Category: Design

Striking Out is Not Bad

Striking out or failing as you may say is not a bad thing. The quote above is from Babe Ruth and Babe Struck out many times during his career. But what is he known for? Hitting home-runs. Because not many people pay attention to him striking out.

People remember things that are good. The more you are failing the quicker you will end up getting to your desired destination. Getting to the destination can seem impossible at times. More so we are impatient and wanting to get there in a hurry. I for one am learning this more and more each day.

Therefore while continuing to try things until they work and keeping the belief that sooner or later they will keeps me going. Also none of this matters unless you believe. If you believe in yourself and what you are doing sooner or later others will believe as well.

You Don’t Apreciate Designers Enough

Whenever you think asking a designer to work for free is ok its honestly not. Because you know for fact that you would not go to your doctor and ask for a free surgery? You would not go to your grocery store and ask for your groceries for free while everyone else pays. So therefore what is different about paying a designer?

What you are saying to a designer when you do not want to pay them is that you don’t feel they are of value. They really are of value and each designer is at a different skill level then others. For example if it was not for a web designer,graphic designer and various others then WordPress would not look like it does.

The reason people prefer WordPress over other site is because of its value. People choose designers and pay them because they recognize their value. Value being the result of the completed work and how it accomplishes the vision.

You may be saying well I can download the programs and just do it myself. Well yes you can do that, But will you possess the skill set and thinking to accomplish a completed design. Because you would not try to cut corners if you had no idea on how to put brakes on your car and you did not feel comfortable doing so. That may or may not have been a good example to use.

Whenever I get someone wanting me to design work for them for free I take it as an insult. The other thing is when someone shops around wanting the lowest price. Then when someone wants a design done and then thinks its simple and easy and says oh I could do that, Which honestly you could not come up with that idea.

Learn to appreciate the value designers bring to your business, life and everything else. Not wanting to pay a designer whether its web designer, product designer, graphic designer interior designer and others just shows you are not ready for a designer. You also may be scared of letting someone help that you do not know well or that you may know well. Therefore I recommend you to not interfere with the process and to not deal with an asshole designer and vice versa for designers to not work with an arrogant/unappreciative client.

Avoiding Sameness

Sooner or later you will began to realize that your work is starting to look the same. More so you may get style confused with how the problem should be solved. Because if you look at many of these portfolio sites a good amount of the work would not get accepted by a client and also starts to look the same.

A good way that I learned to sameness is to avoid falling into the same practice of solving design problems. If you just try once a different approach you may end up with a different result. Because you should be listening to yourself. For example if before you start a project you say I would want to have a glass of water and lay down for a few minutes do it. Maybe you want to stare out the window for a few minutes do it.

Since I started listening to myself I began to enjoy designing even more. At times we can get into a routine which ends up in us not enjoying our profession. So therefore stop approaching things the same way and do not be afraid to experiment.

Remember being a lazy artist and falling into the same routine will only produce the same results.

The value of being honest with yourself

If you are not being honest with yourself its time to start. I for one have always did my best to be honest with myself. Because you don’t want to be a designer that is living in some fantasy land. What I mean is being a designer that thinks their work is the best in the world. Not saying having confidence is bad. More so if you have a small portfolio then you have to get to work.

Because I have built up my calligraphy portion of my portfolio now I just have to get to building up my branding portion and web design. Don’t wait to start upon doing what you know you need to do. Simply start today and get to work. You have to realize that you may have a plush design job at the moment. Also you have to realize how many people out there are wanting your position and are willing to work harder then you.

If there is a skill that you do not have stop thinking oh I’ll be ok without learning it. Then later on in life you’ll be saying I should’ve taken that class. You may not need to learn another skill in your industry or you just are happy with what your doing. Just remember to not be blinded by what can actually happen later down the road. With more skills your more valuable.

Make Everyday

Make everyday means to make something everyday. I had recently began participating in this. The way that I am is by doing a calligraphy piece every single day and uploading it to my instagram and I also make sure to devote time to designing every single day.

Devoting at least 1 hour to calligraphy and 1 hour to designing and sometimes more then 1 for designing. This system has really moved me in a positive way. Another activity is devoting time to web design. I recently tried my hand at a web design and I ended up getting frustrated and felt completely lost. Since I have been improving my coding through code academy it was time to learn the visuals of web design.

But let me stay on topic. Making everyday will allow you to get through the phase of crappy work to good work. I for one look back on my early calligraphy pieces and have no idea what I was doing. Then learning the flourishes as well took a good amount of time.

So if you are at a point and you have no idea what to do or you feel as if your work is not as good as it should be pick up a pencil and start sketching. Who knows where it may lead you.

Don’t die wondering

If you are hesitant about doing anything in your life I recommend you to ask yourself what am I going to do if I don’t attempt such a thing. I learned that life really is short and we are not put here to stay. So therefore why settle for just doing what society expects us to or family.

This year has been moving pretty swiftly. I mean we are almost through January and what are you doing to make this year better then the next and or the previous year?

How to avoid being bored as a Designer

Boredom is a very hard thing for some to deal with. Doing a task over and over again seems as if we are on a treadmill. When you have the mentality of running in place not making progress it will become like weeds to a garden. You have to believe that you are making progress.

One thing is to keep track of your progress. Then you have to realize that the designers you look up to they have been doing things over and over. The same for Kobe Bryant being able to shoot a basketball so well. He has practiced daily and for hours.

This can be said for many successful and well known people. If you remember when you first started designing how the quality of your work is not as good as it is now. Because you applied yourself and kept going. If you are just starting out keep fighting through the stage of not producing good work.

Fighting through the boredom is very simple to do. There are many ways that I use to avoid getting bored with anything that I am interested in. You may be a web designer and you are getting bored with it. You may be a graphic designer and you are bored with graphic design.

Here are some ways that you can avoid getting bored while being a designer.

  1. How are you different know in your field compared to now?
  2. What can you do differently to rekindle the flame?
  3. Find a creative hobby that you are interested in and go do it
  4. Watch documentaries on your profession
  5. Learn the history of your profession. This is very recommended because you are able to learn from how others thought and created the industry in which you work.
  6. Remember to have fun
  7. Practice and do it regardless if you feel like it.
  8. Stop living based on your feelings

All Hustle No Luck

This should be the mentality you have with whatever it is that you want to do. Whether its finding a Job in the design industry or launching a product. The results may not be turning out how you expected but you cannot give up. Think of all of the time you have invested to get where you are currently.

If many of the well known people in any industry gave up we would not be talking about them. There are a variety of things you could to be keeping track of your process. Really you should be keeping a journal anyhow. The whole aspect of keeping a journal will let you know what is working and not working.

One major thing that helps me keep going is to set goals for the week. Then on sunday I go back and check my goals. The ones that I did meet I check them off. For the ones that I did not meet I make sure that I set them for the coming week and achieve them.

Steps to keep going

  1. Keep a Journal
  2. Set a schedule so you will not waste time
  3. Set weekly/daily goals
  4. Continually strive to improve.