Lessons Learned from Completing 30 Days of Design

Designing to learn to design better.

Over my summer break in 2020, I decided to embark on a 30 Day Design Challenge where I'd stretch myself in terms of creativity as well as perfect my workflow. This article looks at some key aspects I learnt about myself as well as what it takes to develop and get better at a skill.

1. Avoid Repetitiveness

The first week or so of the challenge creativity was at its highest but and the days rolled over creative blocks started to appear. I noticed this when I caught myself working on a business card design that literally was a copy-paste version of a previous design style I had used. At that moment I decided to look for inspiration and modern ways to design one of the oldest mediums of business networking.

When you do the same thing every day it is easy to fall into a pattern of familiarity - using similar fonts, similar layout even similar design style. Looking further into solutions to my creative complacency, I found several proven ways that help break out of the box. Internet sources suggested working in a different environment than usual for example and I found it helped.

2. You're Your Own Worst Critic

Design is a field that allows some form of expression creatively and as a creative, you always aim to give your best offering to the world and that can be a hindrance. Perfection is an enemy of progress because it is unattainable. Over the course of the 30 days, I found myself more and more dissatisfied with my work even though I was learning new techniques. I hoped I'd be great at using a new tool for the first time and boy was I wrong. I had to make peace with the fact that I'd be bad at a certain design method even though I'd been designing for a while.

Don't let the hunger to design the most unique, eye-catching poster stop you from solidifying key fundamentals like font selection, layout and hierarchy. Be okay with the fact that, you're learning by doing and so the result is not always going to be the best. Be able to identify the small victories and accomplishments.

3. When Creativity Dries Up Double Down on Inspiration

This ties back to when familiarity begins to set in, it's one thing to look for inspiration when you're stuck but it's another thing to be able to pick the right source of inspiration. Tasks can be achieved in many ways and Youtube tutorials can attest to that. This challenge helped train my eye to spot good design and sift through the fluff (this is not to say every piece of design on the internet is bad). With the development of AI, you can easily have a logo designed by a logo generator by just typing in your company name and that can be a problem if as a designer you adopt styles from said generators.

Doubling down on inspiration means being able to pick out designs that make good use of space, complimenting fonts and colour theme - the fundamentals. When trying to grow a skill set it's best to water your plant with a good source of water.

4. Don't just Create but also Learn

Going into this challenge my primary focus was on how far I can stretch myself creatively and by conducting this so-called experiment, I learned as you know about your limits, you must also learn how to overcome them. I was caught up with the creative part of the process that I didn't realise that growth in creativity comes from growth in knowledge. When you look for something to learn in everything the byproduct of that is accomplishing your desires. With designing, you can never stop learning and sadly it took me 30 days to apply that mindset to my work.

5. Consistency Builds Work Flow

I know it may seem like there's some contradiction here but I'll explain. There is a fine line between consistency and complacency. This challenge helped me see that consistency involves small steps of progression and it is possible to be stuck a certain step of progress however pushing through those periods of stagnation moulds you as a designer and a person in general.

Strive for progress because it adds up over time. I only realised the concept of workflow and its importance during a time I had tight deadlines. When you're fluid with your design process it frees up your mind to focus on the creative aspect of a project. Technique and creativity are two sides of the same coin in design and to become a better designer you need to harness both but technique most.