December 03, 2017   writing

Make mistakes. Lots of them

“You see an artist, a creative person, can accept criticism or can live with the criticism much more easily than with being ignore...

“You see an artist, a creative person, can accept criticism or can live with the criticism much more easily than with being ignored. Criticism makes you feel alive. If somebody is bothered enough to speak vituperatively about it, you feel you have touched a nerve and you are at least 'in touch.' You are not happy that he doesn't like it, but you feel you are in contact with life.”

-Saul Bass

Design, for me, should be simple and it should inspire. Keeping a balance between the two takes talent and a keen eye for detail. But most of all it requires mistakes. Lots of them. Creative people are only able to do what they do best by being allowed to try new and risky things, to make mistakes.

Mistakes teach us how to improve, how to create bigger and better than before. This, of course, goes hand-in-hand with criticism. Whether it’s constructive feedback from peers or being put on blast on social media, creatives must be able to accept criticism, wherever it comes from.

All creatives make mistakes and all creatives deal with criticism (especially from ourselves), but it’s how we respond to criticism that makes us worth our salt. We’d all rather be remembered for our feats than for our fumbles and learning to get back up after falling is how we get there.