Even famous creatives don’t understand creativity

Jerry Seinfeld says that comedy can’t be taught , and this implies other creative fields like design can’t be either. But he’s wrong.

You can teach someone aspects of making it in the comedy profession, but you can’t teach someone to be funny.

—Jerry Seinfeld in an Interview with HBR

Successful creatives often claim that they can’t teach because their abilities are based completely on talent. This encourages a mythology about creativity; creative work can’t be done by just anyone, only the uniquely talented.

This perspective is incredibly discouraging to beginners. Can you imagine being a new comedian, especially someone in an under represented group, and hearing Seinfeld say this? And maybe that’s why he says it.

We hear the same thing in the design industry all the time. We’re told that to become a designer you must first have good taste. Design podcasts, books, and more build up a mystery surrounding creative work. People teach about the business aspects of being a designer — dealing with clients, using design tools, or getting a job — but how to design, arguably the most important thing beginners need to know, is a sadly neglected topic.

Why creativity education is so vague

You can read abstract ideas about what the creative process is, but most design education especially avoids letting you watch an experienced person create from scratch. Or, even if they do let you watch, almost everything is secretly pre-designed off camera to look good first, so you never see the real process.

There are 2 reasons for this:

First, people avoid teaching the specifics of design process because they believe in the mythology of creativity and benefit from it. This ridiculous belief conveniently protects the people who’ve made it to the top of their industry by effectively discouraging competition while making their own work seem more valuable.

Second, the creative process is ugly and messy, and frankly people are embarrassed to show you the steps required. It’s no fun to show off ugly ideas that you threw away. Who wants to do that? No one.

Watching a famous designer draw something on the screen that looks bad degrades the perfect image you have of them in your mind; when you see that bad kerning or awkward color scheme before it was revised and corrected, you realize that person is not the genius you thought they were. And seeing them follow a process — basic steps! — ruins the mythology utterly. Accomplished creatives know this, and that’s why they rarely let anyone see how they work.

Creativity is a process, not a mystery

Seinfeld goes on to say later in the same interview that he only figures out what’s funny by trying out ideas on audiences. So even though he apparently has this rare ability to be funny, which no one else can learn, even he has to figure it out through trial and error. Many of his ideas don’t work. His statements are contradictory, and he is essentially admitting there’s a process to writing comedy.

Design is the same way. Some designers might pretend that creativity is impossible to teach, but if you ever get the chance to watch an experienced designer work (open floor plans at agencies are a great way to spy), you’ll see that they follow specific steps just like anyone else.

Creative professionals want to make their work sound incredible and difficult because they think it earns them respect. Or, maybe they don’t really understand how creativity works because their processes have become habit. Either way, the truth is that you can learn to do creative work too.

The steps of the creative process can be taught. Design, comedy, and every creative pursuit work the same way. The steps are ugly, but they guide you to making incredible work. (Here’s a beginner-friendly article on design process.)

Don’t let this bad advice hold you back

So ignore Seinfeld and every other person who say creative professions can’t be learned. You can learn. You can become as good as Seinfeld or that famous designer you admire if you keep honing your skills like they did. Follow the steps and do the work.

It’s sad that people believe creativity has to be mysterious to be respectable. Personally, when I see the ugly drafts from other designers and how they’re able to make something beautiful out of all that mess, I only respect them more. The ugliness of the creative process is part of its beauty.

But the faux mystery of creativity tries to trap you in the worst part of the creative process. It tells you that your bad ideas and ugly concepts happen because you’re not good enough. It tells you to stop there, before you get to the good part, because you don’t have the special creativity gene. That you don’t have good enough taste.

But if you keep going anyway, you’ll find the beauty at the end of the process.

Learn the real steps of the design process, ugly parts included.

Learn the specifics of design process & theory in TheorySprints, my online course. You’ll learn methods for applying design theory and watch me create real designs, warts and all. This experience will teach you how to move through the normal phases of the creative process and produce high quality work. See course details here.

Or, grab my free online bootcamp, Objective Creative. You’ll learn how to overcome the frustrating early stages of honing your design skills.