Saturday, February 11, 2012

Water in the desert

Lately I've been feeling incredibly burnt out- especially creatively.  I go to class- I design.  I go to work- I design.  I go home and do homework- more design.  So when I get free time, I don't want to design anymore.  I have let design become something I have to do rather than something I love to do (How sad is that?!).

Thinking that the solution to being burnt out on designing is to do anything absolutely anything except design something, I have wasted many hours playing speed solitaire and watching NCIS marathons,  but I definitely don't feel any more inspired after doing these things; I just feel lazy.

About a week ago, I was sitting on the couch with my laptop and a few minutes of freedom.  I had just gone on a font shopping spree, and wanted to play with my new purchases.  I didn't have a deadline or a client, just a blank inDesign page and some spare time.  Taking several meaningful quotes, I started to play with the typography and something began to take shape.  It was so simple, but so inspiring.  I discovered that in that time I get to do whatever I want, I should create what I want.  This is where the inspiration comes from.  For every one project I do for someone else, I should be doing at least one for myself.

My problem, however, is that I always come up with ideas for projects, but let them fall by the wayside because I get tired and discouraged.  But, this week in my publication design class we watched a Creative Mornings video featuring Kate Bingaman Burt.  Her structured workflow really inspired me because it requires the discipline that I lack, and I have several projects in the works that I am very excited about.

Here's the Creative Mornings video:
http://vimeo.com/31610153

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