Studio Practice: Stress

The discussion today was on the stress and anxiety that may be felt throughout the creative career we are hoping to pursue. The nature of the industry makes it deadline focused, increasing stress and anxiety. There is also the added pressure of presenting ideas to clients and the comparison to others and subjective opinions can impact our mindset and confidence.

Negative bias is the notion, commonly felt within the design industry, which refers to how someone will focus on the negative comments and forget the positive ones. The comments may have been given in an equal and balanced manner, but the negative ones still become the main focus. This is demonstrated in the book 'The Stress Report' by TheDO Lectures. There is a simple black dot in the centre of the white page and when asked what they see, people often respond with 'a black dot'. This response is an example of negative bias, as those who are not as strongly negative bias will say 'a lot of white space'.

Stress: a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances.
Anxiety: a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome.

The group activity was to answer the questions and compare the similar answers. The questions were:

1. What negative thought have you had today?
2. What scares you?
3. What stresses you out?

4. How do you de-stress?