Web Designers Creative Block
Artists, be they writers, painters, sculptors or web designers all suffer from a mental creative block at some stage during their process. Too much pressure from either themselves or a pestering client can indirectly force their brains to freeze up and lock down like a rusty engine. However! There are some surefire ways to get around this issue.
- Don’t always start at the beginning. If designing a new site, try starting with the main hero shot, where the main focus will be, then work your way up then down. This may not always work, it all depends on the architecture of the site, but it may just get you out of a sticky situation
- Get up, go for walk and steal some potted plants. Staring at the screen and stressing about the deadline will certainly not help you in any way. You’re better off getting out of the room and doing something completely different. Perhaps not stealing potplants though. Maybe volunteering to de-lice the local dogs.
- Ask someone for advice and help. Just because that person next to you is an account manager or cleans the wax out of the phones, doesn’t mean their opinion cant be valued. It may not come to much but there may just be a snippet out of their 2 hour rant that may help you.
- Surf the web. Surf for anything, go watch your favourite videos, write a blog (!), purchase a small aircraft from ebay. You’ll be surprised at what you’ll be inspired by. Or let me help you with this link: http://www.milesburke.com.au/blog/2006/10/24/50-sites-for-inspiration/
- Push the boundaries. If the client is fairly conservative in their thinking or their style guide will be guiding you into standard flat zone, try pushing the design to extreme levels, go paint that web town red, then start to bring it right back. You’ll hopefully end up with a conservative design but with snippets of mouth watering inspiration that will surely impress the client.
- Swap jobs. No, not your profession, but the brief. If you have more than one going at a time then try the other for a while to rid your ‘cache’ of unwanted ideas that are glogging up your thinking.
I find inspiration in alot of what i see around me. Yes, i realise that sounds like the start to a religious pamphlet, but walking down a busy street and watching people or running after pigeons in the park can fill that creative mind with a world of fresh thoughts. Either that or try some of these handy sites...
