Creator’s bias 🎨

Definition

Due to the lengthy process of creation, creators may not be able to fully comprehend how/what their creations are communicating.

It is happening because of

A) The process of an author projecting intentions on the content is often inefficient. My-side bias creates the illusion that this process is more successful than it really is

When subjects were asked to finger-tap a popular tune of their choosing they were hugely overconfident how many people would get it. They estimated that 50% of people would get it whereas in reality 1.33% got it. from 1990 Stanford experiment

See Tapping experiment

B) The universal, largely physiological process that gradually makes you not see things you look at. When you eat, listen, smell the first impressions are the strongest. The longer you are in situation the less you are able to see how it exists in the world.

Bias correction

Do User research, that is get feedback from external people (ideally unaffiliated with you). There is quite a lot to understand in order to get a quality feedback. The best resource I found are chapters by Michael Margolis in the Design Sprint book.
It’s helpful to do extensive breaks from the piece. After an immersive work try to intentionally not look at the thing. Make your mind forget your intentions to be able to be more in touch with how it really “reads” for the external eye.
When working on the piece try to pay attention to the initial impressions, connotations that arises from the piece or its contents. My mind is very skilled at disconnecting with this. If I do pay attention to them I am working more with a real thing (vs. my rationalizations of the thing, my imaginary ideas what it communicates)