaning central is harder than ever before. No wonder some designers become destined to appropriate the ideas and solutions of others; it’s easier. If repeated over time, though, they will eventually leave behind the fulfillment and joy of creating meaning for the temporary high of instant gratification.

“There is certainly more money, fame, and instant notoriety for following the trends of the day; but most of what is considered popular today is hardly creative… If a designer wants to make something truly unique, trends are irrelevant; they need to be able to look inside themselves and discover their own creative wealth.” – Milton Glaser

A questioning mind enables designers to change their mindset from that of a receiver and respondent to that of the inquirer and creator. Creative pioneers take the time to engage in a variety of learning activities because they know the profession requires a state of life-long learning. As soon as a spark of interest arises in something, they explore it.

According to Milton Glaser, “teaching permits students to be playful and creative while sparking my inquisitive nature.” That’s a critical nuance about the profession; it affords designers many diverse outlets to learn and apply that knowledge to their creative endeavors. It’s not easy, but the inward feeling of satisfaction that exploring ideas affords is deaply rewarding. For example, hand-drawn typography is more conducive to maintaining a creative mindset than scrolling through social media posts.

Through curiosity, designers will not only act upon their career longevity and act upon their health when they focus energy on expressing their inner creativity. They help the brain become healthier by warding off disease and enhancing blood flow throughout the body. Clearly, it’s an essential act for designers to set aside a block of time each day to foster their creativity with design exercises or mindfulness rituals that trigger a creative state of mind. Whether it’s meditating, writing, playing a musical instrument, sketching, collaging, or experimenting with typography, designers need to do whatever it takes to free their minds of the pressures of popular culture and focus on their inner creativity.

In Conclusion

When designers draw upon the ideas from within, only then will they be on a path to creative output. Yes, there are many things to learn from the past and present (for a later discussion). But it is increasingly difficult today to recognize the difference between good design—based on solid research—and poor design because of the influence of popular culture.

Popular culture sometimes influences designers to place a sort of unconscious credibility stamp on designs that are created without purpose; because of the like culture of social media. The likes attributed to a ‘post’ does not always mean good design. But through the questioning mindset, designers will not only become resistant to the pressures of popular culture—giving them zero attention—they will also learn to trust their own creativity. –end