How to become more creative
As a trainer who teaches design, I often encourage my trainees to be more creative and innovative. Most of them will ask me how will they know if they are creative or not. I believe in several steps that works for me;
- Be around more creative people
It is always good to choose friends and mentors. friends who will give you feedback both negative and positive are the kinds of friends you’re supposed to keep. In the design world, if you choose fake a friend or a mentor they will give you feedback to make you feel good not focusing on your career simply because they don’t want to hurt your feelings. It is good to keep lots of friends but when it comes to work-related, choose friends who will be honest to give constructive feedback.
2. Keep a note book near you
It is always wise to keep a book near you or maybe in a bag to write what you see because sometimes a creative idea can pop up. Also, it is easy to write down what you see or think about in a book so you won’t forget. Another advantage of keeping a book is you can always go back and look at the notes or ideas from the past to refresh you.
3. The space you inhabit
Our surrounding hugely affect our creativity levels. It is advisable if you can take a walk from work to home. You can be able to spot creative furniture, beautiful clothes, creative buildings, awesome paintings, and creative posters/billboards. Sometimes as human beings, it is our fault to ask questions such as “how did this artist come up with such a creative idea?” Likewise, when we spot “bad ideas” we start to visualize how to make them better. You can take out your book and sketch or write how you can make the idea better!
4. Believe in yourself
One mistake we make as designers is that we don’t believe in ourselves. This is because when you present your idea after given feedback, you feel that you did not do enough but after feedback, if you redesign your project you will always come up with a creative idea better than what you presented before. Normally, when given a project you always have these several ideas but you narrow them down to one idea.
5. Take a break from your work
Many creative people love to explore and visit places around the world. New experiences bring new ideas. Creative people will come up with new ideas gathered from different places.When you visit different cities within three months you will be able to solve more problems that one can imagine and also expand how someone relates to others because of interacting with different cultures around the continent.
