How to Generate Design Ideas!

Abi Connick

4 Apr 202306:52

Summary

TLDRThe video addresses the common struggles designers face, such as creative blocks and imposter syndrome, by sharing personal experiences and solutions. The speaker recounts a stressful branding project and the mistakes made, including relying on surface-level business knowledge and inspiration from Pinterest. The solution lies in implementing a thorough brand strategy, including deep research into the business, competitors, and unique design solutions. The video emphasizes the importance of brand foundations, positioning, and strategic design to spark creativity and deliver unique results, with tools like Milano to streamline the process.

Takeaways

🎨 Designers often face creative blocks and imposter syndrome, especially when working on unfamiliar projects with high expectations.
💡 Drawing inspiration from platforms like Pinterest can be helpful but can sometimes lead to copying rather than creating unique designs.
🔑 The root cause of the creative block wasn't addressed initially, resulting in frustration and a lack of original ideas.
🗓️ Having a structured design process can significantly reduce stress and make the project more manageable.
📞 Establishing clear communication with the client early on helps understand the project scope, deliverables, and the client's business.
📑 Creating a project proposal document is essential, outlining the design process, timeline, costs, and deliverables to set clear expectations.
🌐 Setting up a client portal ensures that all important project information, contracts, and payment dates are well-organized and accessible.
🔍 Conducting in-depth brand strategy research, including brand foundations, positioning, and design solutions, is critical for generating creative ideas.
🧠 Researching the business's purpose, mission, vision, values, competitors, target audience, and brand personality provides a solid foundation for design work.
🛠️ Using tools like Milanote for compiling research notes, mood boards, and creative direction ensures a consistent and efficient design process.

Q & A

What challenges does the speaker mention about starting a new design project?
-The speaker mentions feeling pressure, stress, and creative block, especially when facing a blank canvas and a tight deadline. This feeling is exacerbated by the fear that the client may not think the designer's work is worth the payment.
Why did the speaker feel unprepared for the coffee company branding project?
-The speaker felt unprepared because they had no prior experience designing for a food and drink company and were unfamiliar with the design style the client requested.
How did using Pinterest for inspiration initially help, and what was the downside?
-Using Pinterest helped the speaker get creative ideas initially by showing real-life examples, which helped boost their confidence. However, the downside was that the final design looked too similar to the inspiration, making the project feel unoriginal.
What realization did the speaker come to after delivering the project?
-The speaker realized that while the client was happy with the final product, they still felt frustrated and stressed. This led them to question why a project tied to their passion and skill was so difficult and unpleasant.
What changes did the speaker make to avoid creative block in future projects?
-The speaker implemented a structured approach, including an in-depth brand strategy phase, a project proposal, and the creation of a client portal. This ensured better preparation and understanding of the client’s business.
What is the 'brand foundations' step, and why is it important?
-The 'brand foundations' step involves taking a deep dive into the business to understand its purpose, mission, vision, and brand values. It is crucial because it prevents the designer from only understanding the business on a surface level.
Why did the speaker add a 'brand positioning' stage to their process?
-The speaker added a 'brand positioning' stage to research competitors, analyze the market, and understand the brand’s target audience and personality. This step helps ensure the design stands out in a competitive landscape.
How does the speaker ensure their designs are unique after completing research?
-After completing research, the speaker develops strategic design solutions based on the insights from the brand foundations and positioning stages. They also create mood boards to guide the creative direction of the brand.
What tool does the speaker recommend for organizing research and ideas, and why?
-The speaker recommends using Milano’s design brief template to compile research, mood boards, and other notes. It helps them stay organized throughout the design process and makes it easy to share information with team members.
How does this new structured process help the speaker overcome creative blocks?
-This structured process helps by breaking down the project into manageable steps, providing thorough research and strategic direction. This removes the pressure of starting with a blank canvas and ensures the designer is never short on ideas.

Outlines

00:00

😓 Struggling with Creative Block

The narrator discusses the common frustration of facing a blank canvas while under the pressure of a looming deadline, feeling unworthy of the client's payment, and worrying about delivering a great design. They recount an experience designing for a coffee company—a new industry for them—and the resulting creative block that occurred due to inexperience and imposter syndrome. They tried seeking inspiration on Pinterest, which helped initially, but later backfired when their work resembled their references too closely. Despite completing the project and satisfying the client, the designer still felt dissatisfied, realizing they had not addressed the root issue causing the creative block.

05:01

🔍 Steps for Preventing Creative Block

The narrator shares the new approach they now use to overcome creative block, emphasizing preparation and strategy. They outline six key steps in their process: (1) discussing project scope and business details with the client, (2) creating a project proposal, (3) setting up a client portal for seamless communication, (4) starting with strategy by researching the client's business and competitors, (5) designing logo variations and brand collateral, and (6) presenting the final design to the client with explanations for the design decisions. The narrator highlights the importance of the strategy phase and mentions three common mistakes designers make at this stage, which they now avoid through a more structured process.

🚀 Key Solutions to Overcoming Creative Block

The narrator introduces three solutions to avoid running out of ideas during the creative process. The first solution is developing ‘brand foundations,’ where they delve deeply into the client’s mission, vision, and values, rather than staying on the surface level. The second solution is performing ‘brand positioning,’ which includes researching competitors and analyzing the target audience to identify the brand’s unique space. Lastly, they implement ‘design solutions,’ where they take their research and create strategic design directions using mood boards to ensure the designs are original and distinct from competitors.

🛠 Using Milano for a Seamless Workflow

The narrator introduces Milano, a tool they use to compile research, mood boards, and other creative elements into a single design brief. This allows them to easily reference the brief during the project and share it with team members for feedback. They highlight how this tool helps prevent creative blocks by keeping all key project elements organized and accessible. Lastly, they encourage viewers to sign up for Milano and provide a link to a related video on how to create a brand mood board.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Creative Block

Creative block refers to the inability to produce new work or ideas, a major issue discussed in the video. The speaker experiences this when faced with a blank canvas and looming deadlines. It is characterized by feelings of frustration and stress, especially when one lacks confidence or inspiration.

💡Imposter Syndrome

Imposter syndrome is the feeling of self-doubt and inadequacy despite evident success. In the video, the speaker mentions how this feeling arises when the pressure to deliver something unique mounts, leading to self-pity and questioning one's worth and abilities as a designer.

💡Pinterest Inspiration

Pinterest inspiration refers to using the platform to gather visual ideas. The speaker initially turns to Pinterest to combat creative block, but later realizes that this quick fix did not address the deeper problem of originality, as her final design mirrored what she found online.

💡Brand Strategy

Brand strategy is the comprehensive plan that guides the development of a brand's identity, positioning, and design. The speaker emphasizes that a thorough brand strategy is key to overcoming creative block, as it helps ground the designer in the business’s values, mission, and competitive landscape.

💡Brand Foundations

Brand foundations are the core elements of a brand, including its purpose, mission, vision, and values. The speaker realizes that earlier struggles stemmed from not exploring these foundational aspects deeply, which are now part of her strategic design process.

💡Market Research

Market research involves analyzing competitors, target audience, and overall market trends. The speaker highlights this as a crucial step in brand positioning, helping her design solutions that stand out while ensuring alignment with industry standards.

💡Mood Boards

Mood boards are visual tools used to compile inspiration, color schemes, and creative directions. In the video, the speaker explains that creating a mood board, especially through platforms like Milanote, helps provide a clear design direction while avoiding repetitive or derivative designs.

💡Client Collaboration

Client collaboration refers to the interactive process of working closely with a client to understand their needs and ensure their satisfaction. The speaker stresses the importance of maintaining an open line of communication with clients through portals and calls, ensuring they are involved in key decisions.

💡Design Solutions

Design solutions are the creative and strategic answers to the challenges posed by a branding project. After conducting research, the speaker mentions providing design solutions based on business insights, market positioning, and competitor analysis, ensuring the final product is unique and impactful.

💡Looming Deadlines

Looming deadlines refer to the pressure of completing a project within a set timeframe. The video emphasizes how deadlines can intensify stress and creative block, often forcing the speaker to push through the challenges. This pressure can make it harder to generate original ideas, as shown in her earlier struggles.

Highlights

Starting a project with no clear idea can be stressful and overwhelming.

The pressure to deliver something unique for a client can be demotivating.

Turning to inspiration platforms like Pinterest can spark ideas but might lead to unoriginal designs.

Realizing that pulling too much from inspiration sources can lead to designs that mimic others.

A major mistake is starting the design process without a deep understanding of the client's industry or business.

The importance of implementing an in-depth brand strategy to prevent creative blocks.

One major mistake is only learning about the business at a surface level.

Introducing 'brand foundations' helps understand the client's mission, vision, and brand values.

The necessity of doing competitive research to inform brand positioning.

Analyzing competitors, market research, and understanding the brand's target audience is crucial to originality.

Providing strategic design solutions based on in-depth research ensures designs stand out.

Using tools like Milano to compile research, mood boards, and design references helps streamline the process.

Sharing design materials and notes with the team through collaboration tools can foster more effective creativity.

The 'brand positioning' stage is essential for creating a unique identity that doesn't mimic competitors.

Taking a break when creatively blocked can help, but revisiting the brand strategy will address the root of the issue.