The solution to imposter syndrome

What if the creative industry was like driving a car, or becoming a doctor, where you have a point in your career that you get certified. At what point would creatives get their license? 

When they graduate? When they get their first job? When they go freelance or work with their dream client? 

Every creative at some point feels the imposer syndrome, the classic industry buzzword, but what if there was a creative license given to you in your career to let you know that you’ve made it? That you’ve passed and you can finally relax. 

I think every creative should give themselves a license at some point in their career. I feel like most people would have thought I got my ‘creative license’ when I got my first London job, as if I had the gold star city standard. In some senses, those are what made my career and gave me that feeling of achievement. But really, I would have given it to myself when I dropped out of University, because that when I committed to becoming a creative and boy did they take balls! I went in to the industry with no CV, a botched portfolio and a whole lot of ambition. 

It was a blessing that I went into the industry the way I did, almost blind, ignorance really is bliss. I loved my design assistant job, I love getting to work with Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign everyday. It was a childlike wonder. Only later on in my career did I start worrying about Design Awards, strict brand guidelines, and buying the fancy fonts.

In some ways that’s what I love so much about this industry, there is no cap to creativity. No one setting a finish line or end point. It is continual and endless to what we can make and experiment with, so why do we worry so much about getting the recognition?

If I was to talk to my younger self coming in the industry or anyone starting out I would say stay curious, ask questions and challenge the status quo. Each client and project is a new opportunity to learn, even if  not about the design but the business. You will constantly be learning and growing that’s why there is no license, or why one should ever exist. 

With the influence of design awards and industry big dogs, it’s easy to think that there is an end goal, but there’s not. You’ve already got your creative license, it’s your brain, so go and use it.