Music is a really huge part of the creative process for most designers. Not only do I use the music to keep me motivated to design, but I often let the lyrics inspire me or encourage me. I even have specific playlists for each step in my Strategic Design Process. I believe there are a lot of different lyrics that can be applied to a creative mindset and this week I want to share my thoughts on the song “Iris” by one of my all time favorite bands, Goo Goo Dolls.
The lyrics “And I don’t want the world to see me, cause I don’t think that they’d understand. When everything’s made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am”. As creatives we need have this attitude too often. We don’t want to let people see the real us or our real work because we are afraid that it won’t be understood or that it won’t be appreciated.
We don’t want people to see imperfection in our work because we have to keep up with our own expectation of ourselves.
While these lyrics are about a relationship, it’s easy to relate and see how they apply to creatives and our relationship to others and the things we create. We need to be confident and show ourselves and our work.
A few years ago I decided to start practicing hand lettering. I tend to be a perfectionist on many levels of design so showing “WIP” (work in progress) was not really a thing I liked to do, because I thought that maybe if people saw the imperfections, they wouldn’t understand me or what I’m trying to do. But something that SeanWes did awhile back really inspired me. He was always encouraging people to “iterate in public”, to make mistakes and have it be okay. It didn’t really stick with me until he posted a lettering piece he did with a spelling error, and he left it up! I would have taken it down, and done it over, and apologized or made a joke about needing a proofreader.
But it reminded me that by being real, and letting people see our progress, sometimes mistakes and all, is so encouraging and important.
The only way people will understand you is if they see you, if you actually show them who you are, what you have to say, and what you have to offer. Humans appreciate transparency, they’re just looking for someone else who shows up shamelessly in their work and makes mistakes just like they do. They want to follow people who have embraced their flaws and imperfect work because we all have flaws and imperfections. While creatives can be some of the most confident people I know, including myself; we are also the most self-conscious of the work that we create and experience intense imposter syndrome. Because our work comes from us — from inside of us — it is very personal. The world we show up for will understand us and our work so much better if we can show the sometimes messy or even broken up steps along the way.
We need to stop being afraid of letting the world see us, we have to be brave in our creative pursuits but also brave in how we decide to share them.
It is not easy to show rough sketches of logos, show up doing reels when you’re not exceptionally comfortable on camera, or sharing practice lettering pieces with all their inconsistent lines and curves — because it might be inviting criticism. In my experience, I now know that it does make you more confident when you can share your progress, not just the final, shiny version of things. Because we are not shiny finished versions, we, like our work, are always a work in progress. Even after 20 years in design, I am still striving to improve and learn and share my messy progress with the world.
I want to be the kind of creative who is confident in all aspects of my work, not just the polished final product. Don’t be afraid to let the world see you, they want to see you. There is a whole world of people just waiting to see your work. They will appreciate your bravery and be there to watch you as you make more creative, more innovative, and more amazing work. I hope you keep all these things in mind the next time you hear Johnny Rzeznik sing “Iris” and remember this encouragement. From one creative in progress to another.