Top 5 Reasons Why Designer Can’t Deliver Awesome Things Sometimes

Expectations v.s. Reality

We always think that designer can create stunning and jaw-dropping creations from graphic design to a large advertising platform. Sometimes, we can demand in our specifications in able to achieve our desires to create things with the help of a rockstar designer either it is your friend, on-call, or your officemate.

On the other hand,  designer should have a free time to allocate extra space to learn, discover, and interact with fellow designers. I always believed that everyone should have time to close the reality by simply going out somewhere and look for an inspiration. Sometimes, it is so confusing when you realized that you need to finish something because of the tight deadlines. By then, you missed the opportunity to level up your skills and ability to think more ideas.

Anyways, it is my true life scenario which I wanted to share with you. Here are the TOP 5 reasons why designer can’t deliver awesome things sometimes.

Disclaimer: The following list below are my personal experiences as a designer.

1.) Lack of Inspiration.

“Just look for minimalist designs and serve it as your reference.”

The number 1 on the list is the inability to inspire in doing things or we called “Lack of Inspiration”. I guess everyone needs to inspire either it is a human form, material thing or a certain place. As a designer, I inspired to see design reference at Pinterest which I gained more ideas to deliver designs in a good way. Most designers use the internet to access the different sites that showcased design portfolios and design techniques. Based on my personal experience, I missed a lot of time to think a good layout for my design, which means I can’t deliver because I lacked more inspirations for my design.

Tips: You need to randomly search many designs on Google, Pinterest, Deviant Art, Behance or many more. Always find a time to search more ideas and it keeps you going to design well.

2.) The Crowded Space

“Everyone is talking and laughing and I hate to use my earphones all day long.”

I considered that environment is one of the distractions for designers. Imagine, it is not good for a designer to work his/her thing in a crowded place. If he / she can, well it is a big congratulation. He’s / She’s a rockstar designer!

Hey, a designer needs a calm and peaceful place. Otherwise, he or she can survive through earphones and listen to good music. Well, I can’t suffer my eardrums to survive in a crowded place so I need to skip and look for peaceful one.

Tips: Either use an earphone and keep your favorite tracks on the list or go somewhere and look for a coffee shop or a coworking space.

3.) Sickness (Inside or Outside)

“I am so sick but I need to work.”

When a designer is a broken-hearted, is he/she can deliver a good design? In that case, I can’t state directly if he or she can deliver it well.

Let’s talk about physical sickness. It’s very normal when a person can’t work because of certain physical conditions that can affect the ability to deliver quality output like suffering cold, fever, muscle cramps or even headache or stomachache. Well, it’s not an excuse to skip for a while. There’s a doctor to give you a prescription.

When we talked about “Inside Sickness”, it is a different issue. Sometimes, it is so hard to go to work and you carry something big in an invisible form. What’s that invisible form? It is a sad feeling from heartbreaks and in-house problems (family, friends, financial). Other designers are suffering from anxiety and depression, which the common mental sickness for creative people. Stress is the source of developing mental sickness. It is not good to deal with toxic people and it is hard to win on a single debate to stand for a good quality design. In my own case, I let them research the design that they wanted and I let them suggest and criticize my work. In the good hand, there are good solutions for that.

Tips: Always find time to relax and communicate with your fellow officemates. Don’t take it as a personal issue because there’s a lot of opportunities for you to create a wide space for creativity. If your boss is toxic, make yourself as good toxic too. Stand for your right because they hired you to create awesome things, not a design machine.

4.) Worrying too much about what’s going on in Social Media.

“Maybe there’s someone commenting on my new post.” 

Social media is part of our life of this aging time for technology and advanced urbanization. It is a pretty drastic for me to think about my newsfeed on Facebook and Instagram. It is a normal thing because I write blogs and I monitor the statistics on my page. In a good aspect, I need to skip awhile and focus on the design. When you use your time properly, you can set or manage the time necessarily by setting up a specific time for creative works and for relaxation. Social media is part of our relaxation because it’s the only way to skip from stressful environment and it served as an entertainment as well.

Tips: Manage your time properly. If you are a blogger, it is a long run to manage your time because of many priorities and commitments like blogging, media event, and monitoring statistics.

5.) Loaded Freelance Works.

“One at the time, Two if you can, Three or more if you are poor”. 

I can’t believe that I can handle 4 freelance works last year. It is so hard to find time to finish it and thank God I finished it on specific deadlines. Which means I am very poor last year. 😀

Until I realized that the design demands are getting harder and most of my clients need an advanced design. Oh, my holy night! That’s why I need to reduce or ignore projects this year. It was not good to handle multiple projects and think different inspirations for it. Well, I am contented with my full-time work which I can gain good compensation and I am very excited for my art studio to be launched in March this year. I don’t have any wishes to have a new gadget and I minimized my clothing needs. It is good to have a time for personal content creation which I can set my own deadlines, but I don’t want to be lazy on some other points.

Tips: It is not good to handle multiple projects if you think that you can’t make it. Just follow what your mind and heart say. Your mind is your greatest tool to earn you more. When your mind is stressed to manage your creative skills, well, it’s time for you to stop for a while. Just keep your life easier.

Conclusions

There are many factors for designers why they can’t deliver designs on a particular day. In this top 5 list that I personally experienced, I hope you can learn and realize that designer’s life is not really easy. I’m sure that every designer has different ways on how to avoid this type of distractions. If you are a designer and you wanted to share your personal tips on how to deal with distractions, please comment down below and let’s discuss it.