creativity from structure
If we want visual expression to be as rich and nuanced as verbal / written language, then there are certain templates and defaults we must accept. The way new words, new sentences, new meanings are created are through a discrete combinatorial system (a theory of mind and language I've mostly learned from Steven Pinker's writing), which all fits back into a universal grammar but can be cut up, remixed, and recombined with ease due to the very fact that an underlying structure exists.
This goes back to a tweet from Lev Manovich, which I won't try to dig up, but said something about how templates and software defaults provide that rigid structure from which creativity and innovation arise. It threw me a little because the basis of my MFA thesis, and most of my research interests before and after, are about questioning and thwarting those defaults and biases.
Arguing with myself about the value of embracing uncertainty and constantly interrogating those defaults is something I've gotten used to. Of course you have to be prepared to accept that this practice isn't as helpful or productive as maybe it could be. Of course you need to stick to certain beliefs and ways of seeing the world to stand on enough solid ground and make something. Of course creating something new will always come from the manipulation of something that already exists, and communication will always rely some shared, established context.