When you look at a piece of art most people will see it as it is. They will see the appeal in it, the uniqueness of the work, or maybe even the passion behind it. A funny thing happens when you become a designer, you start to see the struggle of the work, the time it took, and the challenges that went into it. When I design I only use reference images that I have drawn to try and avoid the, “that reminds me of” moment. I strive to be original, I don’t want people to look at my work and see something else, and I want them to see me and my unique style. It pains me when I hear these words because I makes me feel that I did not put myself into it the work, it makes me feel that the idea was never mine to begin with. I also experience this struggle when thinking of a base design.

For example, I want to make a spaceship, but now I have to think up a design that I have not seen before, correction one that no one has seen before. Now before you step away from this problem, I want you to take a half step away. What I mean by this is, walk away from the work, go about your everyday life, but keep the thought of it lingering in the back of your mind. I assure you that randomly in your day an idea will come to you. Which is also why I suggest to bring a notebook and pen with you just in case. Keeping that residual thought in your head makes sure that your brain is still thinking about the idea without making it the main thought, as you go about your day the brain picks up images and objects and compares them to this active memory. It makes combinations with them it moves them around, until it makes something that it likes. At this point your eyes go wide and the thought is brought back out into the center to be further thought about. I find that this sub thinking is really the best way to make something original because even though it has familiar elements, it all adds up to one original, never seen before, idea.

Now you have the design thought of, half the challenge is over. The second half can make or break a design because now you have to bring the design to life. The hardest part of this challenge is liking what you make. Countless times I find myself stuck, I make something and scrap it, make something and scrap it. Over and over I would do this only to abandon the project altogether. My advice, do not give up, if you do not like the idea walk away. When you come back you will be pleasantly surprised to find yourself in a different mindset, maybe even one where you like your design. I find that using the first sub thought brain tactic above might help you think of that one element that you were missing or how to change this back to the awesome design that you first thought of. Now here we are with a well thought of and implemented design all in shining color.

I must be over the hill now on this challenge. Well sadly no we’re not. The designer’s challenge is an uphill one. But at least there is only one more challenge, criticism. This will be the deciding factor in your design, because at the end of the day it does not matter what you think of it. My first tip for criticism is to be open, it does not matter what they say just take it. If enough people agree, maybe you need to change the design. Another is to direct your audience, don’t show your spaceship design to a bunch of older people who have no idea what a hyper-drive is. Show it to a group of nerds who know all of the names of the people who worked on the Death Star.

With all things considered the designer’s challenge seems pretty daunting, but do not give up. To some people this comes naturally, while with others it takes a little time. In the end it does not matter, what matters is, did you have fun, what did you learn, what can you do to make the next design ten times better? Remember this the next time you find yourself designing and maybe, just maybe it will take you far.