There's nothing worse than feeling uninspired and creatively blocked as a graphic designer. If you're struggling to come up with new design ideas, don't panic. There are definitely ways for you to unblock yourself and reach your full creative potential. Here are a few tips to help you get out of an uninspired funk:
5 Tips for Creatively Blocked Graphic Designers
1. Regularly visit design blogs
Looking at the work of other designers can definitely spark your creativity. Not all creativity comes from within. As a designer, you can find inspiration in quite a few places, and it's good to seek out that inspiration. Regularly visiting design blogs and design sites will help you stay in touch with what's going on in the design world around you, and it will help you stay creative.
2. Increase your online presence
Creating your own blog and becoming active on sites like Twitter can help re-invigorate your feelings about graphic design, especially if you're feeling blocked and unmotivated. So, consider sharing your work and the things you find inspirational with other people in the online design community. An added benefit for increasing your online presence is that it might attract potential employers to you.
3. Design for pleasure
Remember why you got into graphic design to begin with? It was probably because you were interested in it. If all the designing you do feels like work, it may be time to start designing for fun as well. The work we do as graphic designers isn't always thrilling or intellectually stimulating. Sometimes the best way to re-cultivate creativity is to re-discover what we like most about our creative pursuit.
4. Try something new
Never had escargot? Why not give it a try? Trying something new, even something simple like a new dish, can get you excited about life. When people feel as though they're living life to the fullest and truly experiencing everything the world has to offer, they're a lot more inclined to be creative. So, branch out, try something new, and enjoy all the adventures life has to offer.
5. Step away from frustrating projects
If a project is frustrating you, step away from it for a few hours or days, depending on your deadline. You can't always force creativity or good design work. Sometimes you have to wait for innovative ideas and solutions to problems to come to you. Pushing yourself to work on your designs when you simply don't have the mental energy or creativity to do so is hardly ever a good idea. So, take breaks as necessary.
Try out the tips above next time you feel your creativity fading, and never forget to enjoy your exciting, stimulating life as a graphic designer!