Rather than feeling like creativity has been stifled, having some level of framework and guidelines oftentimes enhances and empowers the delivering of designs. In Tidwell’s article, Common Ground, they suggested that through incorporating a good pattern language, the artifact’s usability increases and diversifies in its terms and language that can be understood by other disciplines of design which helps draw in different expertises and expands the toolkit. These frameworks are meant to help the creativity in design to be usable across different contexts and maintain consistency for the audience to minimize confusion. In my personal experiences when systems and patterns are properly used as a foundation and guideline to jump off from, I tend to be able to spend more time and have more fun with envisioning the visual language because I already have the structure and commonly understood interaction pieces down.
