June 25, 2010 22:49

Three Fears Every New Designer Faces.

Starting out on a design career can be daunting at times but it doesn’t have to be. Here are three of the worries most new designers have when stepping out into the big wide creative world. If at some time or other you’ve worried about such issues, you’re not alone. Here are some tips on how to overcome these issues and become the designer you were born to be.

1. My projects and client are not high profile enough…

At times you might look at other artists portfolios and look at their client list, and you’ll see they’ve been working for MTV, Sony, Levi’s etc and you’ll find yourself wishing you had better clients and better projects than designing the leaflet for your local takeway. Relax. Don’t worry about it. Nike weren’t really NIke until they had the ‘Swoosh’ logo, which incidentally was designed by a design student! Similarly Milton Glaser’s ‘I ? New York’ poster gave a whole new identity to the city. Some design projects can make a company iconic. That’s why you always put 110% into anything you do. Your design can be what makes a company big enough that every other designer wants to have them on their client list, while you are free to establish your place as the creator of that icon.

2. My work is not as good as such and such…

You can’t think like that! Whatever your work is like, it doesn’t help to think others work is sooo much better than your own (even if it is!). There’s nothing wrong with finding inspiration and enjoying other peoples work , but when you percieve a big gap between your work and theirs, you can find yourself feeling disheartened. Instead, take the time to analyze what it is you like about their work in terms of qualities and how they speak to you, then try to add these elements to your work. Remember, a design is a response to a specific design problem. If you try to copy another persons design style, you’re not providing an authentic response to your design. You could also be selling yourself short, because your personal response could end up being alot more genuine and much better than a copy.

3. I can’t seem find any clients…

Finding new clients can sometimes be difficult but not impossible. Once you know what kind of design youre going to be providing, turn that into a search on Twitter. For example if you’re a logo designer, search Twitter for “I need a logo” or “I need my logo redesigned”.

That lets you find users who need your services right there and then. Send them a tweet making sure to include a nice link to your portfolio and the kind of thing that your potential client might be looking for. I’m going to go into depth on how to find design clients on Twitter in the next article. You can also try local restaurant and services in your area that usually are suffering from poorly designed websites, leaflets and documentation. Many will be more than happy to have professionally designed documents, logos and images.

by Kwame Motivation
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June 24, 2010 12:01

I Can’t Concentrate

If you often find it difficult to concentrate whilst you’re at work because you’re having so many exciting ideas, creative thoughts and possibilities running through your head, then you either need to change your line of work or find a way to make it so that those ideas go somewhere.

You have to take the leap and make a change that will allow you to express yourself and make and impact.

Do what YOU want to be doing.

Imagine what it would be like spending your days making exciting things happen? Turning thoughts in your head and sketches on napkins into a reality and the whole while you’re having the best time of your life doing it.

Now stop imagining and make it happen.

by Kwame Idea Generation, Motivation, , ,
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June 24, 2010 11:39

Don’t Tell Anyone Anything Until It’s Done

The world is filled with many different types of people who all see things in different way. Additionally we have people around us who understand us and the things we do as well as people who don’t get us. We also have people who trust our judgement and support us, then there are people who don’t support us. Unfortunately there are also people you just can’t trust and who will deliberately give you bad advice, discourage you, sabotage your efforts or set you up to fail. Sadly, sometimes even the people who are on our side can inadvertently cause us problems further down the line by not being fully honest and open with their opinions or by trying to spare our feelings or by trying to be good friends.

What we have to understand is that humans are very complex in terms of relationships. Sometimes if you try and reach for the stars, you’ll alienate those people around you who are giving you support today. Sadly todays friend can be tomorrows enemy.

Similarly sometimes you’ll find yourself disliking someone or something simply because it’s in a different realm to yours. Maybe they’re in the same field but at a higher status than you so you have all these reasons why you don’t like them, but then when your status elevates to their level, you realize they were exactly the same as you all along.

The kinds of people that support you and are happy for you, whether you’re rich or poor, for better for worse, are few and far between. These are the people who might insult your work, but at the end of the day you know they know what they’re talking about, and they’re doing it for your benefit. These are people you would give your last dollar to because you know they would do the same for you.

Which brings me to my point.

When I’m about to undertake a new personal project, something that has worked for me is not telling anyone anything about what I’m doing unless it’s absolutely necessary or unavoidable.

When I have a new idea and I’m tingling with excitement about it, I find I can get a lot more mileage out of my initial motivation if I don’t tell anyone about it. I just don’t like hearing all the ways it won’t work, and I don’t like explaining an unfinished idea over and over again. I prefer it to be done, or as close to completion as possible, then I let people know about it.

The only exception is perhaps telling the kind of people I outlined above, the ones that have got your back- and even then, I’d only tell them when I’m around the 80% complete mark.

Having a support structure is great, and with many endeavours it really is necessary to know there are people looking out for you when your back is against the wall. But sometimes it can be like riding a bike with stabilizers, it’s a little too safe. You can project can quickly become about what other people think and their reaction to your endeavour rather than staying true to your original vision.

It’s not a hard and fast rule, but sometimes signing a non-disclosure agreement with yourself is the best thing you can do.

by Kwame Motivation, , , ,
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June 21, 2010 20:34

The Secret To Bringing Ideas to Fruition.

This is something I reverse engineered from my boss at a job I worked at once.
You don’t necsessarily need to know how to do whatever it is you are trying to do.

There is ALWAYS someone out there who knows how to do it for you.

All you have to do is be clear enough about what it is you are trying to do,
and connect yourself with those that know how to do it well.
Oh and sometimes, give them money.

by Kwame Motivation, ,
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About

I'm Kwame Busia. I'm passionate about good design, generating ideas and creating things. I also like helping others create better stuff and create more than they consume, whilst learning to really enjoy what they do.

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