The creative process — a systematic approach
The ‘creative process’ is one of those mythical concepts that people want to be a master of, yet there are no hard and fast rules for; particularly when it comes to idea generation as a creative.
I hashed out this idea in an issue of my newsletter a few months ago, and realised that it may be useful for others that are also confused about this concept to read how I approach the creative process.
We’ve all hit the idea generation wall, it’s completely natural. This isn’t just for design, it can cover writing, strategy, or something as un-creative as organising how you structure your documents for effienciency.
Break it down
First step: panic. No, I jest.
In order to tackle a seemingly overwhelming creative task, the best thing we can do at the start is to break the task down into smaller component parts, it’ll make the job feel less overwhelming.
For example, if we take the design of a website landing page, the entire document may feel like too much to tackle. By starting with the header, or a single module, we can hash out our ideas in a compartmentalised section. Once this is done, we will have our style ideas and guides in a rough place to be able to take on another one, and another.
Small, incremental changes are key to the success of any project.
Anything will do
Staring at a blank page is overwhelming, this isn’t a secret.
Do something — Well, duh. The first step is to just put anything on the page. We can handle this headache putting something on our artboard. Anything. Are you designing an app screen? Set up your Artboards / Frames. Add in what you already have, whether it’s a header, some copy set in the sizes in your styleguide, or perhaps an image from your library. Something as simple as this will get you in the correct mindset to channel your brand through the designs that you need to achieve.
Don’t have these things to hand? Try rewriting the brief in your own words, alongside your Artboards / Frames. This may feel unnatural, but when you have a firmer understanding of the requirements, you will be halfway there.
Whether it’s a solution or not, documenting your initial thoughts will spark something, I promise.
Duplicate, repeat
After the previous step, you’ll have something minimal to work with. At this point, duplicate what you’ve done and try to push it a bit further. Have another check of the brief, have you noticed anything new?
Perhaps you’ve now got a new perspective after having a first stab at the work. Can you change what you’ve already made to align more with the requirements?
Keep duplicating your work and adding to / amending it, and you’ll be bleeding ideas onto the page without even realising.
Go again
At this point with something on the board, have another go. You’ve been mulling things over for a while now and have rechecked the brief, you’ll certainly have other ideas now.
Create a new Artboard / Frame, take another look at your existing work and the brief, and give it another shot.
Relax
Still struggling to break through? Take a break.
Go for a walk around the block, or if you can afford it, park the job for a day and come back. With the break from staring at your screen, you’ll be forcing your eye to see the project with a sharper eye.
Feedback
Now that you have some work, ask for feedback.
It’s at this point that looping in the team can provide you with even more fresh perspective. Your colleagues and peers, having been tied up with their own work up until this point can offer you some useful guidance to push the work across the line.
Surprisingly, I often find the most pertinent feedback to come from non-creatives or product professionals. You’d be surprised how refreshing feedback from people from other parts of the business can be. After all, our app users will not all be up to date on design conventions or practices, so we need to cater for feel as well as design preference.
One more go
It’s at this point where you can take on board the feedback and have one more crack at the design.
Start to polish off your screens in as much detail that you can, using your libraries, creating components and adding in some final copy, then start to think about presenting back to the team.
From here, you can start to think about your handover documentation as well, as this will continue to push your solution and its feasibility.
There we have it, my rough and ready approach to the creative process and overcoming creativity blocks. It may be a bit slapdash in parts, but it has worked for me.
Let us know in the comments below how you overcome your own creative roadblocks — we’re all in this together 👊🏻
Thank you, and see you next time,
Luis from the UP Design team.
