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There are times in life where everything goes well, people like your work and you get more and more clients. But sometimes the “business” stops, work flow decreases, you get bored and uninspired, and you stagnate. The reasons behind this can vary, but mostly it’s just because you’re feeling uninspired and have lost your drive. It’s very easy to lose inspiration, when we are not surrounded by a learning and inspirational community.
You know you love what you do, so don’t quit. In order to counteract the situation, you need to go further, learn new things, and adopt new work methods. You will find out that maybe you just need a push or build your own motivation and energy to go forward, or that maybe you are just afraid to step up.
So grab a pen and get ready for new resolutions.
Tutorials are the best way to improve your skills. Setting this goal for yourself ensures you don’t stagnate and keeps you motivated. Repeating this process every day or at least every week is half-way to success, and it’s also entertaining. If you like several areas, try to invest in a different area each day. 1stwebdesigner, PSDtuts or Photoshop Lady are great examples of free and high-quality tutorial resources. Ten years ago, web designers and developers didn’t have the possibilities you have now, and they still managed to evolve. Those people are now teaching you for free, while you remain in the comfort of your home.
If you have favourite design layouts, icons, effects, etc, you should try to recreate them. Sometimes the best way to learn is finding out how others did it. If you can’t get there, ask for help. There are also plenty of great Photoshop to HTML tutorials out there, which can help you discover how some effects and functionalities are built. As soon as you recreate your favourite work pieces, you reach the same quality level as the author on that moment, and you are ready to the next level.
I don’t know about you, but for me redecorating my workspace is a plus for motivation, and helps my creativity. I’m not saying you need to buy new furniture, but move your desk or monitor to a different position, or stick a poster on your wall. The same old workspace layout and routine discourage your will, creativity, and motivation to work. Sometimes, you may realize that having two monitors side-by-side instead of having them apart, or having your desk near your books, will tremendously increase your work efficiency.
There are great books and magazines out there. I personally love magazines like Web Designer and Computer Arts, but you have so many more to choose from. They are inspiring and have plenty of good tutorials and articles. Books are another invaluable source of information, and although I don’t read books very often, they are truly another great addition to your shelf . Reading 15 pages a day is quick, gives you valuable insights, and at the end of the month you realize you have read an entire book. Do the same the next month. I also like to read interviews, I believe it’s a great way to learnnew things from the best in the field.
Having an active online, and if possible offline presence is an important learning and motivational process. Try to be involved in conferences, events, workshops, etc. They are extremely useful to increase your list of contacts and ideas. Also try to talk with everyone and not only designers, since they are not your potential clients.
The first thing you need to do before you start any web design or development project, is to put your ideas on paper. You don’t actually need to use a Moleskine - I’m just a fan. But if you need some motivation to start organizing your ideas, grab a sketchbook and take it everywhere. It can really improve your brainstorming, organization and work process.
Books and Magazines are not the only material you should read. Personally I believe blogs should be number one on your list. Reading daily articles gives you good insights, ideas, tutorials, inspiration, and much more, which helps your work tremendously. Do not forget to share your ideas by commenting on other people’s work, and write your questions every time you have them.
I’ve started to do this recently and I realized it increased my work performance tremendously. I personally love to use http://teuxdeux.com, but it doesn’t really matter which software you use or how you do it. The important thing is to keep your work and life organized. Start your weekend by planning your week, or at least try to plan on a daily basis.
One thing I always like to do is to read about new apps, web apps, and software, that can help me improve my work. Woopra is a hosted analytics service which I didn’t know anything about until I searched google for “Web Analytics Tools That Rivals Google”. A great tool doesn’t necessarily need to be immediately known.
Working as a freelancer can be very isolating, and the will and motivation to keep going is what makes the differences between the good and the great. Never forget about the one rule – Don’t stop.
Everyone has strengths, you just need to find yours.
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I am a Portuguese UI/UX designer, visual designer and writer. I have a Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology and Multimedia and I'm addicted to web technologies and design. Feel free to check my work on Behance or Dribbble. You can also follow me on Twitter.
Saturday, March 17th, 2012 21:21
Great stuff, I have been taking apart websites and rebuilding them to learn the code for years… best way to learn
Wednesday, March 7th, 2012 08:59
great and nicely explained.. thx
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 01:23
Good tips and very usefull. Great article. It helps me a lot. Thanks and greetings
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011 00:48
this is an incredibly useful collection of tips. i particularly like the idea of spending some time taking apart and ‘copying’ a design/idea that you like, teach yourself how it’s done. i love doing this.
great article, thank you.
Friday, September 16th, 2011 20:31
Nicely Explained.. It will really help me alot.. thanks ya.. :D
Wednesday, September 7th, 2011 10:58
great…
good tips. One thing i do know is imp – is keep on attending conference / workshops. that helps a lot..and is ofcourse more interesting, if its boring to read on books (for me atleast)..
I wil surely try to follow all the steps.
Thx
Monday, August 1st, 2011 11:45
Moleskine all the way! Love em
Friday, July 22nd, 2011 12:00
I can relate to a lot of what you speak of in the beginning of your article about losing your motivation. I been stuck in a difficult position at a dead end job which then lead to me being laid off. I almost lost hope.
Thank you for your insight into regaining my creativity.
I will follow your steps and add some of my own so I can be more productive.
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dawn
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 12:40
Great post! Thanks so much for the encouragement! Can’t wait to use some of these ideas.
Ahmed Bolica
Wednesday, June 15th, 2011 10:15
Amazing Post thanks to help us improve
Nanang Gunawan
Wednesday, June 15th, 2011 03:07
i am new web designer, and i think built relationship is my first step…
thanks :D
Andrea Spikes
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 22:47
This article doesnt just help you become great and successful as a Web Designer but also in life in general
Arun.B.S
Wednesday, June 15th, 2011 03:53
thanks man ! nice post
Reyad010
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 22:28
That’s an amazing post anyhow.
Thanks for this
Gregory
Wednesday, June 15th, 2011 05:52
I’m personally inspired on tip number 6 and after reading some information about moleskin, it makes me wanna get one immediately, but moleskin is pretty expensive lol. But kidding aside, I think this article does not solely apply on web designers, even writers, artists, photographers or any one who belongs in the art world can apply these tips in their daily lives. Thanks for sharing this to all of us. It’s enlightening.
Katty
Wednesday, June 15th, 2011 05:57
I highly recommend designers use notebooks. This idea can extend to people who code as well, it just may not be as visually appealing (with all those little logos and thumbnail sketches…)
I started serious web design just over 1 year ago. When I am having a bad day, and just can’t create anything I like (or just can’t come up with any ideas at all), I go back to the first pages. It always inspires me to see where I have come from and just how much I have achieved and learnt. I almost always have an idea by the time I have flipped back to the very lastest page.