I have learned a lot about myself this semester.  I have learned that although many times I have no idea what I am doing, the more I focus on doing things and the less I focus on deadlines the easier what I am doing becomes.  What I mean to say is that I have learned that the most important part in the design process is to enjoy it.  Enjoy the process because you will never work on the same project twice.  I have also discovered that often times re-examining my creative process leads to new discoveries.  It is hard and you will fight yourself the whole way, but getting yourself outside of your comfort zone is what leads to new discoveries.

My perspective of graphic design has also slightly changed.  In the past, I was always taught that you had to follow a strict process.  Draw your thumbnails, do some roughs, proof things, make changes, etc. etc.  However, this semester I found that some of my greatest ideas came from when I was just fooling around.  Just goofing off and playing around have led to discoveries I didn’t think I could achieve without being serious.  To me, this was the most important thing I could have taken away, creativity shouldn’t be work.

Looking in on my own creative process, I think that I achieve some sort of moment of performance with the research portion.  It is at this point that I am able to see other people’s ideas and take on a problem, and ask myself questions about them.  For example, can I do this better?  Why was this so successful, or why did it fail?  Once I figure out the answers to these questions, I can begin exploring my own ideas.

Hopefully, once I explore these ideas further I can achieve a moment of disruptive wonder.  Hopefully it occurs all the time, but realistically it doesn’t.  When it doesn’t I have to be aware that it isn’t coming and know when to walk away for a bit.  I think that is also important for any young designer, to know when you need to take a break or else you will end up pigeon holing themselves.