I saw a post on social media yesterday about a new book entitled "How to avoid comparing yourself to other creatives", and the comments from the page’s followers slightly surprised me. Most seemed almost relieved that someone had mentioned the subject and it appeared to be a common issue and concern among younger creative people especially.
So why has it become so difficult for some of us to take confidence in what we think and believe instead of worrying about what other people are doing? Why is it such an issue that someone felt the need to write what is effectively a self-help book on avoiding making comparisons with others? Why is there such a widespread lack of confidence just to be ourselves and freely express ourselves?
I fully admit this is something I’ve been guilty of doing in the past both professionally and personally so I think it's a subject I'd like to give a few thoughts, as it seems to be an elephant in the room!

Drawing inspiration from others is a great thing we should all do, but drawing comparisons just isn’t. Ever.
Comparing ourselves to other people is normal, maybe not healthy, but it's increasingly normal nowadays none the less. Some of us do it as a measure of where we are in our own life compared to others, some do it out of pure insecurity or paranoia. Neither are constructive in any way as there is no 'right answer' of where a person should be within their life at any given time. All we're doing is adding pressure to ourselves by drawing needless comparisons from other people who bear no relevance to our own situation, right? Right...

It would be easy just to blame social media for any number of problems regarding image consciousness and social anxiety among young people but we can't ignore that it plays an ever-increasing part.
Let's be honest, this is something we choose to do to ourselves. No one makes us go online and pry into other people's lives or look at their work to assess, judge and compare to our own. With social media and the ability to connect with other people it is easier than ever and almost an encouraged part of the culture to objectify everything and compare ourselves to others.

In the not-so-distant past, we had to physically go and look at what other people were doing, we had to go and see it with our own eyes, see it in the press or in publications, we had to actively investigate something we wanted/needed to know.
That has now completely changed, we don’t have to move an inch to compare our lives to millions worldwide as we now have a convenient, never ending stream of potential anxiety in the palm of our hand 24/7.

Very few people work on fact any more before making a judgement on anything they see online or in the media. We see one picture with a caption and make an assumption based on our own standards, insecurities, experiences, views and opinions… and we’re probably nowhere near the truth.

There is something known as the "iceberg illusion" (I’ll post a picture at the bottom of the page) and I'd like to use this to illustrate the point with social media as our example. What this suggests is that all we see is the tip of the iceberg, representing the success in a person's life and the fruit of their labour which is voluntarily put on show. This is usually the only aspect of a person’s life and ‘journey’ they choose to make visible for obvious reasons.

As we know, the majority of an iceberg is deep beneath the surface and is invisible to the naked eye. In the 'iceberg theory' this represents every unseen factor which has contributed to that success, many of which are negative: The pain, sleepless nights, sacrifice, confusion, studying, heartache, bad decisions, bad relationships, failures and just sheer hard work, blood sweat and tears. Hell, even those times when they were in bad physical shape or had a face full of greasy acne. You get the picture... It's the stuff which isn't sexy, it ruins the illusion of perfection and we'd rather keep it hidden. Pictures and posts can be deleted as things improve and no one is any the wiser!

Do businesses and entrepreneurs advertise in their promotional literature if they’ve been bankrupt in the past or if they’re struggling? Of course not, it’s bad for business and would make any potential client think twice. Even the Earth looks like a perfect, beautiful and peaceful place from outer space but when you get a little closer there are some very ugly, messy, violent parts indeed!

The point is that social media actively encourages us to believe that what we see IS that person’s life but the fact is, it's just a tiny highlight reel of their very, very best moments which they have chosen to share for a reason. I, personally, have never seen a person’s social media page reflect who they really are, only a side of their persona which they are comfortable sharing with strangers. I have no issue with that at all as everyone has the right to privacy, and maybe even the right to actively deceive!

Now, that said, let me get to the point of this from a creative aspect. When a creative person compares their self to other creative people it's different for a number of reasons. It isn't so much about where they are in life, how successful or what physical shape they’re in, it's about comparing the validity or perceived popularity of their ideas... Which is a VERY slippery slope to mediocrity.

Make no mistake, if you stop using others as purely inspiration and start obsessing over other people's work and criticising your own ideas in comparison, it is a disease. It will almost certainly eat away at you until you question your own style, your creative direction and even worse, tempt you to ditch your own identity in favour of someone else's seemingly more successful approach.
It’s very easy to begin losing confidence and potentially abandoning your individuality for what you think ‘most’ people prefer to see. You stop designing with your heart and start designing with your ego.

If you ever find yourself feeling that way, you’ve got to ask yourself: Why do you love being creative or have ambitions to be a creative professional? Are you in a creative industry to show the world your personality, talent and creativity or just to make money and 'live the life' which you envisage a designer has?
If it's purely as a job to make money and tell people at a dinner party that you’re a designer, firstly you should avoid self-employment and work steady hours for someone else!  
By all means copy other people and just replicate whatever you see which happens to be 'flavour of the month'. If you're happy with that, good for you... Plenty of people do it!

I’m being facetious of course. We know that a genuine creative is in it to express their own ideas, share them with the world and must never, ever allow fear of being 'inferior' or less popular to sway their beliefs, morals or ethics. There are absolutely no right or wrong answers when it comes to creativity, only personal subjective opinion and you should always keep that firmly in perspective. You WILL receive criticism at some point but it isn't fact, it's opinion.

Your ideas might split opinion but for every person that dislikes your work, there’s someone who loves it and that should be good enough. Consider that throughout history there have been artists and creatives who were not only unpopular, but were risking death by following their true passion and identity. Bear that in mind before worrying about the popularity of a colour scheme.

There are of course many designers who appear to work exclusively to popular opinion and fashion so they will always be popular among the casual onlooker. There’s probably nothing within their work to attract criticism, nothing to really divide opinion or make potential clients think twice. They’re in a safe zone which is fantastic for a steady turnover but I’m not sure how satisfying that must be for a true creative mind. Again, it’s purely subjective opinion. Horses for courses, floating your boat etc..

Some would argue the more different and original the better if you want to make a real name for yourself. Let’s not be naïve, we all want to make a good living from whatever we do, so the fear with taking such a bold approach is the chance that it won’t be popular and therefore you won’t make as much money from designing your own way. This is of course a pessimistic and possibly insecure thought process which we all need to get rid of.

Take it from someone who had doors closed in my face as a young aspiring entrepreneur, failing to secure projects and was seriously questioning if this was my path or if I should go back to designing in someone else’s style as an employee.
Now please believe me when I say that someone, somewhere will notice you and you will get a break as long as you have a talent and simply put your talent out there and express yourself. We all just need our lucky break and I always say that 'talent will out', as long as you’re not afraid to show people what you can do. Despite all the negatives, social media is a fantastic tool to enable you to do exactly that! Just don’t lose sleep or judge success over how many ‘likes’ you get or who has accumulated the most followers (most of which probably don't care if your business actually succeeds or not, if we're honest)

Great creatives that go on to be remembered set trends which others eventually follow, they don’t follow them. Every creative takes inspiration and ‘borrows’ ideas but they shouldn’t exactly replicate them. It’s a matter of filling our head with every creative possibility and channeling them into our own style.

If people can clearly see that you are just replicating whatever is fashionable and implementing other people’s tried and tested ideas, they might highly appreciate your work at face value but no one (especially other creatives) will truly respect it. Real talent lies in originality, I’m sure we can all agree on that.
The guy playing guitar in the best Jimi Hendrix cover band on the planet might be a phenomenal guitarist, able to learn every song note-for-note but he didn’t write the music, he's not Jimi and therefore should expect the same acclaim! That would be the definition of delusional.

Masura Ibuka, the co-founder of SONY once said: “You never succeed in technology, business, or anything by following the others”, and I believe him.

An absolute worst case scenario is that social media, could, in theory, create young designers that merely follow what is deemed as popular and successful in the hope that it’s lucrative. Following trends as opposed to creating them, which is the opposite to truly designing anything. 
No one can argue that social media often creates a sycophantic culture of collecting approval and giving out thoughtless compliments. We all see it and we all do it at one time or another so this isn’t a criticism of anyone’s behaviour as such, but more just an observation of what’s happening and becoming a part of our daily culture.

Just as an experiment to see what would happen I posted a comment on a 'luxury interior' picture on Instagram which had received hundreds of comments, all gushing with praise. So, in a polite manner, I suggested what could be done better, and guess what? People started replying to my comment with "I agree!", "I was just thinking that!" and “Amen!”. Interesting, so where were you people a minute ago?
Why so afraid to offer constructive criticism and admit to not liking something? Why are we so afraid to step out of line and rock the bandwagon now and then?

I’m not talking about being an idiotic troll, purposely pulling down anyones work or ideas to get a reaction, I’m talking about just being honest, positive, polite and assertive about what we think and opening a dialogue.
I mean, what’s the worst that can happen? The artist, designer or architect has the right to reply, explain their creative decision so we have an educated discussion and all learn something? Goodness, just imagine, how terrible!

If we don't even have the courage to politely state our personal preferences, how could we possibly have the courage to leave ourselves exposed, showing the world our original creations? It's clear to me that some people find it incredibly hard to show their true feelings for fear of rejection, ridicule and criticism. I understand that, but this creates the temptation to produce work you know will be popular as a safety net to avoid these negative reactions. 
Showing your ideas to strangers is scary, it’s laying your heart and soul out to criticism, but it's why we should love it. We're saying to the world "this is me, this is what I believe in". It’s liberating, not a burden to worry about. We all know the sayings about “life begins at the end of your comfort zone…”

It’s a great irony that "following" has become a common term and in its worst incarnation is a genuine social problem if not kept in perspective. The mentality of following and becoming a reactive individual is becoming a culture in itself. It’s dangerously small-minded at times.
We spend hours per day offering other people reassurance and validation on their lives and goals and less time spent thinking about our own. Often mindlessly scrolling and tapping a screen to pass the time as if we're trained circus monkeys. It needs to be kept firmly in context without becoming a way of life otherwise it becomes destructive to your own way of thinking.

I see people increasingly using the same language and behaving in the same way as each other on social media as a form of being part of something and validated among their peers, but why? I just don't see any advantage to actively ditching our own personality and adopting this. I can't see how it can be of any benefit to anyone. Don’t even get me started on the complete abandonment of any grammar or any attempt whatsoever to make a concise, educated argument any more.
Emojis, broken half-sentences and catch phrases seem to have taken over as a new language. Maybe people are just afraid of a backlash if they say anything too unpopular, so just use a puzzled-looking smiley face instead. No one can attack us for that. Phew!
Sadly, it seems that being popular has become more important to many than being honest or a proud individual with character and opinions. Maybe being ‘unfriended/unfollowed’ should be returned as capital punishment.

I admit, I’m possibly being overly cruel to play devil’s advocate, and it would be easy for me to suggest we all avoid looking at other people's work/lives and ONLY focus on our own but that would be ridiculous.
Other people's work and their actions can and does give great motivation, inspiration and creative ideas to utilise in our own way. We need to observe what's going on in the world to feed our imagination and broaden our horizon, but leave it as exactly that… Observation, from a distance, with a generous pinch of salt.
Don't ever read below the surface if you don't possess the facts, never make any assumptions and do not put the work of others on a pedestal as better (or worse) than your own ideas. Question everything and stick to what you’re passionate about.

This isn't just about creative people, this applies to anyone doing anything, feeling social anxiety. Maybe it's your body, your bank balance, how your career/education is progressing, how many countries you've visited. Telling yourself that you’re ‘worse’ than other people won’t improve your situation and actively searching for supporting evidence on your phone will only drive that self-doubt even deeper.

I recently read a quote and I think it summarises this perfectly: "Confidence is not walking into a room with your nose in the air, or a belief you are 'better' than other people. Confidence is never feeling the need to compare yourself to others”
I would probably add that confidence is not valuing the opinion of others about yourself above your own.

On the flip-side, please believe me that there is nothing worse than an arrogant, self-obsessed creative either. An individual who cannot give credit or appreciate the work of others. That just leads to becoming detached with no self-awareness of when you’re making mistakes or could benefit from the input of others, and they're truly unpleasant people to work with. There’s a definite balance!

Whatever you do, just don’t fall into a rut of ditching what makes you individual and adopting whatever is deemed popular behaviour or opinion. Becoming predictable or a conformist is the worst thing a creative, or anyone for that matter can do.

If a creative idea feels right and excites you, it’s right. You don’t need to seek any ‘likes’ to confirm that.

Paul Hancock
(Founder/Director)

​