10 Tips to Find Your Balance as a Creative with Kory McAvoy

Our part-time Shillington Brisbane class recently enjoyed a guest lecture from Kory McAvoy—Creative Director at Engine Group. Her talk focused on 10 tips for being a balanced creative, and definitely gave our students something to think about as they prepare for brand new creative careers.

Lucky for you—we’re sharing her words of wisdom with you too! Read on to discover how designers can (and should) consider both sides of the coin.

Kory’s 10 Tips for Being a Balanced Creative

1. Learn the rules and make your own rules.
2. Be confident and lose the ego. People are paying for your work and advice—so you need to believe in you—but this must be a natural confidence.
3. Think alone and collaborate.
4. Listen and speak up.
5. Strive for perfection and know when to stop.
6. Be passionate and not precious.
7. Trust yourself and seek mentors.
8. You are what you create and it’s not personal. 90% of work gets rejected—not because the work isn’t awesome, it’s just the world of advertising.
9. Be inspired by everything and be original.
10. Take you out of it and give yourself to it.

“Step away from the computer. It’s hard not to use design to solve problems. But this pollutes the idea. Just think.”

Thanks again to Kory McAvoy of Engine Group for sharing her advice with the next generation of graphic designers. Check our Kory on Instagram and Engine on Facebook!