Marketing Lessons from a Designer
I’m not a designer but I love design.
I also have a personal relationship with design. Back in the days, before I went to highschool I had to take my final exams. After acing them, I wanted to go to a High School of Art & Design. My parents disagreed with me because they thought that all designers are broke. But I truly believed that my place was at that high school. So I started working at my portfolio with my design teacher. She taught me how to draw, how to look at the objects, how to get inspired and stay motivated. I finished my portfolio and I was ready to go to that design school. When I had to go apply for that high school, I found out that my parents had already enrolled me at another high school. So, of course, I had to go there and I ended up majoring in tourism economics.
That’s how design dreams were crushed even before they started. For a while.
I still loved design and drawing, so I started doing that in my free time. I did everything, from painting to graffiti. I even had my own personal design book.
This is why today I love doing design work, even if I’m a marketer.
I love talking with designers and getting inspired from them. I also love reading about what they do, how they do and their lives. I know that I have a ton of things and lessons to learn from them.
Inspiration is everywhere
The first thing that I learned from designers is to get inspired by everything around me. I don’t need a computer, a screen or a book to get inspired. If I want something, I go outside and open my eyes and ears and start looking around.
This is how I get all my blogging topics. This is how I get all my ideas for content campaigns.
The thing is that many marketers believe that if they read some blogger, look at some ads on videos or go to dozens of conferences they will get some ideas for their brand.
Well, maybe it’s working for them, but I realized that if I go outside and try to live my life, I get many other ideas that I can stock somewhere on my Evernote for the moment and start applying them when I get a chance.
The Pixel Perfect Work
Another thing I’m learning from designers is the accuracy of their work. You know how that saying: “Pixel perfect”?
We, as marketers, need to be perfect in our work.
It doesn’t matter that we create a campaign for a brand launch, we write a piece of content, we do email marketing or we write a headline.
It should be pixel perfect for us, for the brand but most of all, for the community.
Creativity Block
Is there a thing as “creativity block” for marketers? Yes there is. We are humans and sometimes we got blocked in our work. We can’t be creative every single moment.
We can’t have great ideas every time.
We can’t work 12 hours / 7 days a week. Why? Because we need to rest. We need to get inspired.
You see, marketers are just like designers. They need space and time to get inspired and to “feed” their life with moments of experience and emotions.
Today’s marketer should live his life not only by looking on an Instagram photo or sharing a Facebook video.
This is why I truly respect all the designers who have their own relaxation moment and work on their side projects.
Yes, working on side projects can help you get inspired.
Why we need side projects?
I also had moments in my day to day work when I didn’t have any ideas or I just couldn’t work. So I started playing around with the things around me.
One time, I created an Instagram logo from coffee grounds, other time I cut a yellow piece of paper to create a Snapchat logo or just drew a Facebook logo on my arm. Some may say that I’m a little different (or even crazy) because I’m doing this, or that I do this because I want attention. No, I’m doing this because I want my brain to get some rest and to do something else beside working.
I believe that every marketer, content creator or designer should have a side project. Even if it’s a blog, an Instagram project or just something else that it has nothing to do with its job.
So, my fellow marketers, if you have a friend who is a designer, and it doesn’t matter if it’s a graphic designer, fashion designer, interior designer or other, just give him/her a call, grab a coffee and meet him/her at their studio.
Even content marketers can learn how to do their job better from designers.
Talk to each other and discuss what problems each of you has. Find solutions together. Learn from each other.
If you consider yourself a content marketer, you are a creator too!
Originally published at robertkatai.com on December 20, 2016.
