Is your design work suffering from you (the designer) facing a creative roadblock? A few weeks ago, my design work was as I was in the middle of rebranding a bank and a church. During this time, I probably pumped out between 50-75 logo options. Crazy right? It took me back to my days in design school where my professors would assign crazy projects that would include completing 200+ sketches for one project to be completed in a two day time period. I am so glad that I’m not in that spot anymore!

When I was in the process of designing these logo options… it hit me… a creative roadblock and it was bad! It seemed that every idea that I came up with was a complete lemon and had no potential. The road block even hit my color selections! Not only had I fully immersed myself into both projects, but they were also two projects very close to my heart.

Eventually, the road block broke and two very successful logos were refined and selected. When in a creative roadblock, here are some tips to find your way back to you creative soul.

 

1. Inspiration

pinterest_logo_redOne of my favorite places to grab inspiration for my design work is to search the “Design” section of my favorite social media site, Pinterest. This is a great way to quickly grab ideas from all over the web to incorporate bits and pieces into your own design work. Many times, I will find great color schemes or fonts that peak my interest as well. Warning… it would be good to limit yourself to the amount of time that you search for inspiration to make sure that you do not waste your entire day seeking inspiration when there should be a good mix of inspiration and actual designing.

 

2. Research

Another area is to put in your time researching the client’s company or services that they offer. Is there an element that you can incorporate to make the design work more personal? For example, one of the logo options that I provided for the church, was a logo incorporating features from one of their stained glass windows. Even though this logo was not chosen as the final option, it held a special connection with the actual building.

 

3. Separate Yourself

Sometimes this really is my best tool. Take a few hours and simply go do something else. Go for a walk, meet a friend for coffee, read a book, or take a nap. When separating yourself from a design project it gives not only you and your brain a chance to rest, but it also allows you to regenerate the creative cycle.

 

4. Share It

This is by far one of the best ways to break through a roadblock. Show your designs to someone else and ask for their (honest) opinion. Please note that this is also a great way to work on your ability to accept creative criticism (a skill any designer must master).

Now that I have given you some ideas on how to battle the creative road block, how do you fight it?

 

R2F Creative LLC provides graphic design + branding and web design solutions for clients nationwide and locally in Ankeny and Des Moines, Iowa.