The Creativity Whirlwind

If I’m not frantically trying to get it all done, I’m not doing enough.

If I’m not sweating an urgent deadline, I’m not doing enough. 

If I’m not pushing the design to the edge, I’m not doing enough. 

If I’m not worrying about something, I’m not doing enough.

These are things, I think, all designers say to themselves. Creative designers, who must work 12 hours a day, who must fail regularly in order to succeed, who must tear the work apart before it can get better. All because the designer loves what he or she does and all in order to make sure the work is the best it can be. They go through all of this, a tried and true process from beginning to end. And when over, the designer, hopefully, can start it all over again with another badass client. If the designer is any good that is.

Or maybe, the designer gets in around 9:30 and leaves at 5:00. He or she sticks to a process for the most part, strays when necessary, and gets things done in a timely fashion. The work is inspired and steady. You can tell it’s meant for day-in, day-out creativity. The teams are like-minded enough where mutual respect is a mainstay and expectations are reasonably human. And when the process starts over again, it ebbs and flows, with the potential to be uncertain and even slowed down as needed. Which is more than okay. This path of creativity, ideas, and making shit happen is meant for a very long road of discovery and beauty.   

References:
The Links Between Creativity and Depression

What works for you

How do you keep your brain moving? Field notes, design annuals, conferences, books on tape, or going to concerts and emailing yourself? I’ve taken to that last one, which has produced some interesting results. Whatever works for you, keep at it. Repeat it, adjust as needed. It is super important to recognize what naturally keeps your brain moving. Once recognized, do your best to get there regularly as a part of your ever-evolving design practice.

An answer to the ‘how much does it cost’ question

Similar to Standard Turnarounds, when it comes to how long something takes, a designer also needs to know how much something costs. Before doing any formal estimating, you have to know what the ballpark is for what you do. For a logo, for a brand, for a website, for a poster, for an infographic; how much does it cost for you to do this project? The response should be stocked, prepped, ready to go. It can have layers if that’s helpful, but if there isn’t a standard cost, it kinda seems like you don’t really know what you’re doing. Sure, there’s always follow-up and ironing it out, but some context is needed for a potential client. 

A new potential client inquires about a website, I’ll tell him or her how much we charge for the type of websites we design. A site could be designed and developed for less, but it won’t be as good or unique. It could also be designed and developed for more, but it probably has more features than we think are needed.

This isn’t the same for bigger, more complicated projects. Those need the formal estimating process, which can be quite thorough and take time. But there are those projects that can remain standard, and standard costs should definitely be applied.

Know Your Limit

I average about 55 hours of work per week. I have for the last few years. That includes client work but also administrative tasks, collaborative projects, writing, and self-promotion. It involves this business of design. And it’s all tracked. I really enjoy the work, most of the time. But the idea of working more than that seems absurd. Weeks clocking 80 or even 100 hours. How? There’s no way. 65 is pretty much my limit. And my goal, ultimately, is 30. A super productive, creative, moving-the-needle 30. For now I’m going to try to get my average down to 45 starting in Q4. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll keep you posted.

The Skeptical Creative

Creative work is tough. Best to go in with a sober, open mind and not be blinded by high aspirations. I think I've said before on this site, I used to get more excited at the beginning of a project. Now I get more excited in the middle, when the work is happening and it isn't just talk. Some people do like the talk, just how it is. That is a needed part of any creative project, it’s just not where I like to be. Ask questions, think critically, and do not get whisked away by utopian visions. Instead, take those visions and figure out how to make them a reality. After all, for any creative, that is the job.

Standard Turnarounds

As projects have gotten bigger and more complicated in the last couple of years, there’s been more time spent thinking about standard ways to go about things. Even with the many variables any design project may have, I like to have standard responses when asked, especially in regard to budgets and timelines. 

In response to fairly common requests, here’s where we’re at with standard turnarounds, taking into account current workloads:

• Website Design & Development: 3 Months
• Branding Process: 6–8 Weeks
• Request for Proposal: 5–7 Days
• Email Response: within 24–48 Hours

What were your first seven jobs?

This question has been floating around the Internet for a little while now. It’s a very telling bit of information in the history of a person. Sometimes the shitty jobs of my youth come back to me. Not in a nostalgic, American Beauty sort of way. It’s more “sure, it was formative but I don’t ever want to do that again.” Probably why I work so hard at being a designer, at least partly.

So here’s my list. From the top:

• Mower of Lawns (in the neighborhood)
• Shelf Stocker + Truck Unloader + Maintenance Kid (high school)
• Bean Buggy Weed Sprayer (summers)
• Mower of Green Space + Weed Eater of Ditches (trailer parks)
• Telephone Survey Conductor (on campus)
• House Painter (the crew I was on also roofed 1 house, then school started back up, thank God, because roofing is fucking hard)
• Ice Cream Server + Sandwich Maker (joint operation)

A few more things like that and then my college education paid off and I began my career as a graphic designer. When the clients get challenging or the work seems overwhelming, sometimes I think back to those simpler times. Unloading that truck of BBQ sauce with the ones in the back having spilled all over. Staring at rows and rows of beans for miles and miles. Weed eating ditches for hours on end. Talking to students on the phone about their drug use for hours on end. Painting houses white for hours on end. Making ice cream cones and sandwiches for college students, most times while hung over. And there was the time I got heat stroke while roofing and somehow made it to McDonalds where I just sat in the air conditioning with an extra large orange juice trying to keep it together. 

Those were the days. How’s that for Oh the way things used to be...