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One skill that every designer must learn — and quickly — is how to be creative on-demand. While there will always be specifications that guide a project as well as tried and true methods of solving common visual problems, one must still be able to get focused, get creative and produce work that doesn’t end up looking formulaic or forced.
Unfortunately, though, not every project will be tantalizing and fun, and there will be days when you simply don’t want to go to work, no matter how much you love your job. How do you keep the creative spark going when you’re not feeling particularly inspired? We have 12 simple tips you can use to foster a more creative mindset.
While most of these tips are for the freelance designer who works independently, anyone in a creative industry should be able to relate and gain insight from them.
1. Set a Schedule
Having a fixed schedule may sound counter-productive to creativity, but in fact, it has several benefits. Knowing what you’re going to do and when you’re going to do it can free your mind to focus on the task at hand without worrying about all of the little things that can distract you. Setting aside two hours on your Monday mornings to deal with business paperwork, for instance, means you won’t be distracted from Wednesday’s project by rushing out to pay the office electric bill. Fixed office hours means that — most of the time — you won’t have to take work home with you, which will lower your overall stress level.
2. Have a Dedicated Workspace — Most of the Time
Similar to setting a schedule, having a dedicated workspace frees you from distraction and gives you a place where you can surround yourself with the items that inspire you and make you feel most comfortable. It also helps to separate work life from personal life, a mix that can leave some people overwhelmed. Establishing a good work-life balance is important to maintaining a healthy attitude about your job. That said, don’t be afraid to mix it up now and then, though. Working from the back deck on a nice day can be a refreshing break in the routine, particularly when your creative juices have stalled.
3. Talk About What You’re Doing
This is especially important for freelance designers working on their own — share your work with others and talk about what each of you is working on. Even if the projects aren’t related, having someone to share ideas and discuss hurdles with is vital to keeping an open mind and developing creative solutions. Sometimes a change of perspective makes a world of difference.
4. Become an Observer
Study the world and the people in it, wherever you go. Whether sitting at the coffee shop or attending a local event, don’t pass up opportunities to broaden your horizons and observe the world around you. The goal of design is to send a message or solve a problem. It’s easier to communicate that message when you know your audience, and there’s no better way to understand it than to engage and observe it in action. Learning not only how people respond to one another, but also how they interpret and interact with objects in their everyday lives can go a long way toward inspiring good visual communication.
5. Explore Other Creative Interests
Working every day on the same types of projects can become a bit of a drain. It’s easy to get stuck in a creative rut and fall into patterns that you may not even realize exist. Exploring other creative interests, like photography, music or writing, can give you an outlet that’s different enough to keep your mind stimulated, but still keep you thinking about design from a different perspective.
6. Collect Inspiration
Start collecting things you feel are well-designed, either by putting the actual product (such as a magazine ad or a mailer) into a binder, or saving digital photos and screenshots. Ideally, do both. A digital collection is more efficient and can be much larger, but a small physical collection of nicely designed things can be great to flip through for inspiration. Try and go a step beyond just saving things in a pile, however. Whenever you add an item to your collection, take a few minutes to include a note about what it was you liked about the piece and why you felt it worked. In this way, you’re not just saving pretty pictures to emulate, but forcing yourself to examine the piece and study why it’s good, drawing lessons from it that you can then apply to your own work.
7. Get Involved in a Good Cause
If you have the time to spare, consider putting your skills to use for a cause you believe strongly in. Not only will you be helping out an organization you support, but regardless of what you may be doing at work, you’ll have a creative outlet that you can enjoy and feel good about. Not only that, but you’ll be working with people who likely will very much appreciate your efforts. That’s good karma all the way around, and when you feel good about your work, you’ll produce higher quality results across all of your projects.
8. Get a Good Night’s Sleep
Sleep deprivation can be as hard on the body as drinking. It’s difficult to focus when you’re tired, and you’re not going to have any major creative insights if you’re simply going through the motions between cups of coffee. Of course, you may have to pull the occasional all-nighter to meet a deadline, but try to get good sleep on a regular basis. Poor sleep habits over long periods of time can also contribute to depression and negatively affect your physical health, which are definite creativity killers. When your body is not at its best, neither is your mind.
9. Learn Something New Every Day
Never stop learning — the world is a big, complicated place and there’s always something new and exciting right around the corner. Maybe you want to pick up a new language (spoken or programming — take your pick), master a new skill or just consume a few interesting trivia tidbits. Simply put, the more things you know, the more reference material you’ll have to draw upon whenever you’re trying to solve a task. The more research you do, the better you’ll understand the process of discovery. Natural curiosity and creativity go hand-in-hand.
10. Take Breaks
If you’re in the zone and find yourself working for hours on end, go ahead and embrace it. When that feeling hits, you can often produce some of your best work. More often, though, a couple of regular, scheduled breaks throughout your work day can serve as a great way to revitalize and re-energize. Losing yourself in your work is great, but getting lost in a project you’re struggling with can make for some real creative bottlenecks. By forcing yourself to stop and step away from the desk, you’re almost guaranteed to see the problem in a new light upon your return.
11. Use a Mood Board
Get back to the basics of design: space, balance, texture, repetition, line, color. We often get so used to incorporating all of these elements together, that we don’t give a lot of thought to them individually. Sometimes, though, it helps to think about the individual design elements first and then work on the whole. Mood boards are a great way to work on establishing an overall feel for a project without being burdened by specifics.
12. Don’t Feel Guilty
Sometimes, no matter how hard you try or what you do, things just don’t work out. If you have more than one or two days like this in a month, then you might want to look into why that’s the case, but everyone has an off day now and then. The important part is not to let it get you down. Find other productive ways to occupy your time, learn a new skill, catch up on paperwork or return phone calls and emails. Stop your work on a positive note and then take a break, relax, and try again tomorrow.
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The Web Designer Series is supported by Wix.com, which brings amazing technology home to everyday people. Discover the amazing simplicity of its online Flash builder and enjoy creating beautiful websites with powerful drag and drop interface.
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Image courtesy of iStockphoto, tomhoryn izusek, jaroon
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