Congratulations on getting your new job as a designer!
It is the field where you create something new every day; get the best taste of your creativity and learn new things.
You must be feeling excited right now!
However, to achieve success in this career, you can’t rely solely on your skills of creating, cropping and applying colors.
What will you do if you experience a creative block with a certain design? How will you handle criticism? How to give your best within tight deadlines?
Well, these are some concerns you will face in this profession, sooner or later. Therefore, you need to work over these things so that you can become a truly professional designer. Are you ready? Just walk through the tips given below.
Look For Inspiration, Not Imitation :
This profession requires you to come up with creative ideas. Staying creative is not only essential for creating great designs, but also important for your productivity.
It is equally true that creative minds frequently experience a creative block. For example, you might delay the project just because you are not able to find a suitable layout for the homepage or an order page. But that doesn’t mean you resort to imitation. It is morally wrong as well as legally punishable. Keep faith in your creativity, no matter how badly you are stuck on something.
Luckily, there are many online resources with efficient and insightful materials on creativity. And some of them are Adobe Create magazine, Medium, Savah and 99 designs blog. Going through the articles of these magazines has helped me a lot with my creativity. If you come across a wonderful piece of design, figure out the elements that have attracted you. The point is here to do your own things in a similar fashion, rather than imitating the design.
Here are some other tips to spark your creativity:
- Explore artwork, literature, and nature. Take regular breaks during big projects to avoid “creativity exhaustion”.
- Create multiple prototypes of the design to choose the best one.
- And don’t be afraid of failure and making mistakes.
Don’t Fall in Love with Your Design
A designer is likely to fall in love with their creation.
After all, it is their brainchild. But the design might not necessarily go well with stakeholders or clients. Therefore, your ultimate goal is to create a design that is acceptable to everyone on the board. It can be done by understanding the tone of the project, the requirements of clients, and the target audience.
Learn to Face Criticism
Don’t get disheartened if your design is rejected straightaway.
Instead of feeling bad, try to figure out what went wrong with the design.
No matter how rude the client is, make sure to ask for the issues. See if you can remove those concerns from the design. It will help you become a better designer. The point is here to learn from your mistakes so that you can improve your skills. Facing criticism is not the end of the world.
Create Your Portfolio
Make sure to build your portfolio. A portfolio not only speaks about your designs but also reflects your personality and your aesthetic sense. You can also maintain your portfolio online or you can use a few graphic design tools available online.
Make sure to highlight the best of your work that should be composed of various projects. You can also include a case study in which you can explain how your design helped the client overcome the problem.
Work Smart with Tight Deadlines
The design industry is bound by deadlines and you have to stay creative at the same time. You can’t afford to strive forever for perfection if the deadlines are tight. In this scenario, opting for shortcuts and smart work is not unfair. For example, you can use a logo maker tool to generate a logo and then tweak it for improvements.
It will not only save you time but also let you get more time to review your design.
Keep Track of Trends and Changes
Graphic design is a fast-paced industry, requiring you to stay updated with your skills as well as design trends. The tools of the profession keep on changing, so it’s downright essential to embrace those changes. This way, you can ensure you have the things that employers are looking for.
Bottom Line
Designing is an exciting profession. However, it requires you to be productive, and creative as well as a good learner of the trends. Incorporate the above-given tips into your practice to achieve growth. Best of luck!
— Helen Wilson, a marketing manager at Savah, a product that helps teams with an all-in-one platform for prototyping, design collaboration tools, and workflow.
