indie_preneur

How I like to keep client ideas fresh.

1.12.2010

By indie_preneur

I strive to have a at least one client project per month, but I still have my day-time job. So I am usually working on very different kinds of creative–for work it’s much more conservative, and freelance is usually where I can let my hair down (Note I have semi-short hair, so this doesn’t produce much of an effect). However, I find this is a nice combination of work, as I am able to wear many different hats at the same time, and push the limits with what I am willing to try for each project.

I am one of those designers who as soon I get the okay on the go-ahead, I am into it full speed ahead. I even declined a New Years party as I was too engrossed in a current project, and also I just didn’t feel like boozing. I’ve found I’ve always been like this, sometimes to a fault. With the decent amount of work I’ve had over the last year or so, I’ve learned a lot about just jumping in head first without knowing which way was up really. But I’ve never been one to be short on new, exciting ideas I can bring to any project. Ultimately most of these ideas never make it anywhere outside my head, but they’re at least there competing for a spot outside.

And while at first I’m 110% into the project (even though 100% is the most amount physically possible, thanks to The Simpsons I know this) and I can’t wait to keep it rolling along, eventually something slows it down. Whether it the creative not being exactly as desired (and the ensuing back and forth), or other priorities from the client, something eventually comes up.

But how do we as designers keep our initial excitement and our brains fresh on the project? I have a few ways that I always follow to keep myself as fresh as I can for any and all kinds of work, so check ‘em out.

Work on personal web projects

This is one of my favorite things to do, and as I noted in my first #p52 post, something that I often don’t see through to the end (d’oh, maybe in ’10 though). I have as many as 10 personal projects that I’m working on at any given time. I may not be actively working on them, but I’m always thinking about them, and taking in what I see and then how this can be applied to them. Ideally, I’ll get around to finishing them (as there are some good ideas), but more importantly it helps to keep me creatively inspired. It also gives me a lab for testing new technologies, strategies, layouts and more–something I wouldn’t normally want to do much of for clients without having tried them before.

Work on print projects

My wife is a marketer and a print designer, so I get to see often what she’s working on (and sometimes I give some unwanted feedback as well). I also try to incorporate print design into as many freelance jobs as I can. I started out in print, but have come fully to the dark side. Or the light side, depending on your stance. Either way, I like getting into a print project because it’s different from a web project in so many different way, plus it helps me to re-evaluate my creative process as a whole. And, it’s very cool to have a final piece that you can hold in your hands–this adds the human element back into design for me.

Find inspiration everywhere

I also like to view and [try to] absorb as much inspiration as I can from everywhere. Not just in blogs and resource round-ups (though they do have merit), but from newspaper ads, billboards, and other printed pieces. I also happen to find inspiration just from the environment I happen to be in. This may sound cliche, but as a designer, as best I can, I try to be always on. From this inspiration, it is important for me to not just regurgitate things I find, but use them in my designs to push myself to where I never would have gone before.

Listen to my favorite tunes

This is probably the most important thing for me to keep focused and creative. Perhaps I’ve become a creature of habit, but when I have music playing, I find that my mind is freed up and the creative juices really start to flow. This is not to say that without music, I cannot be creative, but it just helps me keep going and stay focused.

Want to be better

If I don’t want to be better, then the work I produce won’t ever get any better. I’ve mentioned before that I don’t ever want to reach a point where I feel like I’m good enough at anything. I’m always reading as much about web design, SEO, and social media as I can without my head implode. This helps me to become more comfortable discussing new topics, it also helps to give me a different perspective on these topics, and I often come across new inspiration in this process. I’ve also noted that I try to write cleaner code on every project, and thus not re-make any of my past mistakes.

Literature

This is one’s simple–read a book. There are infinite ways in which this can help stimulate my creativity–from the vivid descriptions authors use to imagining yourself in a different situation in life or even in a different world (nerd alert!).

While I often hope that a project goes smoothly and without many pauses, these are inevitable. So how we deal with these breaks to keep the project at the highest level is almost as important as all the steps outside these pauses.

How do you deal with keeping your projects fresh?

Post this goodness to twitter.

Tags: #p52, Design, fresh ideas

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 7:02 am and is filed under Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.