We cannot buy creativity in stores; it is something we learn from our experience. Well, this might sound like an attempt to stir your heart for a moment but actually has no direct effect at all. Nevertheless, I believe that creativity is innate; it is something you inherit from your parents genes or your great grandfathers blood.

A pinch of my humble history

I still remember how my first grade teacher chastised me from doodling while she lectures in front of the class. At that time, doodling was my only outlet to escape from her dreary monotone voice, to the point that quitting doodling will lead me to endless dozing.

Yet I still felt compelled to heed her words. I had no choice but to stop and listen to her constant monotony. Although my hand stopped from moving, my mind had not. I kept on doodling through my mind and imagined things that I loved. That time, I was sure that no onenot even my strict villain-looking teachercould stop me from doing lovely things.

Creativity and Web Design

I am a self-taught web designer. Having been a Botany graduate like me, I felt I had no means of making it great in this artsy field. I took up Botany because I was somehow influenced by my friends to take up this boring course. So I continued to learn by myself; I literally spent lonely weekends figuring out how Photoshop, CSS, and HTML worked, while skipping meals and sleep. However, it paid off. I started working part-time for a nearby design firm while studying biotic communities, protozoa and their correlation to Kingdom Plantae, and stuff like that. Well, to cut the story short, I finished it with garish flying colorshonors, certificates, medals, name it. Yet these things never forced me to take the outlandish job of a Botanist; I followed my design dream instead.

If you doubt the idea of creativity as being innate in a person, believe that you can learn it by yourself instead. I once doubted it, and I doubted myself as well for doing that. Being creative does not mean you have to be a son of painter Juan Luna or one of the grandsons of Burt Bacharach. Creativity maybe innate, but still, I believe that creativity can be learned.

When I started working for a professional web design firm, I somehow got the feeling of being chastised for the second time. My boss told me to quit obsessing over my baroque inclination and start giving what our clients wanted. It was actually delivered harshly, yet I considered that as an opportunity to nurture my creativity. I read gazillions of books about design and creativity; I soaked myself with art nouveau, avante garde and contemporary arts.

Listening nurtures creativity

Taken directly from my mothers mouth- failure to listen is failure to improve and learn. I remember she used to say this every time I disobeyed her over my obsession to drawing and sketching.

Having no one to guide you is like living life in agony. Imagine life without that someone to correct you if youve gone creatively bent and stubborn. That is harsh. Yes, life is harsh without mentors; life is stark without someone to guide you.

Creativity is the beginning of EVERY design process

A life full of copycats is not life at all. I began to realize this when designers became ubiquitous and designing almost turning into a poor mans profession. Childish as it may sound, I loathed the idea that everyone these days can be a designer, that a YouTube video can transform an unsung local soccer boy into a designer. That really is childish, so I changed my attitude. I considered it as a tool to push myself to become a better designer, a radical believer of creativity as the beginning of every design process.

Honestly, I treat poseur and faux web designers as motivators to keep improving my talent; they are my enemies and my energizers. Whenever I feel drained and out of ideas, I think of these no-bearing copycats as imaginary enemies that will devour my career if I stop pushing myself to creativity.