You just gotta put in the time.

Simple solutions, those are easy to get to, right? Clarity and focus magically present themselves after a quick brainstorm, yes? It doesn’t look complicated so it probably isn’t, yeah? The correct answer to these and similar questions is no, no and no. I’m on a big kick these days of reciting this: the act of making is difficult and should be treated as such. I wish the answer to the previous questions was yes. If a potential client needs it to be, I’m not the designer for the job. Making something beautiful, a solution perfectly appropriate for the problem, while inspiring people to take action, that is fucking hard to do. And to get to that point, you MUST put in the time. Concepting, exploring, doodling, browsing, daydreaming, mindmapping, walking, computering, more computering, refining, deleting, redoing, and on and on. Along the way, things happen. It’s remarkable when they do. Why do they happen? Because you put in the  hard work of time dedication. And when you come up for air, you have something you can run with.