Has media eaten your GENIUS?

Emerson defined a “genius” to be someone who created his own original ideas. This meant that you did not have to be any Einstein or Mozart to be considered a genius. You just had to be unique and original – simple! However, now there is also an issue in this Modern Age, or shall I say Post-Modern Age, where there are millions of individuals running around trying to be more original and different than anyone else in the past or present. This running around is found especially in persons in creative fields, such as artists, musicians, and designers, such as myself.
The main issue I want to talk about in being genius is, how do you do it? How do you come up with something no one else has come up with before? The way I see it, there are two approaches. There is what I call the “Hide and Pop Method”. This type of genius hides himself from the world, to make sure nothing from the world taints him and his original works. Then when he thinks he has fully developed his work, he pops out into the world and shows off what he has done. The second approach to becoming genius is what I call the “Look and Pop Method.” This type of genius constantly is studying what people have done in the past and what people are currently working on. While carefully analyzing all the data points, he creates his own work and compares it to everyone else he knows to make sure it is different. Hey Genius, which method do you use?
There are pros and cons to each method. For the Hide and Pop Method, you know that when you pop out of your bubble, your work is really all of your own creative juices at work. You know that you did not steal ideas from anyone. However, there is always the possibility that someone else out of the other millions of “original” people running around, someone else might happen to also think of the same thing (or maybe already did!) For example, the second building I ever designed was based off an idea that each floor of the building acted like a “tray.” I thought I was genius and original, until I found out three hours later that the Harvard Graduate School of Design building was also designed with a “tray” idea a bajillion years before I was born. I felt pretty un-genius after I found that out.
The Look and Pop Method is great because it is a nice feeling to know that you have looked up all of the data points. All you need to do is try to find a spot on the chart where nobody else has landed. The awful thing about the Look and Pop Method is that mass media and mass information may eat up your genius! After studying everyone else’s works, your own ideas may be so influenced or warped by others that you no longer can come up with anything of your own. If you keep studying architects’ past works and studying how they solved every type of design issue, your work will probably be a reflection of all those people you studied if you do not spend any time hiding away by yourself.
So what do you do, Genius? You cannot spend all your time hiding and you cannot spend all your time looking. I now propose the “Look, Hide, Look, Hide, Look, Hide, and then Pop” Method. Look and study what other people have done and are doing. If you are into video editing, watch all kinds of movies and commercials. If you are into painting, Google search for Monet, Renoir, and Frida Khaulo. If you are into web design, go online and search how different companies and students have made their own websites. But BE CAREFUL! Don’t let all that media eat your genius. After you have finished looking, you should go hide and start practicing and experimenting with your own ideas. When you have developed your own “originality,” go back and fill your brain-vacuum with more knowledge. Then go hide again to check up on your own works. Repeat the process one more time, and then pop! Show the world who you are! “Hello, World! My name is Tiffany Li.”




“Hello, World! My name is Tiffany Li. Right now I am looking and I will be hiding sometime soon. In ten years I will be twenty-nine years old and I will pop.”