How to Balance Creativity and Life

I love the Disney/Pixar The Incredibles movie! The 1960s retro theme reminds me of two shows from that era: the cool Mission Impossible TV series and the campy 1960s Batman TV series. Beside great character development in this ensemble cast, I appreciate the underlying narrative stated by Mr. Incredible near the end of the first movie: You are my greatest adventure. Mr. Incredible (Bob Parr) was referring to his family. In the beginning of the movie, he craved the excitement of catching bad guys and saving the day. Once he married Elastigirl (Helen) and had children, he had a difficult time balancing the responsibility of family with superhero work.

Unfortunately while responding to a crime, his actions caused the public to turn against superheroes. They hung up their capes, Bob got a regular job and hated it. His boredom led him to freelance quietly. Although he made some extra money, this kept him away from home more and strained his relationship with his wife and children. Little did Bob know that this shadow employer was a disgruntled former fan that lured him into a trap. Realizing her husband was in some kind of trouble, Helen and the children had to rescue him. Bob was so out of balance between his needs and desires that he was neglecting his family. Their courage reminded him of what was important but unfortunately they had to put themselves in harms way to do it.

There is a lot of talk about work life balance these days thanks to the Millennial generation. They want a quality of life that goes beyond their jobs which is admirable. Unfortunately, many of them are struggling to keep the personal and the professional separated. According to a 2017 Workplace Benefits Report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, 59% of millennials report being worried about finding a career path that will support the lifestyle they’ve envisioned for themselves. The result has been rampant job hopping until they find the right balance. With technology being so integrated into a globalized workplace and our personal lives, it is becoming very difficult to fully disconnect. Even after hours, phone notifications from work and friends constantly remind us that someone wants our attention.

It wasn’t like this 30 years go. Computers were not small enough to be mobile, landlines were the norm and network TV stop showing programming between 2am-6am. (Cable TV was new and had no commercials back then. Can you believe it?) Also, hardly anything was open on Sundays. The average wait time to withdraw money from the Bank was 15-20 minutes and they were not open on weekends. ATM cards were fairly new at the time. Time seemed to move at a much slower pace compared to now. Why?

Because we did not have ICTs in our pockets constantly reminding us of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out).

It seems that when technology impacts industries, how people work and spend their leisure time is affected. For example, during the the Industrial Revolution in 18th century England, the economy shifted from artisans in guilds to mass production in factories. Children as young as five years old worked 12-15 hours a day in these factories. The rise of unions and labor laws pushed back making working conditions more humane. This eventually led to the 40 hour workweek enacted in the USA in the early 20th century. During the 1960s, an outsourcing revolution happened that shipped low skilled U.S. factory jobs to developing countries over a period of 30 years. The era of getting a good working class job and raising a family with just a high school diploma slowly disappeared. The fallout was the rise of low wage jobs (fast food, etc.) and citizens working several jobs to make ends meet.

Now, here we are again but this time it is the the Digital Revolution that has disrupted industries and work life balance. We are always told that technology is supposed to make our lives easier. While Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) have made multi-tasking normative, there is a mountain of evidence that says it does not make us more productive. But it enables us to feel like we are always working. The gig economy is an outgrowth of this allowing us to freelance without the safety nets of health insurance and retirement options.

Take a look at the high rates of ICT ownership taken from a Pew Research Center on Internet and Technology:

1.  Smartphones: 77% of Americans own a smartphone, up from just 35% in Pew Research Center’s first survey in 2011.
2. Laptops: Nearly 75% of U.S. adults now own desktop or laptop computers.
3. 50% own tablet computers.
4. Over 100 million Alexa-enabled devices have been sold by Amazon.
5. Our time spent on social media is high. 

Let’s be fair: ICTs help us engage in entrepreneurship, complete job tasks, track data and do research. They also help navigate our personal lives from paying bills, maintaining relationships, booking travel and events, receive instant news and view multimedia. But with its macro-like advantages, ICTs are also encouraging addictions, narcissistic attitudes and inattentional blindness. Imagine trying to read a book, view a video or look at a photo in a library that never closes while an endless supply of content vies for your attention. That my friends….is hell. LOL

At the intersection of art, technology and commerce is…graphic design. Although a very young field, technology has helped revolutionize it moving from artisan tools to electronic tools to digital tools. As a result, I believe creatives are in unique danger. Creating is a part of human expression. Designers are trained to harness this superpower that involves mind, body and soul. But this is exactly what makes it difficult for designers to maintain a proper work life balance. Taming and utilizing inspiration and imagination is not an exact science. For example, I have been places with my family and saw something that triggered a solution for a design idea. Creativity cannot be restricted to the workplace and this can easily push us out of balance. Don’t believe me? Ask any well known designer how many hours they work per week. 

The lesson we internalize is, in order to be an exceptional designer, one must exhaust oneself working all the time. At least, that was what I learned. Then I noticed something peculiar: Very few of the seasoned designers and design professors I met were connected to communities outside of the design and business world.

This made me pause. Am I also married to the profession? I determined that this would not be my life. Marriage and family has challenged me, just like Bob Parr, to live a balanced life. 

This has motivated me to develop 4 practices to maintain a healthy work life balance:

1. Keep a visual journal: Use it as a notebook to write and/or sketch thoughts and ideas. Create for pleasure.
2. Take pictures: I keep my visual eye attuned for things around me.
3. Travel: Visiting new places opens the mind to new ideas. Go off the beaten path.
4. Walk and use public transportation: This allows us to rest, think, read, notice, etc.

But there is one action that allows me to engage in these practices:  Turning off my ICTs.

It is imperative to remember that design is WHAT we do, not WHO we are. Some say ‘Design is Life.’ Consumerist notions may lie underneath this statement. Keep in mind that a lot of graphic design and advertising is finite, interchangeable and disposable. My phone and other devices threaten to turn me into a constant shopper because there is so much available at my fingertips. Being a consumer does not always mean buying things. The etymological definition of consume is to use up. That means we can consume information, news, videos, games, etc.

My Christian faith have provided me with a worldview that seeks to discipline my desires to use up and take. Instead, I focus on understanding my deepest yearnings through prayer and introspection. One can learn a great deal from observing God’s creation in its beauty and ferociousness. I actually developed a logo based on observing nature and another based on the bazaar culture I encountered in Africa and Asia. Also, observing people provides another way to discern human desires and motives. I know that sounds like work but I believe the natural human state is to observe, learn, create, rest and repeat.

The rest element is very crucial because human rest cycles are tied to the earth’s movement (day, night and seasons). But technology has circumvented this by providing artificial lighting that can confuse our internal body clock and stimulate other senses. (Check out this article on casino psychology and the absence of clocks and windows. It should scare you.) Our smartphones disrupt our rest patterns by constantly beeping and vibrating. Phantom rings and notifications is a real thing which shows that our phones are affecting our psychological state. To make sure I am receiving a break from my schedule, I observe Sabbath on Sunday which means I do not work at all. However, American consumer culture knows no boundaries anymore. When humans only see themselves as consumers, we allow our desires to throw us off balance. Many ‘out of balance’ people are also chasing some kind of status symbol.

So, the personal and the professional balance in our lives is threatened chiefly because of our smartphones.

When I understand graphic design in relation to art, sociology, psychology, anthropology, theology, etc., I learn to appreciate it as a gift from God and an extension of my humanity.

But it is my wife, children and relationships outside of the design community that I value more than any design theory or philosophy. Engaging in the four practices above has helped me to appreciate them more. This can also happen with biological family or a community of persons. Unfortunately, these kind of deep connections are declining in the United States. Although online communities are growing and have their place, offline communities engage the full person and all of our senses that reminds us of the beauty and scariness of being human. This is what Mr. Incredible was losing sight of.

Sometimes it takes an epiphany to see the obvious especially in a world mediated by electronic devices.

In closing, think about this story for a minute: You are in your house watching a Netflix movie at night. You are probably texting a friend. All of a sudden, the electricity goes out. No TV, no lights…nothing. Your phone is the only thing that is working. The first thing most people do is flick the lights on and off in different rooms. Since none of them are working, your phone is your flashlight keeping you from getting creeped out. Some may call a friend so they do not feel alone. You begin to remember the last horror movie you saw. Suddenly, you can hear everything in your house: creaks, pipes, etc. You look out the window and the only light you see is the moon. It seems brighter than usual because there are no street lights on. Most will venture outside to see if the lights are on in other houses. Once you do this, you see other bewildered people outside trying to figure out what happened. Because you may not talk to your neighbors much, you state the obvious jokingly, “Did your lights go out, too?” And guess what happens? A conversation starts. Sometimes it takes a crisis or surprising incident to pull us out of our secure, tech-heavy, designed for comfort environment for us to notice the important things that make us human. This isn’t about working less hours or having a ping pong table at the office. Its deeper than that.

The adventure starts when we stop allowing ICTs to mediate every aspect of our lives. That’s work life balance.

What do you think?