- Soldiers study military strategy, endure operant conditioning, practice hand to hand combat, etc.
- Doctors practice surgeries and memorize books; they study the body, pathology, processes, etc.
- Athletes eat a high protein diet, practice their moves and lift weights.
- Actors practice their lines, study linguistics to copy accents, master psychology, etc.
Whaaat?! Why should I design less?
Because you’re creatively malnourished. If you’re struggling with designers block it’s a sign you’re not getting what you need. Let’s play pretend for a moment: Imagine that you’re asked to run a marathon. You’re given a sponsor, professional grade equipment, the best trainers, etc. If you win the race your sponsor promises to give you 300,000 dollars, tax free. Sounds doable right? Just one catch... you’re not allowed to eat food or drink water for 2 days before the race. Still doable? For most of us the answer is no. Designers are running a marathon without “food”. Almost immediately I hear “I use Behance or CSS zen garden, I’m not ‘malnourished’!” If I walk into the grocery store, put the food in my basket, and stare at it, am I full? Of course not! Because I have to eat the food. If I want to be satisfied, I have to make that food a part of me. It’s no different for you. As a designer you’re expected to create beauty, order, harmony, and direction. You’re expected to make purpose visual. If you don’t have what you need that becomes difficult. Because you can’t give what you don’t have. If you don’t have anything there’s nothing to give. If you don’t have enough, it shows in your work.Well fed designers have lots to give
What if you’re malnourished? How do you become a well fed designer? Is there a way to ensure you have everything you need to create amazing and wonderful things? You bet. Here’s how. Create a list of places to eat. If you’re experienced you already have a list of places to go when you need ideas, creativity or knowledge. Here’s a short list for those who are starting out.- Behance
- Dribbble
- Design Inspiration
- Cargo Collective
- Coroflot
- DeviantArt
- Awwwards
- CodPen.io
- From Up North
- Inspiration Grid
- What stands out to you?
- What do you like?
- Can you explain why you like it? Think about your answer.
Transform what you’ve stolen
Add your personal touch, your flourishes. Add details to the items you’ve copied. Change them, turn them into something else. When you transform a design you internalize it. You gain a deep and intuitive understanding of the pieces you’ve copied. You learn how to work with various styles, how to compensate for mistakes and differences, how to flow with someone else’s style. As a designer, this is how you eat. Eat until you’re full… Then, combine your changes with something else. Combine your transformations; merge them together and you create something completely new. Do it successfully and you’ve absorbed the details and nuances of those you learned from. Copy, transform, combine. This system makes designer malnourishment a thing of the past. As you use this system to learn and grow you’ll find that ideas are everywhere. Use this system consistently and your skill grows by leaps and bounds. You’ll become the amazing designer you want to be, simply by following a system. Ignore the system and your skill begins to fade. The amount of time it takes to lose a skill is proportional to the amount of time it took for you to acquire it. The more consistent you are with your system, the deeper your developmental roots.At some point though, you have to design something
It’s true. You have to build or create something if you want to get better. But the quality of your designs depends on whether you’ve eaten. The more you eat the better you’ll perform. But only if you use what you’ve eaten. Eating alone won’t get you the results you’re looking for. You have to use what you’ve taken in. Creative starvation creates designer’s block. If you’re a designer you’ve experienced it at one point or another. This time it’s different. You understand the cause, you won’t be stuck in a rut forever. You have a system.Andrew McDermott
Andrew McDermott is the co-founder of HooktoWin.com. Want an unlimited supply of free leads for your freelance business? Download your copy of The Dragnet Method.
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