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Most design careers go the same way. You graduate with big ambitions only to work your way up the desk jockeys to finally get to a director role so you can tell the other junior designers what to do. The system is common in many industries. But there is a problem - the farther up the food chain you go - the farther you get from design work.
We work on complex
3d rendering projects
with multiple levels of partners between the images we produce and the client. The more levels, the more input, and ultimately more changes. Sometimes there are questions, disagreements, egos… many layers to peel. It can be frustrating when it all runs downhill to us at the 11th hour. It's our job to make miracles happen, sometimes the night before the presentation.
You don't have to walk on water to get the job done, but you do have to perform under pressure. Just like team sports, the best work gets done when you have
momentum. As consultants, we have to read between the lines, choose what is relevant or not, and keep the project moving forward on time and on budget. This means the result can be dramatically different than what you had first envisioned but that is after all how the creative process works. Sometimes it works better than you could have predicted other times not so much.
So how do you move past these challenges, even when clients are pushing tight timelines and technical issues are stacking up against you? Here are three ways to maintain momentum as you address design challenges:
Keep your Eye on the Prize
I know it’s cliche, but it’s true. Clear direction and communication will keep the team focused on the end goal. Day to day distractions can disrupt the creative process and can lead to countless hours working in the wrong direction. It’s important to keep the project hours productive on a daily basis. Make sure everyone is on the same page.
Lead By Example
You don’t have to have all the answers, but you should be willing to try. Show the team your motivation for the project, and if necessary, your willingness to restart after a failure. Come up with new ideas. Lead alongside your team and help them build creative confidence. Share the ownership of the project and they will share in the motivation.
Stay Curious
Bigger projects take a long time. Project enthusiasm wanes over time. It’s exhausting being the cheerleader every day. Build-in milestones and deliverables to keep the team AND client invested. Prepare a list of review questions to help move on to the next stage of the design process with renewed excitement.
Not every day is all unicorns and rainbows. Sometimes the result is not what we had hoped for. No one can predict the future. Stuff happens. It doesn’t matter how many questions you ask, what tools you use, how many rock star designers are on the project - sometimes it just doesn’t work. Be a professional. Embrace it. Learn from it.
Remember projects and clients will come and go, but you and the team are in it for the long haul. Ernest Hemingway called it
leaving water in the well. In short: If you drink all the kool-aid today, there won't be any left for tomorrow. Stick to the process. Stay creative.
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