As designers, we are faced with the daily challenge of maneuvering our creative efforts around all sorts of obstacles. Professional communications, technical complexities, production deadlines, budgetary constraints, and legal considerations can compromise our efforts to provide robust and strategic solutions to the complex needs and concerns of a client. Given this, one can become consumed in the mechanics of producing and managing media, and creatively complacent in its manifestation and expression.

So, it is important to make sure that we are always trying to push ourselves forward, in at least some little way. Creative prowess can only occur through sustained personal growth and evolution. This is true for any stage of professional development, but it becomes increasingly important as we gain experience and responsibility. Being open to new ideas, technologies, theories, and styles is the only way to avoid stagnation. Each new design challenge we face is composed of unique circumstances and conditions. Therefore, each new project is an opportunity for us to learn and grow.

One of our most central concerns, as designers, is defining and developing our native creative voice. Whether in a unified or varied manner, our native voice is our most fundamental expression of self. It is what we bring brought forth intuitively and instinctively to a creative endeavor. Yet our inner voice is affected by the outer world of cultural interaction, theoretical investigation, and geographical influence. Thereby, the expression of our native voice changes and evolves over time as we adjust to these outward conditions. Some of these adjustments will be short-lived and quickly forsaken in alternate conditions, while others will be incorporated into deeper and more permanent levels of practice. This process of experimentation and evaluation is extremely important.

By trying to understand our creative evolution and then developing strategies for our future growth, we are able to guide our inner creative potential toward self-enrichment and enlightenment. Being committed to defining and developing our native creative voice facilitates our ability to be active and successful contributors to our profession and society at large.