How Should A Logo Designer Handle the Lack of Creativity?

More and more entrepreneurs and business owners became aware that taking care about their brands is vital. Nowadays, the potential customers have so many opportunities that is impossible for them to objectively judge the solutions. This is an extremely positive fact for most of us, but it’s a real hell for entrepreneurs and business owners. The harsh competition means that only the best survive.

Into this complicated equation, branding plays a major role. No matter the quality of a product, without a solid strategy of branding it’s impossible to become known by people. Anyway, this is good news for logo designers: people will need more and more logos and strong visual identities.

Under these circumstances it shouldn’t wonder that a good logo designer has many projects in queue and undoubtedly, it’s a good thing for the respective designer. Still, at the same time, it’s a great source of pressure. Therefore, he must know how to handle the various issues that are unexpected and unavoidable.

Making a good logo requires time and creativity. Time is a very limited resource, but it may be precisely managed; the biggest problem is how to handle the moments of inspiration. It isn’t something fixed and it’s impossible to establish when you are creative. A logo designer must carefully take care of his inspirational moments; else it’s impossible to respect the deadlines.

Personally, I think that it’s vital for a logo designer to seriously treat the problem of creativity. Being merely inspired is a chimera, but it’s very important to synchronize the moments of maximum creativity with the working time.

I am sure that, from time to time, everyone has lacked creativity and the consequences were negative. In order to help our readers, we collected here six great tips to handle the lack of creativity. These are the result of a detailed research, but also from the personal experience. Of course, it will be great to have your opinions shared with us- the more, the better.

Tips #1. Getting aware that creativity is a fluctuant entity

The first step in order to avoid the creativity crisis is to fully comprehend that it is a fluctuant entity and you should act consequently. It means that isn’t recommended to let on the last day before deadline to accomplish a full project. Another good measure is to study your behaviour. Some people may work better in the morning while others are productive in the mid-nights; some prefer the silence while others enjoy listening to music. The last advice is not to become angry when you are uninspired, everyone passed through these kind of moments, so it’s inevitable!

Tips #2. Time management is vital

Creativity is pressure sensitive- when you are under pressure, the creativity is lower. I guess that anyone of us experienced, at least once, working just from passion; usually, in these situations, the creativity is at its peak. The conclusion is that pressure is the result of a bad time management and the pressure negatively affects the creativity. Therefore you must better handle the work time if you want to be creative.

Fortunately, the Internet is full of resources about how to better manage the working time, but it requires a serious approach and many sacrifices from the individual. If you want to start managing better your time, then the first step must be to test your efficiency. It’s simple and deceptive! (at least, in my case, I was disappointed when I noticed that almost half of the time spent in front of my computer was lost with chatting, frequently checking the mail, etc.). The idea is simple: for a week long, use time recording software to have a detailed report about the time spent in office vs. the effective work. Once again, I warn you, the results may disappoint you! Once you have a clear idea about how much time is wasted, then you may start improving your working manner!

Tips #3. Sometimes, the discipline is killing the creativity

A designer must be creative, but at the same time, he must be disciplined, else it’s impossible to respect the deadlines. The downside of this binomial is that the terms are “in conflict”. Practically, it’s impossible to be at the same time extremely creative and disciplined. It shouldn’t demotivate you, each one is special and maybe you may break this rule! The key of this situation is to achieve a balanced report. It sounds perhaps disrespectful, but from time to time, ignoring the deadlines is a necessity in order to create better designs.

Tips #4. Creativity needs positive minds and nice environments

Creativity is the result of some inner states: you can’t be creative if you didn’t eat or sleep for days. Also, being merely sad will not help in being creative. Personally, I think that the individual “attracts” the creativity and not it comes to him. Yeah, I tried on my own and it proved to work quite well. It seems that creativity likes a positive designer, that isn’t scarred by complex projects and it’s ready to work for many hours. At the same time, creativity “appreciates” the ones that are seriously treating any aspects and avoid wasting time.

Credits: WhereWeDesign.com

On the other hand, even the workplace may be transformed to increase the chances for being more creative. The same workplace for many weeks may easily represent a cage for creative thoughts. Even the psychologists agree that small environmental changes are beneficial for the productivity, implicitly for creativity. Keep in mind, your brain doesn’t need a luxurious workplace; it is satisfied with a nice and warm one.

Tips #5. Don’t be afraid of having a personal life

Many designers consider that the best ones from their domains are spending all their life just working. The truth is that they are working hard, but the key of success consists in working smarter. As previously mentioned, creativity isn’t a never ending resource, but it’s renewable. Don’t be afraid of taking breaks, enjoying your hobbies or tripping- in this time the creativity “tank” is refuelled.

Tips #6. Don’t expect fast turnarounds

Avoiding creativity blocks can’t be resolved…it’s not a math problem! Instead a designer can follow the necessary steps to turn into a more creative one. The creativity is a very complex matter and it’s impossible to find solutions in just a few days, so expecting fast results is wrong! Patience is a necessary condition to become more creative!

I hope that these tips will help in getting more inspired. The conclusion is simple: be patient, optimist and keep in mind that is impossible to avoid any inspirational crisis. The best designers are the best just because they handled better the crisis and not because they didn’t face these moments!

– Written by Daniel –