All of us have suffered from it. Designer’s block is miserable, uninspiring and downright discouraging. There are tons of “inspiration” posts that Smash you with information, but does that really help?
Bad Idea by Kapungo
The Work
This is going to get a little personal, but bear with me. Have you ever considered that your designer’s block is actually a psychological defense? It’s probably stemming from fear about something (yes, I was a Psychology major before discovering graphic design).
I just discovered this awesome process that I think might help combat the block. It’s called The Work by Byron Katie.
Designers can use it like this:
The instructions on the site say to answer the questions (copied here for convenience).
Don’t censor yourself; don’t be wise or “spiritual.” Take this opportunity to express your negative feelings on paper.
from ellikelli
1. Who angers, irritates, saddens, or frustrates you, and why?
I am frustrated with Bob because he doesn’t like the way I design. He always criticizes me.
2. How do you want them to change? What do you want them to do?
I want Bob to declare my design the best in the world… or at least affirm my creative solutions.
3. What is it that they should or shouldn’t do, be, think, or feel? What advice could you offer?
Bob should give me constructive criticism so I can improve.
Bob shouldn’t berate me and my work.
4. What do they need to do in order for you to be happy?
I need Bob to affirm my design choices and encourage me.
5. What do you think of them? Make a list.
Bob is inconsiderate, rude, egotistical and close-minded.
6. What is it that you don’t want to experience with that person again?
I don’t ever want to be criticized by Bob again.
Turn Negative Thoughts Around
Take one of the negative thoughts from the above 6 questions. For the example, I’ll take “Bob thinks I’m a bad designer; that’s why he’s always criticizing me.”
Then ask the following questions. Meditate on the answers.
1. Is it true?
Yes it’s true. The evidence is he is always criticizing my work!
2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true?
Well, I’ve never asked Bob if he thinks I’m a bad designer, so I suppose I can’t know for sure, no.
3. How do you react—what happens—when you believe that thought?
When I believe Bob thinks I’m a bad designer, I start feeling like I really am a bad designer! I question my ideas and I doubt that I can ever produce another good design in my life, no matter how hard I try, how many books I read or how many “inspirational” design collections I look at. It just makes me feel bad about being me.
4. Who would you be without the thought?
I would be someone free from the fear of negative criticism. I would feel free to explore my own creative ideas and take my own path to an effective design. Hmm… I kinda like that idea!
Then turn it around (the concept you are questioning), and don’t forget to find three genuine examples of each turnaround.
The original statement: “Bob shouldn’t berate me and my work.”
Turnaround 1: Bob should berate me and my work. (Bob can do whatever he likes, the affect his actions have on me is MY choice… and maybe there is some truth in his criticisms)
Turnaround 2: I should berate Bob’s work. (Well, I don’t really want to repay like for like. It doesn’t feel good afterwards)
Turnaround 3: I shouldn’t berate myself and my work. (Hmm… so are these negative thoughts really coming from me? Do I discourage my own creativity because I judge my new thoughts before they come to fruition?)
Do this section for each though for questions 1 – 5 above. The sixth question is where the magic happens…
Original: “I don’t ever want to be criticized by Bob again.”
Turnaround 1: I am willing to be criticized by Bob again. (More than likely it’s going to happen whether I like it or not. Can I be brave in the face that reality?)
Turnaround 2: I look forward to being criticized by Bob again. (Maybe this will give me a chance to confront Bob and ask him what he really thinks of my designs!)
Getting Back to the Design Part—Jumpstart Your Brain
So now that you’ve done The Work, do you feel freer to explore your creative ideas? Perhaps you need a little help getting started. Here are some ideas:
I’ve written before about copying designs you think are successful. Well, the underlying layout at least. It really can help get your brain in gear. Thumbnails are important and you need to get all your ideas on paper. Then you need to dig deep to get the really good stuff—the less obvious solutions.
Pick apart just one or two designs that you think are successful—the point of this is to work through being overwhelmed by thousands of designs. Ask questions: Why are these designs successful? How can you use the elements and principles of design to discover their “secret” and implement it into your own designs?
Brainstorm with a friend—designer or not. Non-designers can offer you a perspective you couldn’t have thought of on your own and maybe they will be less inhibited by the details of making an idea work. There are benefits to bouncing ideas off of a designer, too—already knows the industry, maybe has done something similar, keeps up on latest news and trends.
Doodle! The creative benefits to doodling are championed by the likes of Von Glitschka, Milton Glaser
and me 
So what do you think? Is this all a load of hooey? Does a designer’s psychology really play a role in how creative he or she is? Do you think this process will help you at all? I’d love to talk in the comments!
This post is my entry for Just Creative Design’s $11,000 Group Writing Project. There’s still time to join in! Deadline for entries is November 22nd.
Great post
I think psychology plays an enormous role in creativity, absolutely. I have several clients that could all give me the exact same feedback and I’ll react differently to each one based on how I perceive them and the relationship I have with each.. sometimes I’ll say to my self “pfft, what a wanker they are”, or I’ll get angry and scream “what do they know?!”.. then there’s the total opposite, “Yeah, cool, I see that, no problem”..
After I realised that it was all in my head, I sat back and thought about it and try to not be bothered by others comments when they’re negative, and instead try to get something out of it.. I often get a better job at the end of it because of really trying to figure out what’s going on inside the clients head, rather than my own..
and also, what fun is it doing what we love if we let other people get us down about it? they’re entitled to their opinion as much as we are.
lovely post lauren, really dig it
Alex Charchar´s last blog post: Music and the Artist
Great post Lauren, I agree that the state of mind a designer is in when approaching a design project plays a huge part in the way the project turns out, or indeed if the project even gets done.
With most jobs you can turn off your brain for a while and still get the job done, but with a creative project you NEED that brain! (not saying that designers are smarter then everyone else, LOL, just that creative projects require you to be creative
).
On a different note, I know that if I start a project without mulling it over in my head for a few days I get designers block badly (a 3 hour project has been known to take me 2 weeks), if I spend time thinking about it in advance I usually have a good idea what I want to do with the project.
I also like what you said about copying other designs, I usually start any web design project by blatantly ripping off the design of a site that I like alot (sometimes one I’ve already designed, sometimes not), I then hack away at it in PhotoShop until it looks nothing whatsoever like the original design, it just helps so much to have that starting point.
All the best!
George - LogoDesign.org´s last blog post: Imitation We Can Believe In: Plagarizing Obama
wow nice post. it reminds me of CBT therapy that im tryin to do to myself. I have diff reactions to clients or professors as well. If I like someone, it motivates me to do my best work. If i like them too much, and try to impress them with something beyond my level, i often fail. However being a student also with strong social anxiety, i often fear clients and can’t communicate and work well.
I was browsing over ur profile and noticed ur type is INTJ as well like me. Maybe diff. designers face designing or creativity also based on that?
Alex,
Isn’t it interesting to note that we react more to the person than what they are actually saying? It’s important to learn to slow down our knee-jerk reaction and realize what we are telling ourselves (oh here we go with the psychologist bit again). One thing I have to keep asking myself about a LOT of things is “What difference is it to me if they do things that way?” I mean, they are usually doing things the wrong way, but that doesn’t affect me for the most part
George,
Haha, what inspired this post was exactly one of those three hour projects that is taking me two weeks! I like to mull ideas over in my head, too. I usually do that while working out at the gym—and then I get a really good idea and nearly forget it becaues I can’t write it down! “Creative projects require you to be creative.” Hehe, new favorite quote of the day.
mitch,
I think different personalities face every situation differently because there are different underlying fears. If you like personality tests, I so highly recommend taking the Riso-Hudson Enneagram test (scroll down to the bottom). In my opinion, it the best one out there because it allows for changes in base personality based on how mature one is. I’m a One, The Reformer, if you’re curious.
I react much the same depending on how I perceive the other person. So I’m guessing you really, really like networking online
Yep, the design block, as well as any kind of temporary lack of creativity is really hard to fight. But possible
To tell you the truth, I usually try the lazy approach first - to switch the activity, do somehting else, procrastinate and wait for it to return. But I really like all of your advise for trying to reignight the spark. Definitely bookmarking it for the “rainy day” 
RaShell´s last blog post: Jim Bradshaw’s Indiscriminative Doodling
Everyone deals with things differently. Fears and anxiety will steam from different places for different faces. We all have our threshold off what it takes when we just cant focus on the job at hand. A bad critic might not set me off the way it would another, but a bad night of sleep will definitely keep me from thinking straight.
Anyway, all in all the article was spot on. I think most people understand if not consciously, maybe subconsciously, that their creative block is because of something going on internally, rather then just not being creative enough. The method of this list is a great way to get to the root of ones creative block.
Now moving forward and overcoming the block is input, input and more input. Sometimes I love surfing getty and looking at related photos and art. Google images is another great tool I use.
It was a pleasure meeting you Lauren, I will definitely bookmark this page for future readings. Take care. http://www.ryanechaus.com
RaShell,
Heh, I usually try the “lazy” approach, too. But when that doesn’t work, here’s another way
Ryan,
Thanks for stopping by and commenting! Great to get your perspective. I hear ya on the bad night’s sleep. Poor eating I notice affects me, too.
BTW, went to your site and with my IE6 at work. I can’t see the nav, which is why I was so confused yesterday! I tried it at home with FF’s IE Tab plugin and I could see it fine. But I’ve had weird issues at work with other sites, too, that others testing sites with IE6 have not had. I think we just have a really strange version for some reason.
I really like this post. It really gives me an insight into when I sometimes get so overwhelmed with criticism that it starts making me question my design judgment.
Thanks so much for a great post!
Kelly | Purple Lemon´s last blog post: Happy Thanksgiving and a Special Offer
Kelly,
Hiya! You’re so totally welcome for the article! Glad you found it useful :)
Maybe this post doesn’t actually belong in this section, but after perusing much of the content on your site I have to say, with absolute certainty, that this is one of THE BEST CREATIVE RESOURCES on the internet!
I found, in my many searches, that most design resource sites are composed by people with poor taste, little design education, and generic posts of the basics of the industry. Here and there you might find an interesting discovery, but it is rarely worth the time investment.
This site however, offers interesting and new perspectives to some of the most difficult topics: Creative thinking being one.
You provide excellent examples, resourceful links and relative good taste for design. I look forward to exploring new updates and content in hopes that it will continue to benefit my design process.
Thanks be to you!
Peter Lawrence Girard
Creative Director | Warren County Tourism
You are right. Creativity is based on so many external things that if there is negativity in someone’s life, it is hard to let those creative feelings flow. Some people are the opposite and actually create more when depressed or sad but either way, your mood can change your creative outlook and all artists should try to channel creative feelings and express them as much as possible.
Peter,
Thank you very much for the compliments! I’m so pleased to hear you are learning new things!
Nikki,
Yeah, it’s important to learn how we tick and when we’re the most creative so we can carve out and maximize that time.
I get this all the time and, having originally been a painter, I call it ‘blank canvas syndrome.’ At college I learnt to prime canvases with a midtone grey simply because white was so daunting. Your take on it is interesting but what I think is really behind it is fear of failure.
Greg,
It probably is largely fear of failure, but this process helps us move past that. It can be useless to just tell yourself “don’t be afraid.” One of those easier said than done things!
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