5 Positive Tips for Logo Designers – Attitude for a Designer

A rejected design, an angry client’s insensitive comments about your work or being boggled down in meeting deadlines – are all events in a day’s work that bring down even the most upbeat of designers. For times like these when you’re down in the dumps and nothing appears to be going well, a little soul-searching and the right attitude will be able to help lift you from the gloomiest of moods.

1. Hail your work:

The best critique of anyone’s work is often the designer him/herself. Only you will know the good points about your creation and the areas where you could have done better. Often, designers tend to become very critical of themselves and underrate their own work, leaving them quite displeased. And every time they across someone else’s creative masterpiece, the feeling of being ‘not-as-good’ increases manifold.

Designers need to appreciate and accept that there will always be designs better than theirs, but this doesn’t mean their own work is shoddy. Learn to focus on the positives and appreciate your own work as much as you appreciate others. Don’t get overconfident though, good work needs consistent effort!

2. Make people understand your worth:

If you’re a designer, chances are your friends, relatives, mommy’s friends or spouse’s relative have all approached you for a free meal. They’ll entice with you paying in kind, but hey! You don’t put in hours of painstaking effort just to get a smooch on the cheek from your aunt! Make it clear that your work is of premium quality and comes with a price tag – take it or leave it.

3. Don’t be a wimp

You’re in the graphic designing business. There are going to be sleepless nights, raging clients and lots of re-drafts. The sooner you accept this and learn to appreciate positive criticism and learn lessons from it, the easier your job will become for you. This doesn’t mean you let others treat you like a doormat though; just don’t let yourself or your tasks get affected by every little hitch that you come across.

4. Get outside your shell:

Fine, you may have a specialty that you excel at – perhaps it’s typography or illustrations. Occasionally, however, doing the same thing over and over again might become a little dull. It is a good idea to try something different and something new once in a while to keep your creative juices revved up in other areas as well. Don’t get mistaken, it’s good to be a master at something and you should strive for perfection in that; but an occasional deviance from the regular will help freshen you up.

5. Communicate, communicate, communicate!

There’s nothing that adds a human element to any creation than strong communication. Communicate with you clients thoroughly. Only if you’ll be able to understand their perspective and discuss your ideas thoroughly with them will you be able to come up with something closest to expectations. And this means less disappointment for both you and your client.

But don’t get caught up chatting with clients about work only; it is important to keep the communication lines with your family and friends fluid too. After all, these loved ones are the people who help lift you up when you are in the blues and may also be a source of some great, inspiring ideas.

Remember, just like any profession, it takes true grit to be a designer. You have to be both spiritually and emotionally strong, besides have the strength to stay up for hours at a stretch!