How do I create?

I am a person who lives for design.
I live to experience, to embrace and, most importantly, to design.

I am an experimentalist in the context of creativity and design.
I am still trying to find my creative voice and style; therefore, on this never ending journey, I find myself experimenting with new (well at least to me) techniques, typefaces, colours, and styles.

I want to create a style that is distinctly my own.
I find myself learning towards more of a grunge influence with saturated colours - this is because of my influences and interests.
I want my concepts and styles to be unique to myself, however I do not want to limit myself to working in that one style.

I guess I could say that my creative process is influenced by what I see around me: environment, mood or circumstance all contribute to the work I produce.

I want to remember and keep in mind that design is communication, not art - not personal expression. I have to be able to distinguish that design is all about communication: if I lose the message I have failed as a designer.

When watching the Ken Robinson TED talk, I was in complete agreement with what he was saying. I understood completely when he said that students are often told to give up their dreams because they will not end up getting a job in that field, or more importantly make any money in that. If I had a nickle for everytime I heard my mother say that to me growing up.

But more importantly there was a quote he said that struck me the most: "If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything creative."

I find that line to be remarkably true because I feel it myself.
When working on a project for school I am, more often than not, afraid to push the bar and the boundaries of the brief because I am afraid of not doing well on the project, mark wise.
This is something I am starting to pick up on and starting to attempt to correct because when I look back, the pieces I am most unhappy with are the ones which I followed the rules and stayed within the boundaries.

While discussing the Ken Robinson talk I think we all came to a pretty unanimous decision that public schools try and limit creativity and courses focused on the arts in hope of producing more scientific and mathematically clever students.

Being a visual person, I hated taking maths and sciences in high school, not that I didn't like learning, but rather because I would have liked to have spent that time in an art or music class.

When listening to the excerpted 100 Habit's list, I found that I although I agree with all of them, I find myself not following the, as much as I would.
I should get out more. Make the time to go and appreciate the design around me. I live in the city now, there is no excuse.

Of the suggestions discussed from the 100 Habit's list, I related most to #4 - "Change your Environment". (Although I found it hard to simply pick one. I can relate to all of them.)
I spend so much time in my small residence dorm that by the end of the semester I have completely run out of creativity. Over the last few weeks I have found myself being more productive by leaving my room and working in lounges or with friends.
By leaving my environment I find myself being able to take a fresh look at what I'm working on.
It also ties in with #2 –"Look at the everyday world for inspiration", because by changing my environment I can grab for different inspiration around me.

Additionally, I really liked the suggestion of watching videos of comedians.
I often find myself listening to comedians while I work, or take a little bit to watch a comedian I like like Dylan Moran, if I am feeling stuck on something.
I thought it was because I was a bit mad, but I am glad to find that there is someone who has found this to be a beneficial.

In conclusion, creativity needs to be encouraged and nurtured to grow. Constant application and practice helps us as designers learn and in the end helps us better our work.
We also learn from other designers and the world around us.
But most importantly, we have to be able to learn from our mistakes. Be prepared to be wrong. As John Adam's says: "Fail often, succeed sooner".
Words to live by.