help
anandsethu (5 points) | Sat, 2007-08-18 08:47hi, i joined this sitejust now. here i expect some help. i am a beginer in designing. i was a fine arts student from india. now im in qatar working in an agency. my problem is i cant work good. i feel i lost my ideas. sometimes feel to quit from this field. anybody can help me?
That's normal. Don't worry! We all experience this at times. It's called the burnout. You need to read books about design and communication. You need to look at inspiring works of other artists on the net. You need to take in a lot of new information. Joining this site and socializing with other designers is also important. There is nothing wrong with the field. It's all about your motivation.
This week there is an interesting article on A List Apart about motivation in design and advices.
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/stayingmotivated
Although I agree with Ivan on the burnout, I don't think you should read about communication and design right now. Do something different, take a break, go to the park, watch cartoons, don't think about your job this weekend. Ideas will come naturally.
Graphic & Interface Designer
http://www.devixdesign.com
You need inspiration and understanding. I love http://www.accidentalcreative.com because he goes deep into how to be creative in our 'on demand world'. You are feeling the pressure of deadlines; what you have to do is give yourself time to think creatively. Check out the site and podcasts too. :)
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Powerpoint is not a design application
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The Salon Design Tech
Your idea about taking a break is a good one generally speaking, but actually, Nanda, I think some novice designers can benefit enormously from reading about communication and design, and exposing themselves to the excitement of art galleries and museums, even a trip to a grocery store store just to study the package designs. (Someone here mentioned that recently as a great source of ideas, and I agree.) Otherwise, we get stuck in the same unproductive, internalized routines.
Mara
I've found a country's design is as good as the food packaging in their markets. :) New Zealand, in partucular, has GREAT and colorful designs; the whole store jumps out at you!
I love going to japanese food stores. Talk about design innovation! Even the kanji inspires me to do different things with text and layout.
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Powerpoint is not a design application
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The Salon Design Tech
I sympathize with you, don't give up. Two things: 1) Each and every creator of things in this world, who we think is brilliant, has created a bunch of shit you don't see. They are still brilliant, it's just that you see EVERYTHING that you yourself create so you are bound to be your worst critic. 2) Consume creative things like a shark- movies, comics, magazines, music, and packaging like the dude above suggests. It's one of the few jobs that you can find direct inspiration while taking a break. I have a random-image grabber that takes images from the internet and makes a collage. David Bowie gets ideas for lyrics by clipping words out of magazines and mixing them up in a hat. I personally hit the bookstore to get me going. I loiter in the design/photography section for way to long, look at a bunch of stuff, and usually don't buy anything. Then I go to the in-store cafe and look at girls for a while.
Ditto on the design/photo bookstore section and the in-store cafe people watching. :)
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Powerpoint is not a design application
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The Salon Design Tech