The potential of your creativity turning into a sacred playground?
Definitely in today’s time, many “designers” are treating design like a basic tool. It’s useful, precise and predictable. Same like something which you just use for some time and then put it back down after its usage.
But slowly after some time, you may recognize a sudden shift… almost as if design is refusing to understand your same old “predictable” commands, asking you for something “extra”, asking you to insert some ritualistic magical elements within it to make it come ALIVE!
That concept of “ALIVENESS” itself is what I always try to achieve in my own personal design work, and it may or may not work every single time but at the end of the day it definitely doesn’t fail to add up something intense inside me!
Now imagine yourself, working on a design project in a quiet, cozy room but instead of peace out of nowhere an “idea” pops up in your mind, trying its very best to interact with you in every way possible. At first, you can’t quite name it but just feel the energy of the idea that’s radiating from it. It demands your attention, pulls you in and asks you to stay for a while like it really wants you to inspect it in every way possible…
and just from that moment on… your “design” starts to stop “functioning” like a normal design and gradually becomes closer to a “ritual”
Invisible Unknown…
There is always that quiet shift behind that takes place at the initial stages of any meaningful creative act.
In outer world, there’s always random noises… expectations of handling notifications and pressure at the same time! but in your inner world, unconsciously without you being aware about it, there’s a ever-changing river of emotions, feelings and your thoughts that are getting swept away by the deeper current.
To step yourself in into that space, you don’t require any dramatic, thunderclap cinematic glow. You just need “Observation” of paying attention!
and by attention, I mean full awareness within yourself… that’s the only key!
Without overwhelming yourself that much, try to make it a habit while working on your creative work. At first, it will feel like you are trying to enter a new zone but the entry is not permitted unless you fully get adjusted into that space!
When you finally starts to make yourself at home in that space, some “shapes” will soon begin to emerge in your mind and that’s the moment when you give a “SOUL” to your craft…
Attention (The Fuel for Magic)
The “magic” which you are in need to transform your work into something spectacular isn’t beneath any talent or expensive tools. Those things are just “illusions”…
The main recipe to pour the element of magic is one and only “sustained attention”
Attention, that should be long enough for the cliche/ predictable ideas to pass.
Attention, that should be long enough for the infinite amount of doubts to show up for some time and then letting those doubts to settle down on its own.
Attention, that should be long enough for the most unexpected intensity to take over you.
Nobody wants to stay with their “problems” for long enough as it is uncomfortable in nature and that’s the TRUTH!
But as a Designer, it is our responsibility to identify every nook and cranny of that “problem” and dive deep down beneath the surface in search for the core nature of it.
Trust me, when you reach at a certain depth of that “problem”. Things starts to shape up by itself, when you hold your focus that steadily! Something really strange begins to swell up within yourself and that’s when YOUR WORK STARTS TO RESPOND…
Your design layout demands its own balance
Your design typeface shouts at you that “something feels wrong” before you can explain why?
Your design concept slowly starts to come back in pieces same like puzzle pieces slowly starting to come back in its original form…
In short, this whole process is just like you are discovering the unknown by your own self!
Letting go of your desire to control
Many designs which we are aware of so much nowadays comes from “total control” doesn’t it?
Well, that’s completely FALSE.
Coming back to reality, controlling your design will only prove you 50% success rate.
The requirement of a good structure and skills will always be in need but at some point you will notice that gripping your ideas too hard will eventually suffocate the “work” that you are trying to give life into.
Humans always try to over complicate the meaning behind “Letting go”, It doesn’t actually imply to abandoning your standards! It simply means, to loosen your grip on the fantasies that you need to dominate every outcome.
In some cases, not adding anything which is necessary and making sure to vanish away what doesn’t belong is considered the wise choice.
while in some cases, the solution which you wished to appear so much will only come after discarding your “best” idea!
and the most interesting part, you must have that humility within you to accept that “your own work knows something which you don’t yet”
Intuition: The Art of Hearing What Has No Voice
Let’s tap into the realm of “Intuition” now shall we? To discover and learn more about its nature!
If we consider in our mind that “logic” is a map, then “Intuition” is definitely our compass…
While designing we require both!
The map’s purpose is to serve you with a structure, alignment, hierarchy and readability. Whereas, the compass purpose is to guide you to the direction towards something which feels alive at the moment.
Most of the designers are struggling to put their faith into that feeling, they are hesitant to trust that feeling because they themselves cant quite give a name to it. You can’t always expect an explanation behind why something works, you just know it does when it does.
But to attain that knowledge is also for your own benefit.
When your Art responds!
You may feel that some of your work will feel smooth while working. Whereas, working in some others projects may feel like some kind of force is coming in between just to create distractions.
You try to refine it according to your needs, tweaking and adjusting it until you are able to shape it up and still you cant quite feel that “satisfaction” within you!
It’s always that temptation while working which pushes us even farther in search for that “peaceful” feeling, trying multiple times to force a solution through sheer effort but resistance always becomes futile in such cases.
Maybe the concept is much too hollow beneath the surface.
Maybe the direction is not aligning to your desire.
In these moments, your own design tries to light up a conversation with you rather than a fixed command which later transform your frustration into clarity… slowly but surely.
Designer as a Translator
There’s nothing wrong in saying that your piece of “work” is same as a “puzzle”. You are trying to find the remaining hidden pieces and joining it up in a very subtle way, trying your best to give it some kind of meaning!
But NOW? now and then, your piece of “work” comes together in a way that starts to feel too great in comparison to the effort that you put in!
This is clearly a sign of some kind…a hint at something deeper…
The flow of creativity is so beautiful that it doesn’t always demands to get invented from scratch…
It just sometimes need your awareness about what’s already forming in front of you and give it the desired shape.
This is the actual moment where you role as a “creator” gets shifted to more of a “translator”
Less pressure to prove and more focus on listening…
Why This Spiritual Approach to Design Matters?
Design as a spiritual practice may sound more “abstract” and “impractical” but that’s not true at all.
All the more it will make the process of designing even more grounded…Why?
Because it pulls you out of that autopilot mode.
It demands for your presence instead of speed.
It values your depth over noise.
That depth will stand out more in the world that’s flooded with full of content.
Humans have natural tendency among them to identify about what’s made with care and what’s not. They might not be able to quite identify at first but they can definitely recognize it…