How Does an In-House Designer Stay Creative?
Calling all in-house designers! Yeah you, I need your advice.
Following my illustrious one year stint as a freelance designer (a fantastic year that was proceeded by nearly 3 years of agency work) I went to work for MyComputer.com as their one (and only) designer. No, I hadn’t read the book about being an in-house designer, the whole story about having one client, one boss, one brand, one message… forever… and so I just dove in and did my job. Lucky for me, and just in time for me to get sick of the same brand, they announced we were rebranding. We created Omniture from scratch, and I got to do it all. This was an adventure! It enlivened me for another year or so, until I began to get bored again.
So how does an in-house designer stay excited about a brand? How can I work day-in and day-out with the same client (my employer) and not get bored?
Now there is something positive to be said for being in-house, as you get the opportunity to know the company inside and out. But sometimes I go crazy that I’m the only “creative” person working with engineers, marketers, and business people. Who can I brainstorm with that won’t think I’m totally crazy? Earlier today I thought that if I heard the word “webinar”, or “landing page” one more time I might pull my hair out. (And I’ve got such a nice head of it too.)
Here’s a couple things that have worked for me:
1. Balance. I do all the design work. I mean all of it. Lots of it is very boring stuff. I’ve designed and changed the copy on our product sheets probably a hundred times by now, and powerpoints can get old very quickly. So every day I try to balance those tedious production tasks, with the more creative tasks. I even push myself to get involved in other parts of the company and learn more about what others do. I find that design echo’s all across an organization from the look of the office space to how the brand appears on our invoices.
2. Get away. Vacations are CRITICAL to being a good designer. And when I’m away on vacation, I get new fresh ideas in the strangest places. I feel refreshed and alive and ready to make a button for our next webinar. (Not THAT word again) I even do what I call “computer fasts”, where I don’t turn on my computer at home, but instead I read or look at magazines for inspiration.
3. Take a break from design. Have another interest that has nothing to do with design. This is one of my reasons for my blog Tweet Sweet. Though there is always a mention of design in my posts on tweetsweet.com, I delight that my dream of having a chocolate shop has nothing to do with technology.
4. Connect with the design community. This is a new effort of mine, and I’m just beginning. I’ve been so out of the loop with how things have changed in design. I subscribed again to magazines I use to love like Print, Communication Arts, and How. I’m looking into design conferences I can attend, and just joined the local AIGA chapter. There are some talented people out there - and I need to rubb some more inspiration off them.
Any other ideas? (I pose the question to my readership, even though I think at this point only a couple of my friends visit my blog.)