Discover the Importance of Your Personal Interests as a Designer or Artist

I was feeling stuck at the start of this year, 2020 was gone and somehow the reality around me was my future? I felt unsteady and dizzy sitting in my apartment, working from home for a new job and in a new city. I didn't feel the pull to create, not a drop of it. I couldn't brush this off, I continually want to draw and develop. Solving problems, even with brute force has always been my safety net. So why was I there staring at the wall, waiting for something to happen, waiting for inspiration. The truth, as I learned in design school is that inspiration does not have legs, it does not invite you into its home for a chat. You have to enter into the present moment openly, and like a magnet you'll become compelled to hold some ideas and objects longer. Call it intuition, familiarity, non-sense or curiosity, whatever you name it, there's undeniable concepts that repeat within our work and life. And more amazingly they are unique to each individual. The combination of your experiences and obsessions match no one else's exactly, and nothing sparks ideas more than those personal interests.

It became obvious to me during the first few months of the year that I was lacking the things I love. While we can see design as objective and research based it is still largely an art form. One that goes cold and still without passion. You don’t need to save the world to find passion either, but you do need to feel connected to the what you are creating. I've been spending time recently re-exploring my interests, reflecting and writing about projects or experiences that have energized me in the past, and following my creative impulses. It’s not a short journey to fully understand your natural interests. Relying on a list of hobbies and free time activities you enjoy is a good place to start but not insightful. Just like design or in art, some research and exploration needs to be done.

Explore the things you did at a young age

As a kid I loved making experiences. I was more interested in setting a scene than being in it, building forts, scavenger hunts, imaginary getaways for my family, or making small cardboard houses, fabric bags, and hand-drawn books. I wasn't creating moments for myself, I needed them to be used, shown, shared. I wanted to create joy and a feeling of excitement in others. It was my way of learning how people react to their surroundings. I didn't know it at the time, but it becomes obvious now as I still play with those ideas and use creation as a tool to bring out certain feelings and responses. Besides collecting emotions, I would also put together things I found outside, petals, flowers, leaves, sticks, all to be observed or transformed, acting as props and pieces of art. Or arranging and shifting around the food in a bowl to make patterns, moving furniture in my room constantly, organizing messes into neat displays. These kind of childhood habits are often dumped into the generalized bucket of play, while they can really speak to our unique strengths. As a result of my past, I love bringing a new vision to the objects and ideas I find around me, uncovering their possibilities and connections. From a young age I was learning how to create 'what could be' from 'what is' through a process of observing and experimenting.

Try following creative impulses

Hunches, insights, intuitions, they can all come unannounced but are there for a reason. It's easy to fall into the routine of pushing unordinary ideas to the side, forgetting their proximity to extraordinary. To the point of believing that we really have no creative premonitions. We cut curiosities down before they can ever grow and continue on the path of what seems easiest and less demanding. Somewhere during or after childhood we began to grasp the concept of "should." What we should do, how something should look or be done. It cuts away at the realm of possibility and even makes us cringe at our own original ideas. Start small in trying to reverse this. Go out for a walk without a destination or distractions, listen to your eyes and your interests, is there a different path you haven't been down? Pay attention to whatever crosses your mind as you watch your surroundings. What do you notice? Follow your impulses literally for a bit and enjoy your senses. Getting in touch with what we are feeling on a physical level is a great bridge into giving more value to our instincts and passions. This can grow to a daily goal of doing one unordinary thing. Build that fort when the idea comes to mind or try to recreate that dish you always like to get at restaurants. The compounding effect of these small actions will make you more resilient in defending your own ideas and values, simply through your greater appreciation for listening to yourself.

Sometimes it's a how, not a what

Get specific with how things energize and amuse you. Take a personal hobby or something you do frequently and break it down into its elements, then find the part where you hit your flow. We want to widdle this idea or practice down to it's core component for you. Let's walk through an example. I like being outside, in nature. I could make a whole list of steps involved in this, getting up and ready to go out the door, feeling the first breath of air when I step outside, deciding which way to go, noticing beautiful things I want to take a picture of, observing people, possibly picking up a coffee. Take your time and elaborate. After reflecting on this joy and the feeling that different parts of it create, I can come to some new realizations. I love how it feels to look behind myself and see the distance I've crossed, and to make a mental map in my head of different moments I had along the way. This brings clarity to my interest. Knowing that I like the concepts of a journey, physical progress and understanding my experiences spatially can lead to ideas for my artwork, create connections with how I could enjoy other activities more, or just add intentionality to my time spent in nature. It's energizing to know your how's, how you go about your day ties to who you are. What can you learn from the music you listen to, the clothes you where, the routines you have, how do they stand apart for you?

Asking yourself these questions and trying to connect with what absorbs you and your own curiosities can take time. The benefits are numerous though. It's not uncommon to hear people say they are feeling burnt out or tired. We credit it to doing too much. But a lot of times it's because we aren't doing enough, of what we love. We lack inspiration without pursuing our innate fascinations. We get stuck in unenjoyable routines because we think it's easier to avoid trying new things or going out of the way to take that class we've thought about. And if you are a creative person this can have a terrible impact on your work and what you produce. After those rough first few months of the year and all the thinking that followed, I've begun a journey of giving more attention to my passions and not knocking them down as secondary to the "shoulds" in life. My personal understanding of what I want to create has even become more clear as a result. Spend more time with yourself and your instincts, attention magnets and moments of flow. What can you learn from them and how can you add more of that energy into your life?