4 MYTHS about Designers and Creativity

Ever dreamed of being a designer ?

You want to create clothes, textiles or anything else but feel like “you’re not talented enough”, “you’re not creative enough” or you have any negative thinking like these ?

You might feel like that, because you think these 4 Myths around designers & Creativity are true !

I have good news for you, Creative Soul !

You’re about to discover that all designers have a secret weapon, and it’s not called “talent”, “inspiration” or “genius” !

But rather… *drumrolls*

A Creative Process !

So let’s start debunking those 4 myths, then we’ll see what a creative process actually is. Keep on reading !

These Designers Myths are :

1. You need to be a genius to be a successful designer
2. Innovative ideas are truly rare and hard to find
3. You need to be inspired to start designing
4. Your first idea is the best one you’ll have

Have you ever heard of any of these myths ?

Because before starting my journey in the design world, I believed all of these myths were true.

They almost stopped me from even trying to become a designer !

But after 7 years of designing, a Master in Fashion Design (with honors), more than 7 different work experiences in the industry, and my own creative textile studio, I am soooo happy I did not let those myths stop me.

I don’t want them to stop you either !

So let’s find the truth again about creativity and designers.

Related Post : Learn more about my story here

MYTH #1 : YOU NEED TO BE A GENIUS TO BE A GREAT DESIGNER

… Or to have a great amount of talent to ever hope to be successful

When we think about becoming a designer, we look up at all the super-famous people in the industry, and wonder how on earth they got there !

Are they just super talented and they are always going to be better, no matter what we do ?

Was it only talent ?

Was it a great network ?

Or was it a just lot of hard work ?

The truth is, no matter how talented a futur designer is, they ALL had to work super hard to get were they are.

So when you look at your heroes in the industry, you see the success, but as always, you don’t see all the sleepless nights, all the time they spent refining their craft, all the hard work that led them to where they are !

But this hard work ? It means that they had to LEARN everything they know.

And if they learned, you can learn too !

And that’s an amazing news !

Designing isn’t only for geniuses and people with insane talent.

It’s also for normal people like you and I !

I could become a designer, even though I didn’t know ANYTHING before starting my design school. I was interested in creativity, design, and designers, but I actually had zero culture, zero skills in drawing or designing, and I still made it.

If I did it, so can you !

But there is one thing in school that I learned, that is to me the most important thing to learn : the creative process !

A creative process is a series of steps a designer takes during designing his project, in order to go from an idea to the final product, refining his concepts through each steps to get the best solution.

After a few years, I refined the creative process I learned at school, and created my own.

Wanna discover it ? Click here to access my 5-Steps Creative Process for Designers !

MYTH #2 : IT’S HARD TO COME UP WITH TRULY INNOVATIVE DESIGNS

As we discovered on Myth #1, designers aren’t just geniuses that scream “Eureka” and have an idea coming from nowhere !

They actually use their creative process to create and refine their ideas, until they really become innovative.

The creative process helps you see more possibilities to your concept ; so your mind expand, and you can think of more creative solutions for your designs.

And again, the more you work, the better you become, so with experience, your ideas become more innovative.

So it’s not easy to come up with new ideas, but you can definitely train your brain to work through the creative process !

I promess it’s a secret weapon that will take your concept to a higher level ✨

Click here to access my 5-Steps Creative Process for Designers !

MYTH #3 : INSPIRATION COMES & GO, GRAB IT WHILE IT’S THERE !

So do you need to be inspired to start designing, or can it work the other way around ?

In my experience, you should start thinking about your project, and inspiration will come by itself.

Because inspiration is the process of generating ideas ; starting to think about your project will start generating ideas !

I found that the more I design, the more I can choose to be inspired, and I don’t need to wait for inspiration anymore.

There are several reasons why I am able to get inspired anytime :

• I know exactly my style, what I like and don’t like, so I tend to go directly to the fabrics, patterns and shapes that I like, instead of testing everything.
• I have my go-to websites and ressources for inspiration, so I find something inspiring quicker than in my beginnings !
• I have mastered my creative process, so I move faster between each steps ! On each project, the steps I take are the same, even if the end result I want to design is completely different. So I have the same creative process if I design a piece of clothing, a cushion, or the branding of the blog !

Click here to access my 5-Steps Creative Process for Designers !

MYTH #4 : YOUR FIRST IDEA IS THE BEST ONE YOU’LL HAVE

You can have great ideas from the start ; if you’re a super experienced designer.

But that means that you have speed up your creative process, used lessons you learned years ago, and are now able to make design decisions faster than before.

[If you’re into graphic design, you may have heard that quote, when the client is asking why a logo is so expensive yet made in 10 minutes ; “I’ve spent 10 years learning how to do a logo in 10min”] 

But if you’re a beginner, or even intermediate designer, your first idea will more likely need to be refined.

Because if it’s your first thought, there are a lot of chances thats someone else already had this idea as well. Meaning, ideas are not owned and so many great designers came before us… So they are super likely to have have the same ideas, before us. [Not trying to put your ideas down, but ideas don’t belong to anyone, it’s what you do with them that matters]

Since there have been so many great people before us, we have already solved the basic design problems, and we created the most obvious designs. 

So we need to go further than that ! We need to create something new and innovative, and that comes from a greater thinking in our designs. 

That’s why we want a process that will help us go further in our reflexions about the designs we want to make ; to be sure we keep it innovative.

And that process is called “the creative process” !

KEY TAKEWAYS

We busted those 4 myths around designers & creativity, so I hope you remember these few key things today :

With these myths, maybe you started to see a common pattern ; it is every designer’s secret weapon, their way to get inspired everyday, even if waking up they “didn’t feel inspired”.

They have A CREATIVE PROCESS.

Designers are no geniuses, they just learned their job and craft like any other person.

Which is great, because it mean you can learn how to be a designer yourself !!

How great is that 😀

The only thing you need is a CREATIVE PROCESS.

A creative process is a method that is used to come up with innovative ideas.

Because humans have been creating things and designing for a while now, we can’t just give our first idea and hope for success.

The creative process allows you to tap into your subconscious mind, helps you make researches and develop your creative and analytic brain.

All that mixed together has to create something better than a first idea, no ?

So now, do you wanna learn my creative process ?

Download my 5-Steps Creative Process cheatsheet, and learn how to create like a real Designer !

I used it for my fashion designs (it definitely helped me be top of my class ~ 2 years in a row !) and my textile designs (I created my own company around textile design, Flo Home Delight) , and I know it works for product designers as well ! (One of my good friend is a product designer, and we compared our process ; they are the same !)

Download your free cheatsheet to learn about my 5-Steps Creative Process right now !