Design is a tough business to get into, especially here in Perth, and every individuals level or creativity is crucial in becoming a successful artist or designer. Our task was to demonstrate our understanding of the term “creativity” through designing a creative project which relates to our area of study, developing from our own personal design processes. As a graphic designer, an acrylic painting on canvas was my chosen medium, as that is what I have become most comfortable with. My creative project was formed from the idea that media has too much impact on society raising major issues in our everyday lives. Through the process of forming my ideas and creating this creative project, I was focusing on two readings from this unit, “The Flow of Creativity”, and “The Creative Personality”, by Csikszentimihalyi, and considered whether I was meeting Csikszentimihalyi requirements of the creative individual.
“The state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.” (Csikszentimihalyi, 1996)
As a graphic designer, it’s necessary to maintain enjoyment in our design experiences to accomplish a flowing work environment, which will lead to a more creative individual. A designer has clients; we are expected to meet deadlines and provide designs/work to the clients expectations, and without this level of enjoyment and motivation to succeed, the lack of flow causes our level of creativity to become extremely minimal and, therefore, our designs will suffer. Through the process of designing this project, I was comfortable with the mediums I was using which enabled me to enjoy my time whilst painting as well as being focused on the task, which provided flow. I was aware that if I was rushing my design and stressing of the due date, and not enjoying myself, my end result would look very messy and I wouldn’t be happy with my final outcome.
My decision to use the human eye, relied solely on the power of the human eye to perceive everything as it is, although I also want to elaborate on the idea that we can see without really seeing. Yes, our eyes are our main source of visually interpreting what is happening, although close your eyes and you are still looking. Our eyes are shut, our imaginations and level of creativity is still switched on, but does it ever really switch off? The human eye provides you with literal visions of the things that surround you, but when you go to sleep, your imagination runs wild, and this is where creativity is usually built from; our imaginations. What about the feeling you get where you are in public and you are seeing things but you are too busy day-dreaming and letting your imagination take over that you don’t literally see much at all? With this in mind, my creative project emphasises both what we see everyday in society but also where our minds are being forced to wander. We have become immune to originality and we all dream and imagine a place where we are perfect and respected and this is what I have aimed to portray in this image, which supports my theory that creativity can definitely be a result of letting your imagination roam.
Now for the Barbies.. It was important for me to make these “perfect” barbie stereotypes denote evil, where they’re forcing you to outline your flaws and understand all the reasons you aren’t perfect, and how they crawl into your head, hypothetically, and lower your self-esteem. I wanted people to gather from this image that it’s okay to be different and original instead of being forced to all be the same. Considering this concept, I played with Csikzentimihalyi creative personality trait of designing something which “alternates between imagination and reality”, where the concept has broken away from the present without losing touch of the past. I have denoted an issue in today’s society relating to the impact media plays on society in my painting, although I have used my imagination, combining fictional evil barbies with the human eye, and adapted them to reality.
I believe this semester has definitely assisted in my knowledge about creativity, the creative individual, and the different ways creativity is achieved. Designing this latest project, I was able to consider various readings from this semester to evaluate my level of creativity and how to achieve greater results. Another important factor of creativity is research. According to Edmonds, “Art-making is fundamentally a research process”, where without research we would not know the importance and demands from our domains. The power of research is very important to remember, especially in graphic design, where without my knowledge of design and how to pitch work to clients, it would be impossible to be successful within the area you study if you don’t know at least the basics. Continuous research is fundamental in the design industry if you want to keep improving, as target audiences change, businesses change, and in result, your level of creativity must continue to improve. Whilst designing this piece, research was important. I had to research the human eye, shadows, the best colours to mix to get the greatest results etc. and therefore, without dedication to discover and learn throughout this process I don’t believe I’d be satisfied with my final outcome.
Overall, I am very pleased of my final design. I have worked very hard to achieve this final outcome and I feel that I have reached a new level of creativity as I have demonstrated originality by combining imagination and reality together to form a new concept and message. As a graphic designer, the next stage would be pitching it to a client that would satisfy their needs and also appeal to their specific target audience. I definitely admit that this assignment wasn’t easy, and I faced a few difficulties, including the black base canvas, mixing colours, and making it look as realistic as possible, although with the help of a few of the readings from this semester’s unit, maintaining my level of creativity, I believe I overcame my problems that I faced and I am glad of the message this painting portrays; not to let media destroy you, despite its efforts.
references
Edmonds, E (2007). Research on and within Creative Practice. Leonardo, 40(4), p. 318.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). The Creative Personality. In Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention (pp. 51-76). New York: Harper Collins.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). The Flow of Creativity. Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention (pp. 107-126). New York: HarperCollins.
world of pure imagination 