Designers, you're still creative
even when you didn't create for a while
Hi, I’m Maureen and I work as a product designer and design content creator.
The Cursor Magazine is my online publication on design and career.
I started 2025 with one clear intention: to create more things with my hands and reconnect with my creativity in new ways.
It took me a while to realize this, but I’ve learned it’s essential for my mental wellbeing to stay creatively engaged outside of work. Not by learning another design tool or building a new product with AI. I’m talking about logging off. Creating without a goal. Surrounding myself with art rather than design.
The tension between freedom and creativity
Creativity Without Freedom
I’m gonna go ahead and assume many designers enter this field for the same reason I did: in search of a creative profession.
Working in product design is creative. But it’s a kind of creativity that is bound by the constraints of business goals, technological limitations and customer needs. Sure, we work on visual hierarchy and design patterns and create new components. And right, we get to explore new tools and unravel fuzzy problems. But in reality these fuzzy problems boil down to increasing conversion rates or getting people to adopt a feature they didn't ask for in the first place. And you know what? I’ve made peace with that. That’s part of the job when you’re employed by a company. But let’s not pretend it’s boundless creative freedom.
Ultimately, it’s creativity without freedom.
Freedom Without Creativity
At the other end of the spectrum there’s this wave of AI tools like V0, Lovable, Claude etc. that promise ultimate freedom. They let anyone build and launch in record time. My feed is full of people posting and boasting their newest side project. Oftentimes proudly noting how little time, skill or experience it took to create their product. There’s a lot to unpack about this idea of vibe coding and being able to ship without experience, but that’s a conversation for another day.
While I think there’s something powerful in being able to give life to your ideas with little dependency on others, I can’t help but question it too. Are these tools nurturing creativity or just enabling quick monetization? Is this vibe coding really an act of creative expression or is it just productivity in disguise?
Most of these products I see on my timeline aren't about exploration. It’s about pitching. Selling. Monetizing. These tools give you freedom but often, it’s freedom without creativity.
Real creative freedom
This push and pull between constrained design work and hyper-efficient side hustles made me nostalgic for a different kind of creativity. The kind I had as a kid. Back then, I would lose myself in the process. Drawing, painting, writing, crafting. I didn’t ask myself if what I was drawing was good. I wasn’t worried to be wasting materials or whether someone else had done it better. The joy was in the making. That was enough.
I’ve never felt more free in my creativity.
Over the years the voice of my inner critic became louder, work demanded more time and I hit an all time low when I found myself stuck in a role that wasn’t fulfilling. I had very little energy left to do anything else but doomscrolling on the couch. It was in on of those hot dates with Mr Couch that I realized my deep urge to reconnect with the creative flow I once had. I picked up neglected hobbies. And almost immediately, something shifted. It reminded me that pursuing creative hobbies without further goals is so important. It was healing. Most importantly, it gave me back the confidence my job took from me.
Here are four gentle practices that helped me reconnect with my creativity. Maybe they’ll help you too.
Seek out quality sources of inspiration
I used to scroll Instagram for hours. Now I try to be intentional about what I consume and replace doomscrolling with:
Going on museum dates
Joining creative workshops like pottery or riso printing
Collecting ideas for projects on Pinterest
Reading Substack blogs or watching long-form YouTube videos
Start with small, low-stakes projects
The easiest way back into joyful creation for me is to focus on low-stakes projects that aren’t meant to be perfect and can be finished in an evening:
Air-dry clay fridge magnets
Mini zines, here's a tutorial on how to fold one from just one page.
Daily drawings in my planner or agenda
Give yourself a materials budget
One of my biggest blockers to creativity was the fear of “wasting” materials. So I gave myself a budget and took myself to the art supply store. Buying with the intention to use was freeing. Of course you can buy online but there is no place more inspiring that an art supply store if you ask me.
Create just for yourself
Another creativity killer is the pressure to share. Even before I finished a project I would already worry if it was good enough. Good enough for who exactly? Now I’m choosing to not share any work I’m making. My creative practice is for me only. That decision alone brought so much relief. It let me enjoy the process without worrying about whether it is “good enough.”
Have you struggled with connecting to your creativity? What helps you light that spark again?
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the four gentle practices are so helpful. thanks for sharing!
you are such an inspiration ✨ coming up with my own list of “quality source of inspo”