How to Generate Design Ideas!
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
😓 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.
🔍 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
💡Imposter Syndrome
💡Pinterest Inspiration
💡Brand Strategy
💡Brand Foundations
💡Market Research
💡Mood Boards
💡Client Collaboration
💡Design Solutions
💡Looming Deadlines
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.
Transcripts
designing ever made you feel like this
you're not alone I've been there many
times myself staring at a blank canvas
with a looming deadline feeling the
pressure to deliver something amazing
for a client and worrying that they're
not gonna think I'm worth what they paid
me it's frustrating demotivating and
downright stressful but after years of
trial and error I stumbled upon a
solution that's going to make starting
your next project 10 times easier even
if you have no ideas but in order to
uncover exactly what that is we must
first travel back in time to identify
the mistakes younger me was making so
here I was day one of a new branding
project it was for a coffee company an
industry up until then I'd never
designed for the previous week had been
spent going back and forth with the
client discussing deliverables pricing
and going over their business so I was
ready to start the design process at
least that's what I thought but after
opening up illustrator something owned
on me the client had requested a design
style that I was totally inexperienced
with in fact this would be my first time
working with a food and drink company at
all suddenly that blank canvas was
staring back at me followed by a wave of
existential dread I'd awoken the Beast
now as designers we all know that when
you have this little Gremlin on your
shoulder it not only strips you of your
confidence and joy but your creativity
too meaning 15 minutes later I was still
staring at the same blank canvas but I
had a solution I knew that going on
Pinterest and looking for some inspo
would help get those creative juices
flowing take that imposter syndrome and
at the time this helped massively seeing
a bunch of real life examples sparked
some ideas but as we'll soon uncover
this actually came back to bite me see
what I thought was the answer to curing
my lack of creativity wasn't that just
paper over the cracks I still hadn't
addressed the root of my problem anyway
I left Pinterest with a head full of
ideas and a positive mindset so I got to
work a couple days later and the logo
type was done but there was a major
problem it looked just like the
inspiration I had pulled from Pinterest
and just like that I was back to square
one this was a high budget project I
knew I needed to deliver something
that's unique and would stand out
amongst competitors not one that falls
in line but realizing this just piled
even more pressure onto me and is hard
to be creative when you're carrying that
on your shoulders so what did Young Abby
do I'll tell you exactly what she did
she sold and felt sorry for herself and
after hours spend aimlessly scrolling
through our phone and indulging in our
own self-pity she decided to just call
it a day in hopes of coming back feeling
refreshed and revitalized in the morning
with a bucket full of ideas turns out
nothing changed I just found myself
incapable of coming up with ideas this
lasted for days until I was eventually
powered on by the looming deadline of
the project and got the logo and
branding to a place I was happy with the
client was happy but for some reason I
was still feeling frustrated why had I
found this project so stressful This was
meant to be my passion what I'm good at
so why was I finding it so hard all of a
sudden I knew if I wanted to have the
successful design business I dreamed of
I'd need to figure out the problem and
find a solution so what did I do to
prevent this creative block from
happening on future projects well
instead of just telling you let me show
you how I would approach this project
now and see if you can spot what's been
implemented first after the client has
inquired I would jump on a call with
them to discuss the scope of the project
deliverables and learn more about the
business as a whole secondly I would put
together a project proposal document
outlining the whole design process and
include things such as the project
timeline cost and confirmation of the
deliverables third if the client is
happy to proceed I will set up a client
portal for them which outlines all
important information about the project
including a contract and payment dates
fourth it's time to start the design
process and I would kick things off with
strategy learning more about the
business their competitors and the
industry as a whole fifth it would be
time to move on to designing the logo
variations brand collateral and
identifying a color palette lastly I
would present the brand to a client in a
presentation explaining all the design
decisions one of these steps I've
mentioned is absolutely key to solving
the creativity problem I was having
before see without realizing it I was
making three major mistakes during this
step that were directly causing the lack
of ideas it was the implement rotation
of an in-depth and complete brand
strategy stage so these are the three
mistakes many designers make at this
stage and the three solutions I found to
prevent me ever being short on ideas
again the first was introduced to
address the mistake of only learning
about the business on a surface level
now I do something called brand
foundations where I take a deep dive
into the business finding out their
purpose Mission Vision and brand values
the next stage I added was brand
positioning see one of the mistakes I
used to make was not doing any research
on brand competitors so now I carry out
market research analyze competitors and
the Brand's target audience and
personality and the final stage was
added to help make my designs unique and
prevent them looking similar to the
competitors and that is design Solutions
in this stage I take my research from
the previous two stages and provide
strategic design Solutions alongside
creating movie boards to showcase the
creative direction of the brand now
you're probably thinking how do I put
all of this together well that's where
the sponsor of today's video comes in
Milano I use their design brief template
to compile all of my research notes mood
boards Etc meaning I can easily
reference it throughout the whole design
process preventing me from Ever Getting
short on ideas it's also easy to share
with other team members who are working
on the same project so they can access
the board and leave their input if you
want to sign up for free click the first
link in my description now I'm hoping
this video has given you the knowledge
to overcome your next creative bra but
if you're wondering exactly how you make
a brand mood board then you need to
watch this video right here where I go
in depth with a tutorial all on how to
create this
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