Imogen chats about the benefits of being creative.
I was recently reading a BBC article about how being creative is good for you. It made me reflect on how important creativity is, not only for me in my job role as Graphic Designer but for everyone in their daily lives.
Being creative is all about having a curiosity to delve deeper into whatever grabs your attention. I’m creative every day at work. I look at the things I create and then I review them from a client’s perspective. What will they see? How will it make them feel? What do I want them to do with it? I look at the user interface, i.e. the product/design, and the user experience, which is how someone will use the thing I’ve designed. For example, with a website, the user interface is the visual and style of the website, and the user experience is how people would use the website and what pages they look at the most.
When I’m creating presentations, workbooks, etc. I look at it from the perspective of the end user. How would they work through the document? How would they want it to look? I achieve this by creating interesting and engaging visuals throughout.
It’s great practice to lean into others’ opinions. If someone has a different opinion to you, it’s good to see how you can use it to improve what you’re designing and it also helps others to understand what you’re trying to portray.
I’m also creative outside of work. One example is when I paint. In particular, when I paint skateboards, each one of which is unique. Another example is when I’m horse riding. I take my horse on different paths and take him to new places. I also do this when I’m teaching children to horse ride – encouraging them to try new and different stuff.
I find that to be truly creative, we need to be more open-minded. There’s always more to things than you initially see, so we should always try to look at things differently. I love to look at creative things around me, to see how I can adopt and use them in what I do, at work and in my daily life. This way, I’m constantly learning and trying something new.
Creativity is a great way to relax and unwind, e.g. baking something new or trying a different craft. Whilst watching TV, I like to knit. I find that taking time to be creative really improves my mental health. It keeps me busy whilst giving me time to relax and unwind. It keeps my creativity alive. Creativity is about having fun with what you’re doing. Everything can be made a little more fun!
How could you make your days more fun with creativity?