The Creative Conundrum in Graphic Design and Marketing

Cultivating creativity in graphic design and marketing differs from other arts because of their unique processes. Not only must you develop profitable designs and copy, but you must also ensure that it aligns with the goals of your business strategies. Combined with the stress of the workplace and tight deadlines, it’s expected to hit creative blocks. Fortunately, there are ways to combat this creative conundrum, and they’re much simpler than you might expect.

Empty Your Mind

Figuring out how to develop and stay within your creative headspace is as difficult as it is wonderful, but you may find it surprising that most barriers are formed from your mind. Your brain is home to not only creativity, but also stress, fear, worry, and doubt. These negative thoughts overwhelm your ability to stay inspired and narrow what you can absorb around you. To help prevent this, think of creativity as a skill. As you spend more time developing this skill, you’ll find it easier to stay in that creative headspace and ignore distractions. You may even find inspiration in more things that you can melt into different ideas. Many methods involve emptying your mind so that instead of receiving mental stimulation, you generate it. Meditating, listening to your environment instead of music, and being conscious of your organic thoughts are all great ways to do this – but one of the best ways is to simply let yourself be bored. Having nothing to do and think about gives space for new ideas to form. Take in your surroundings, notice the movement of everyday life, and narrow in on the finer details of the bigger picture. All these things are great for seeing how marketing tactics and graphic designs work on regular people.

Push Your Limits

While it may sound counterintuitive to push your limits as far as they can go, remember that creativity isn’t a bottomless well from which you can draw. It empties and then refills over time, so you want to make use of everything you’ve got before it disappears. Let’s say you have a few great design ideas. Would you only focus on one and let yourself forget the rest? Of course not. Listen to what works for your creative process and push as far as you can go with it, then repeat the process. Don’t forget that creativity is a skill. As you exhaust it over time, your mental well will get deeper and fill up more quickly.

Open Yourself to Different Cultures and Ideas

Imagine that your creativity is a single chord. If you run into a block, the chord is stilled and that’s the end of your inspiration. However, if you add more chords from other perspectives and opinions, then you’ll have not only more chords that vibrate when yours is static, but you’ll be able to create unique “music” that wouldn’t exist without them. Different cultures bring these different vibrations and allow you to expand beyond the mainstream. Open yourself up to unique artistic methods rather than keeping your mind stagnant with the same graphic design ideas or marketing techniques. Globally, there are plenty of artists in these industries who have refined their skills. Learn from them and carve out your own unique process separate from the rest.