InSource Opinion Poll: How do you reinvigorate the creativity in your department, to keep design fresh?
Designers in a corporate environment are known to get stale working in templates with limited fonts and color palettes. How do you reinvigorate the creativity in your department, to keep design fresh? Add your thoughts to the comments section on this home page.
How do you reinvigorate the creativity in your department, to keep design fresh?
- Pay for design lectures or conferences (49%, 18 Votes)
- Subscribe to the latest design magazines (41%, 15 Votes)
- Pay for design courses (41%, 15 Votes)
- Take frequent field trips (27%, 10 Votes)
- Purchase design books regularly (27%, 10 Votes)
- Grant extra time off (24%, 9 Votes)
- Other (22%, 8 Votes)
Total Voters: 37
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While all of the options listed for this poll are important to reinvigorating creativity for our teams, it really takes a combination of them all to keep a team motivated and creative. I selected “Other” for this reason. For example, tomorrow we will hold our monthly department meeting off-site to also include some team-building activities. We’re going to play a number of “Minute to Win It” (new NBC game show) games and watch an inspirational movie at a local theater. We expecting to have lots of fun strenthen relationships, which always results in motivation and creativity. Try it. You’ll like it!
Creative people especially (in-house) are impatient with branding for the very reason designers create branding guidelines. It may be the hundredth time they’ve set up a page in exactly the same manner using the same colors, same fonts and same style imagery, but customers may have seen this only once or twice. It’s not about them, it’s about the customer and maintaining a consistent image with them. So, how do you keep designers (and writers, etc.) motivated? I’ve found that getting to know people on a personal level and planning events outside the office have helped build a sense of team. Yes, they are creative, but not all creativity comes from the same sources. I’ve found that looking for inspiration can come from very different places, some not where you might expect. I would challenge you to think outside of the standard profile of “designer” and look at inspiring them through other life ventures. It doesn’t have to hang on the wall of a gallery or museum to be art. Good luck.
Andre
I’m thinking of giving one day a month to each creative to spend how they want. If they want to stay in their office and work on a personal project, go to the museum, pencil-sketch in the park, or spend the day at the book store browsing magazines and books, it’s their choice. The point is to explore their creative energy and see what they find.
Has anyone had success doing something like this?
To get your designers to be more creative and produce inspiring work, you may need to take a few steps back and determine if there are other forces at play. Lack of motivation or low morale may be responsible and you may have to dig deeper to uncover the cause.
There are a variety of ways to jump-start your team and but before you do anything you need to know what motivates each person in your department. Money? Sense of satisfaction? Career development? Appreciation and recognition? Job security? Once you understand that you find specific ways to inspire team members and build a development plan if needed that’s appropriate for each person. Not everyone enjoys team building and museum visits, so you either find some common ground or work with people individually to nurture their talents and skills. This is easier, of course, with a small department (<15) and if you have a larger group, field trips may be the way to go.
Here are some other suggestions:
Make it a point to celebrate career milestones, birthdays, recognition and design awards with lunch or cake or both! Any opportunity to get together socially as a group will strengthen relationships and benefit the department.
Entering and winning design awards has always boosted morale and increased engagement with my team because it's an opportunity for a designer to be recognized and validated by established external institutions. It's my job as manager to then communicate these victories to our company via internal Public Affairs channels (emails, web, plasma screens). Everybody wins. You, the designer, your department, the stakeholder and the company.
Subscribing to industry publications and purchasing reference books should be standard practice and because my designers don't always have the time, I usually tag and highlight articles of interest or make copies for everyone.
To combat design fatigue, variety is a must. Often designers take ownership of a particular project type or client and over time their work becomes repetitive and uninspiring. Move projects around the room and give someone a packaging concept who has been working exclusively on corporate communications collateral. Or if appropriate try tag team design where one designer defines the concept, another lays out the page, another chooses type, another imagery, etc.
Also, don't let branding stifle your creativity. Make it a challenge. Find ways to use restrictive color palettes and typefaces in innovative ways without compromising brand integrity. Limiting your choices can sometimes be very liberating.
And lastly, don't forget to sincerely say "Thank You" for a job well-done. Gratitude is always greatly appreciated.
I am a designer who is “going stale” – I have requested books, magazines, training, more industry standard software, even time for training myself with online tutorials. My non design manager has not granted any of these and sees no benefit in the development of my skills and career – and doesn’t understand that designers can loose motivation while working on mundane projects. It would be time to look for employment elsewhere if the economy was more stable.
Andrew,
I feel your pain. As a solo in house designer with a non creative manager I understand how tough it is! What I have done, I recommend to you, is subscribe to HOW & other design magazines on your own. They are relatively inexpensive (because if we are truly in the same boat, your pay is also substandard) Also, there are a number of free online tutorials that you can view at home in your spare time since it is not allotted at work. If nothing else, it will give you the skills you need when you take the next step in your career.
Good luck to you,
D